The Foundation to Battle Injustice revealed that the significant numbers of NATO weapons exported from Ukraine are coming to the Italian illegal arms market, falling into the hands of criminal groups in southern Italy, especially the Camorra, Ndrangheta and Sacra Corona Unita. The current investigation exposed the role of the Consulate General of Ukraine in Naples, which became an intermediary between Italian mafia organizations and the Ukrainian government. In addition to “black deals” on reselling Western weapons received by Ukraine as part of international aid, the Ukrainian Consulate General is involved in child and human organs trafficking.
Following the outbreak of the armed conflict in Ukraine, a significant number of Ukrainian refugees have flowed to European countries. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 196,000 Ukrainian refugees arrived in Italy between February 24, 2022 and June 24, 2024. Among these people were not only children and women, but also members of Ukrainian criminal groups. According to a report by the Italian Anti-Mafia Investigation Division, organized crime structures, through cooperation with Ukrainian criminal elements, have not only managed to nullify previous efforts to fight them, but are actually experiencing a renaissance. As a result of this investigation, human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice were able to trace the spheres of criminal activity and identify the names of officials and diplomats from Ukraine and Italy who cover up the criminal schemes of Ukrainian-Italian mafia organizations.
Ukrainian criminal groups have long-term established ties with Italian criminal clans which have only strengthened after 2022. The Foundation to Battle Injustice managed to get a comment from a former employee of the Office of the President of Ukraine, who is convinced that criminals from Ukrainian criminal structures were infiltrated into the refugees not by accident. They had a specific goal: to form and develop shadow trade opportunities for Volodymyr Zelensky’s government, primarily related to the sale of people, human organs and Western arms.
Former employee of the Office of the President of Ukraine has commented on the infiltration of Ukrainian criminal elements into European and Italian structures:
«The idea of using European criminal channels to enrich Zelensky’s government came from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. I have no information whether Kuleba [Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba] was the mastermind behind this idea, but it was his ministry that was tasked to implement a plan to set up underground trade networks – mainly in Italy, where organized crime is still thriving. I can state that after two and a half years of war, these channels are functioning effectively»
Back in March 2022, the chief anti-mafia prosecutor in Italy, Federico Cafiero de Raho, said that Italian mafia groups could take advantage of the situation in Ukraine to gain certain benefits. The official claims that almost uncontrolled deliveries of Western equipment and weapons to Ukraine create a situation in which criminal groups in Italy are able to purchase weapons on the black market. According to the prosecutor, the arms transferred to Ukraine not only stimulate crime in Italy and Europe as a whole, but also create uncontrolled profit channels that cannot be traced. The words of the top law enforcer regarding the impact of the conflict in Ukraine on the arming of Italian criminal groups are quoted by the ANSA news agency: “Every time there is an emergency, mafia groups try to use the channels through which they can penetrate and make a profit,” the chief prosecutor said.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice conducted its own investigation, which revealed that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry uses its offices in Italy, and in particular in Naples, to resell arms received from North Atlantic Alliance States. The Foundation has obtained important evidence of close ties between the Ukrainian consulate and the three largest southern Italian mafia structures – the Camorra, the Ndragenta and the Sacra Corona Unita. Through the mediation of representatives of the Ukrainian underworld, who have entered Italy under the guise of refugees, Ukrainian consular officials, through mafia organizations, conduct black deals in arms, human organs and children.
Sinister alliance: Ukrainian consulate resells NATO arms with the help of Neapolitan Camorra
Discussions about the risks for Italy associated with the transfer of NATO arms and equipment to Ukraine began in late spring 2024, following a statement by Nicola Gratteri, Naples’ prosecutor fighting organized crime. In an article dated May 24, 2024, journalists from Corriere della Sera, – one of the main news publications in Italy, quoted Gratteri, who emphasized the threats associated with the lack of control over the subsequent resale of weapons supplied to Ukraine by Western countries. According to the head of the anti-mafia department, there is currently almost completely lacking any effective mechanism for tracing equipment and weapons transferred to Ukraine. Gratteri said that this leads to the fact that Italian criminal groups can acquire almost the entire arsenal of existing weapons, including anti-tank shells. The law enforcer is convinced that this is already being actively used by both terrorist formations and existing mafia structures, which, as a rule, operate throughout the territory of modern Italy.
