The Russian independent media writes about volunteers with no military training whom Moscow sends to die in Ukraine, as well as about the role of mercenary groups fighting for the Russians. The Kremlin is mindful not just about battlefront developments, but also about the way it is selling the war to the next generation of young Russians: the new school curricula includes the new Putinist ideology and the official rhetoric about the war in Donbas.
BELLINGCAT: Irregular troops support the Russian army in the Kharkiv region
Following the failure of the Russian offensive in Kyiv and in northern Ukraine, Russian forces have focused their efforts in the east, particularly in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Russian armed forces are not alone in their slow advance in recent weeks. Units of irregular troops and groups of combatants have been spotted in the Kharkiv region, operating alongside the Russian military.
Combatants with the private military outfit Wagner have taken part in the attack on the city of Popasnaya. At the same time, the Borey group announced it has joined the offensive in Donbas. The Don Cossack detachment is equally reported to be operating in the Izyum area, south of Kharkiv, according to Bellingcat.
Images published on social media and posts by unofficial militant groups also attest to their presence and activity in the occupied territories of Ukraine as well as along the frontline.
Many of these irregular military groups have been operating in Donbas since 2014, when Russia tried for the first time to capture eastern Ukraine, under the guise of a patriotic pro-Russian uprising.
While the war rages on, Russia has resorted to what some call a “shadow mobilization” in order to deal with its manpower shortages. In this context, the recruitment of irregular militant groups might serve a tactical purpose. A military expert told Bellingcat that human resources are only part of the motivation.
Russian political scientist Pavel Luzin, claims the Russian authorities are using mercenaries not just as “cannon fodder”, but also as a tool to prevent the political risks inside Russia itself. “The Kremlin has been recruiting and using mercenaries since 2014. There is no private initiative in this area. All mercenary outfits are linked to one law enforcement agency or the other”, Pavel Luzin says, who comments on military topics for Riddle Russia, an independent publication.
“Hiring mercenaries allows the Russian authorities to cut back on their losses among regular military forces. Furthermore, the authorities want mercenary groups to sustain heavy losses, since any survivor would pose an internal threat to the Kremlin”, Luzin argues.
It’s hard to say which of the messages posted by the irregular troops are propaganda and which are actually revealing their activities. The best way to understand the situation is from the videos posted on the Internet by the group themselves, which are telling of their propensity for conspiracy and boastfulness.
The Union of Donbas Volunteers
Some groups that support the Russian military forces, which were identified on social media and monitored by Bellingcat, belong to the Union of Donbas Volunteers (SDD), led by the former Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk (DNR), Alexander Boroday.
After stepping down in 2014, Boroday became the leader of SDD, a large organization of veterans of the Russian war in Donbas, which has branched out throughout Russia. Boroday is presently a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation on behalf of the United Russia Party.
Since the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine in 2022, SDD-linked units have been operating in the Kharkiv area, according to their posts on social media.
SDD claims that, right now, it has five units operating in Ukraine: Sever, Veresk and Center, in addition to the Orel and Rurik battalions.
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In mid-May, Alexei Zhuravlev, a Russian Duma deputy and leader of the Russian nationalist party Rodina, published pictures of his visit to the frontline, accompanied by Boroday.
During their visit, Zhuravlev filmed all the areas they crossed, which seemed to be under SDD control. He also took snapshots of his visit to what appeared to be a farm in a picturesque setting, far from the frontline, where he fired a Kalashnikov and threw a grenade. Subsequently, Zhuravlev posted the images on his Telegram account.
Military expert Pavel Luzin says such militant groups are in Ukraine also to boost their own image, which is also true of Ramzan Kadyrov’s Chechen fighters.
“All these mercenaries are preventing the armed forces to boost their political support inside Russia. The war is fought by unknown soldiers and officers, yet the “volunteers” make the headlines in the official media, the mercenaries are present on social media, and the Chechens on TikTok”, Pavel Luzin explained.
“Therefore, the activity of SDD and other mercenary outfits is designed to offset the Russian armed forces and the officer corps, preventing the latter from becoming a political threat to the Kremlin”.
MEDIAZONA: Dead within three days from signing the contract – the story of two volunteers who went to war to get back their families
The Ministry of Defense has made it a habit to offer civilians short-term contracts with the Russian Army to fight in Ukraine. These volunteers are sent to the front, often without any prior military training, and losses among their ranks have been the highest since the start of the war. Mediazona tells the story of two men who went to war, hoping they would thus win back their wives. Only three days after they signed the contract, they both ended up in the trenches in the line of fire. Only one of them survived.
On the morning of May 15, Yevgeny Chubarin called his mother. “He was in a hurry: “Mom, they are just giving me the machine gun, I don’t have much time”. That’s the last I heard from him”, Nina Chubarina recalls the last conversation she had with her son. Nina is a 50-year-old mother of nine, a milkmaid from Sheltozero, Karelia Oblast.
The next day, her son died in an artillery shelling somewhere