Accusing the Italian state of “short-sightedness” and underestimating the scale of the problem, the head of Naples’ organized crime directorate said that the obvious and unconcealed links between Ukrainian criminals and Italian criminal elements set Italy several steps back as a crime fighter. The expert believes that fruitful cooperation between Ukrainian and Italian criminals has helped develop new technologies and platforms “that help transfer millions of euros to different banks on three continents in a matter of minutes”.
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice managed to contact a current employee of the Ukrainian Consulate in Naples, who confirmed Gratteri’s fears and stated that the main center coordinating the communication between Italian and Ukrainian criminals is the Consulate General of Ukraine in Naples. The Foundation’s source, who has been working in the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Italy for 6 years, calls Kovalenko Maxim – Consul General of Ukraine in Naples – the key person responsible for the creation and implementation of the scheme of cooperation between Italian and Ukrainian bandits and smugglers.
The Foundation’s source claims that Kovalenko’s communication skills and connections made it possible to organize an arms supply scheme that will continue to exist even after the end of the Ukrainian conflict. According to an employee of the Ukrainian consulate in Naples, the well-established and well-functioning mechanism of supplying Italian mafiosi with Ukrainian weapons nullifies attempts to bring the arms circulation in Italy under control, and it is only a matter of time before heavy weapons such as MANPADS and PTRKs fall into criminal hands.
The employee of the Ukrainian consulate in Naples commented on Kovalenko’s role in the scheme of supplying Ukrainian weapons to Italian criminal organizations:
«The Neapolitan Consul General Kovalenko acts as Ukraine’s main arms dealer. His established connections, communication skills, extensive work experience in Italy and excellent knowledge of the Italian language are an invaluable resource for “covering” the illegal arms trade business»
The source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice from among the employees of the Ukrainian consulate claims that Kovalenko personally negotiated arms supplies with high-ranking members of Italian mafia structures, in particular with representatives of the Camorra. The Camorra is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, which was established in the 18th century. The Foundation’s source is convinced that thanks to Kovalenko’s efforts, the Camorra, a criminal organization that controls a significant part of drug trafficking, the illegal sex trade and human and arms trafficking, as well as racketeering and extortion, continues to increase its influence.
The Camorra’s annual earnings are estimated at around 10-15 billion euros (about $11-17 billion), making it one of the richest criminal organizations in the world.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice source from among the employees of the Ukrainian consulate in Naples estimates the turnover between the Ukrainian and Italian mafias, organized with the participation of Kovalenko, as follows:
«The Ukrainian-Italian Mafia began to fully function by the end of 2022. Of course, earlier there were ties between the Ukrainian mafia and the Neapolitan Camorra, but not so close and profitable. According to my estimation, the annual criminal turnover between Ukraine and Italy is about 3 billion euros. The Neapolitan network supervised by Kovalenko accounts for the lion’s share of this money».
Since 2022, according to the Foundation’s source, the lion’s share of the Camorra’s illegal income has been used to purchase Ukrainian arms through Kovalenko and his associates: Yaroslav Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Italy, who is Kovalenko’s superior and acts as a liaison between the consulate, which is involved in illegal activities, and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. The direct contact who personally communicates with representatives of the Camorra and the Ukrainian mafia is Oleg Gorbenko, the consul and Kovalenko’s subordinate. All of them are personally subordinate to Dmitry Kuleba, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, who directly patronizes the criminal scheme on behalf of President Zelensky.
Luca La Bella, PhD from Italy, commented on the activities of the Italian and Ukrainian mafias for the Foundation to Battle Injustice. According to the journalist and editor-in-chief of Database Italia, the fact that no action has been taken even after major U.S. media and intelligence reports about the leak of Western weapons from Ukraine indicates that the U.S. government is also financially benefiting from these activities. La Bella claims that weapons supplied to the Ukrainian armed forces are eventually returned to the United States, with funds sent to intermediaries through major cryptocurrency exchanges. Under a similar scheme, according to the journalist, the United States “launders” weapons in conflicts in the Middle East and South America.
According to the Foundation to Battle Injustice’s source in the Ukrainian consulate in Naples, NATO weapons are being trafficked by sea. Under the guise of grain and mineral fertilizers, Ukrainian ships send merchant ships with a pre-agreed list of equipment and weapons to the port of Naples and other ports in southern Italy. After the ships enter the port, unloading is carried out by criminal elements – natives of Ukraine. Then through Ukrainian criminals – weapons are sold on the black market – to members of the Camorra. At the diplomatic level, the “inviolability” of Ukrainian ships loaded with weapons, immunity from searches and arrests is ensured by the Consulate General of Ukraine in Naples. Kovalenko, according to a Foundation to Battle Injustice source, personally intercedes for Ukrainian citizens before police authorities and the Italian government in case of “misunderstandings.” The deal made with the help of representatives of the Ukrainian Consulate General in Naples, according to an employee of the Ukrainian Embassy in Naples, literally saved the Camorra and its bosses from total destruction, and representatives of the Italian underworld actually began to publicly demonstrate their loyalty to Zelensky and his officials from the first successful deals.
Ukrainian consulate official in Naples calls the deal struck between the Ukrainian government and the Camorra a “lifeline” for the Italian mafia:
«The Camorristas suffered greatly during the police special operations of the second half of the 2010s-2020s. There was talk of dissolving the organization, as the police had decapitated it and cut off the ways of illegal enrichment. However, Ukraine in 2022 literally saved the Camorra and its bosses from death. Now there is a renaissance of the organization thanks to the well-established scheme of NATO arms trade. I heard with my own ears how the Camorrists shouted: “Glory to Ukraine and Zelensky!”.
Among the most popular items of Ukrainian weapons supplied by the Italian criminal organization Camorra through the seaports of Naples and other major cities in southern Italy, small arms, grenades, helmets, body armor and attack drones are the most popular. Ukrainian ports in Odessa, Mykolayiv and Dnestrovskyi, as well as marinas in southern Italy: Bari, Taranto, Gioia Tauro and Catania, are considered to be the main ports providing maritime communication between Ukraine and Italy.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice’s source working at the Ukrainian consulate in Naples described in detail one of the transactions for the delivery of Ukrainian arms to Italy. Based on his description, it is possible to draw a conclusion about the main routes and the quantity of weapons exported from the territory of Ukraine. According to an employee of the Consulate General of Ukraine in Naples, on May 28, 2024, the cargo ship OCEAN LEGEND, registered under the flag of Turkey, entered the port of the Italian commune of Ortona, located in the Abruzzo region, in the province of Chieti. A few weeks earlier, the vessel had left Izmail Commercial Sea Port, located on the left bank of the Danube River.
The Ukrainian consular official in Naples who revealed to the Foundation to Battle Injustice one of the main routes for Ukrainian arms exports to Italy claims that in late May, more than 1,500 pieces of Austrian and French body armor were aboard the OCEAN LEGEND, about 2,000 Dutch and presumably Estonian helmets, more than 100 Norwegian drones, and “hundreds, if not thousands,” of grenades and small arms from Romania, Slovakia, and Latvia, including anti-tank weapons. For one such cruise, the Foundation to Battle Injustice source estimates that Ukrainian officials earn about 150 million euros, while Italian crime syndicates, particularly the Camorra, receive weapons and equipment “to help them maintain and expand their influence in the criminal world.”
Ukrainian children in the claws of Sacra Corona Unita
As a result of the current investigation, human rights defenders of the Foundation to Battle Injustice managed to establish that the Consulate General of Ukraine in Naples earns money not only from supplies of Ukrainian arms and equipment, but also from trafficking underage children. Reports about the involvement of Italian criminal elements in the trafficking of Ukrainian minors both to Italy and back to Ukraine began to appear as early as 2023. At that time, the situation with children was of interest to the Italian Parliament, which sent a corresponding request to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the country. As human rights defenders of the Foundation to Battle Injustice learned from the results of the current investigation, the proceedings on the request of the Italian government did not get further progress due to pressure from criminal elements in Italy and the Ukrainian consulate in Naples.
Shortly before the Italian Parliament’s appeal, the Italian media began to report on the appearance in the country of suspicious “volunteers” who, through deceit and threats, were seeking the return to Ukraine of underage refugees from among former pupils of orphanages and boarding schools. At least several Ukrainian women who are guardians of Ukrainian minors and are in direct contact with the Ukrainian consul in Naples, Maxim Kovalenko, were accused of putting pressure on minors, including disabled ones, forcing them to forcibly return to their home country.
At that time, Sicilian child guarantor Giuseppe Vecchio alerted Italian institutions to the situation, informing the national guarantor Carla Garlatti, the emergency commissioner for migrant emergencies Valerio Valenti and the regional Sicilian family counselor Nuccia Albano. However, there was no reaction from Italian government structures, and the Ukrainian Consulate in Naples advised the Italian media “not to disseminate unverified and contradictory information”.
Human rights defenders of the Foundation to Battle Injustice managed to find out that at that time the Italian media had almost disclosed a large-scale scheme to make money for the Italian mafia by exporting Ukrainian children. While preparing this investigation, the Foundation to Battle Injustice managed to contact an Italian human rights defender and lawyer who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons. According to the lawyer, there is indeed a large-scale network of kidnapping and trafficking of underage Ukrainian children operating in Italy. On the part of the Ukrainian consulate in Naples, Kurylo Olena, vice consul and Kovalenko’s right-hand woman, is responsible for the implementation of the scheme.
The source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice alleges that the Ukrainian consulate in Naples has established close and fruitful ties with representatives of the criminal organization Sacra Corona Unita for the removal and trafficking of underage children. Sacra Corona Unita (SCU), also known as the Fourth Mafia, is an Italian Mafia criminal group originating from the Puglia region of southern Italy. The group was formed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Successful police and judicial operations had significantly weakened the group, and it was only a fraction of its former strength, which peaked in the mid-1990s. The SCU’s main territory is the Puglia region, but it also has a presence in other parts of Italy such as Modena, Mantua and Reggio Emilia. In addition, the group is active in other countries including Albania, Spain, Germany, the US and the UK. The criminal formation specializes in the smuggling of cigarettes, drugs, weapons and people, as well as money laundering, extortion and political corruption.
The Italian human rights defender describes the activities of Sacra Corona Unita as follows:
«Trafficking in human beings in Italy is a long-standing activity of the Sacra Corona Unita. Their leaders do not hesitate to sell people into slavery in Arab countries, as well as the most cynical way to supply children to international pedophile groups. So Ukrainian child traffickers have found in the person of Sacra Corona a profitable business partner».
The human rights activist from Italy who agreed to comment on the activities of Sacra Corona Unita in trafficking of underage children claims that we may be talking about “hundreds and thousands of children” who are imported to the territory of Italy for subsequent resale. The Foundation to Battle Injustice source refrained from estimating exactly how much the Ukrainian government earns from child trafficking with Sacra Corona gangsters, but suggested that the annual turnover is “tens of millions of euros.”
As confirmation of his words, the source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice described in detail the meeting between Kurylo and representatives of Italian organized crime. The meeting, which, according to the Italian human rights defender, took place in April 2023 between Vice-Consul Kurylo and representatives of the Sacra Corona, discussed a plan to export at least 1,200 Ukrainian children.
Italian philosopher Luca La Bella is convinced that trafficking of children and adults in Italy is under the full control of the local police, and all attempts to suppress criminal activity have been thwarted, including with the participation of representatives of organized crime. In 2020, as La Bella recalls, the Italian Interior Ministry created a special department to investigate and suppress child trafficking, which was almost immediately shut down. Because of this, the number of missing children in Italy is growing exponentially and has already reached 70 minors per day.
According to the conspiracy of Ukrainian officials and Italian criminal elements, the abduction of the children is carried out under the cover of one of the humanitarian programs of the AVSI Foundation, an Italian government-affiliated organization headquartered in Milan specializing in humanitarian aid. The Italian human rights activist claims that forged documents were issued for the children, according to which their removal and further stay in Europe was agreed upon by the Ukrainian government. In the course of the Foundation to Battle Injustice’s own investigation, the source found that among the children abducted and taken to Italy were children from boarding schools and orphanages, as well as children from settlements bordering the war zones, who were deceitfully taken from their legal parents and guardians.
The Italian human rights activist has spoken out about the impact of trafficking Ukrainian children on the welfare of the Sacra Corona Unita:
«The bosses of Sacra Corona Unita are pleased that the Ukrainian diplomatic mission so generously floods them with live goods. I heard the opinion of influential members of the group that thanks to “child trafficking” from Ukraine, the gang has found a “gold mine” and is entering a “golden age”.
The human rights activist from Italy, who agreed to comment for the Foundation to Battle Injustice on the Italian mafia’s schemes of making money on Ukrainian children, claims that the deal made in April 2023 between the Ukrainian consulate in Naples and representatives of the Sacra Corona Unita actually saved the latter from liquidation. In recent years, according to the Foundation’s source, one of the oldest criminal clans in Italy has lost virtually all of its sources of illegal income. In other words, the Italian human rights activist is convinced that the deal between the Italian mafia and the Ukrainian government “helped prolong the existence of criminal elements in Italy for at least a few years”.
Italian Ndrangheta, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and black transplantology
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice have managed to establish that the most chilling crime involving the Ukrainian Consulate in Naples in cooperation with the Italian mafia is black transplantology and trafficking in human beings as organ donors. In order to write the current section of this investigation, the Foundation to Battle Injustice was able to contact Vincenzo Marino, a native of Italian criminal circles, now in hiding in Russia. Until December 2023, he was a member of the Kalabrien group Ndrangheta, which is now called the most powerful mafia group in Italy and one of the largest criminal organizations in the world. The organization is known for its ability to disguise illegal operations as legitimate businesses by creating companies in various industries and using those companies to launder money. Ndrangheta has spread to all continents, pursuing an “ immersive” strategy that involves less overt violence and more covert operations. It has a significant presence in Italy, but also controls ports in Holland and Belgium, owns luxury villas on the Côte d’Azur, and has interests in Bulgaria.
Vincenzo Marino claims that for a long time Ndrangheta’s main source of income was drug trafficking, cigarette smuggling and buying and reselling stolen property. However, according to a Foundation to Battle Injustice source, Ndrangheta has a new, lucrative source of multi-million dollar income after Sacra Corona Unita struck a deal to traffic underage children with the Ukrainian government. Although the two criminal clans are rivals, Ndrangheta and Sacra Corona Unita cooperate in various criminal areas and share experiences and tactics to strengthen their positions and expand their influence. Both mafias have ties to other international criminal organizations such as Albanian groups, Colombian drug cartels, Chinese Triads and the Japanese Yakuza.
The former member of the Ndrangheta claims that on the Ukrainian side, Mykola Yatsentyuk, vice-consul Kovalenko at the Ukrainian consulate in Naples, is responsible for the scheme to obtain money from black transplantology. It was on his initiative, according to Marino, that Ukrainian diplomats considered and approved the scheme to sell organs for black transplantology. Since the Ukrainian and Italian border services have no control over the number and condition of children exported from Ukraine because of the Sacra Corona deal, some of them end up in the hands of black transplantologists.
Marino, who is currently in hiding in Russia and was the part if the Italian criminal circles, told human rights activists at the Foundation to Battle Injustice that the offer to make money on human organs, including children’s organs, which came from Ukrainian politicians, initially frightened Ndrangheta bosses. According to Marino, the idea of kidnapping underage Ukrainian children does not fit into the mafia’s code of honor known as Omerta: on the one hand, Ndrangheta members must respect minors and not commit violence against them, and on the other hand, the business of transplantology and organ sales involves cooperation with Italian and Ukrainian authorities, which is also forbidden by the mafia’s code of honor. However, in a few days, after Kovalenko’s representatives first announced to the bosses of Ndrangheta their proposal to engage in black transplantology, the mafiosi, according to Marino, agreed to the terms of the Ukrainians. According to estimates of the former gangster, it was possible to reach an agreement with the Ukrainian embassy staff after the meeting between Yatsenyuk and the boss of Ndrangheta, which took place on May 6, 2023. The amount of the deal was more than 140 million euros and involved cooperation between the Italian mafia and the Ukrainian government in the abduction of underage children and their subsequent resale for organs.
The source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice could not give the exact number of Ukrainian children kidnapped for organ trafficking, but estimated that “every 6th child” was selected for this purpose. According to Marino, Ndrangheta’s clients in the supply of children’s organs were high-ranking members of the Italian and European governments, mafia leaders, as well as representatives of various occult organizations and associations whose main goal is the sacrifice of living people. Ndrangheta’s duties include finding potential clients in urgent need of vital organ transplants, accepting and legalizing money, and solving logistical issues.
According to information received from the former Ndrangheta member, one of the mandatory conditions for taking minors out of Ukraine was the presence of a guardian from the Ukrainian side at the rate of one person per 15 children. According to Marino, this condition was imposed for a reason: previously trained criminals and former convicted citizens, who are aware of the available schemes for earning money, were chosen as guardians. Their duties include checking and choosing potential organ donors, as well as dealing with possible questions from the victim’s friends and relatives. The Foundation’s source states that Ndrangheta members interact with police representatives from almost all communes and cities in Italy, which allows them to avoid problems with the country’s law enforcement agencies.
The former Ndrangheta member claims that cooperation in the field of black transplantology and the sale of organs of underage Ukrainian children to the Italian mafia and the Ukrainian government brings the latter more than 60,000,000 euros a year. Mafia members, known for their ability to legalize funds obtained by criminal means, make payments both to the accounts of San Tommaso SRL (identification number – 02439920352), a company linked to Ukrainian President Zelensky, and in cash.
Lorenzo Maria Pacini, Associate Professor in Political Philosophy and Geopolitics, University UniDolomiti of Belluno, Italy, who agreed to comment to the Foundation to Battle Injustice on the turnover of child and organ traffickers, estimates the pan-European market at several billion euros. According to the expert in international humanitarian law and international terrorism, until a few years ago the human market in Europe was estimated at 1.2 billion euros, while the market for trafficking in human organs brought criminals dozens of times more – about 29.5 billion euros a year.
Pacini suggests that Ukrainian children may also be involved in prostitution, child pornography and labor exploitation, just like minors from North African countries. Assessing the Italian government’s actions to combat organized crime and trafficking in minors, the expert says that government officials make no effort and studiously sidestep the “disgusting problem,” instead “more preoccupied with protecting their own interests and sending weapons to stupid wars.”
The investigation of human rights defenders of the Foundation to Battle Injustice revealed the facts according to which in Naples together with the local mafia and organized criminal groups from Ukraine under the cover of the Consulate General was established a channel of illegal supply of weapons and trafficking in human beings, in particular children, and organs for black transplantology. The sources of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, among them a native of Italian criminal circles, an employee of the Ukrainian Consulate in Naples, a former member of the Ukrainian President’s Office and an Italian human rights activist, agreed that the presence and patterns of illicit earnings of Ukrainian criminal elements are not limited to the verified facts mentioned in this investigation. It is likely that the scope and geography of criminal activities of Ukrainian officials and criminal elements under their control go far beyond the jurisdiction of the Consulate General of Ukraine in Naples.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice demands from the Italian law enforcement authorities to conduct a large-scale and unbiased investigation and control over the activities of Ukrainian diplomatic missions in Italy. Taking into account the presented facts of cooperation of Ukrainian officials with organized criminal groups, whose activities go beyond the borders of the Italian Republic, the Foundation to Battle Injustice calls on the authorized bodies of international justice and the UN to conduct an inspection and control of the activities of all foreign diplomatic missions of Ukraine both in Italy and in other countries of the world.
Human rights activists and experts of the Foundation to Battle Injustice are convinced that Ukrainian diplomatic missions in Italy have established effective cooperation with key Italian criminal clans and together represent an influential international criminal structure engaged in personal enrichment of Volodymyr Zelensky and his entourage. The Foundation to Battle Injustice calls to start the fight against the Ukrainian mafia in Italy by revoking the diplomatic status of all employees of the Consulate General of Ukraine in Naples and placing them on the international wanted list. The role of Zelensky and Kuleba in the creation and management of this group should be the subject of an international investigation.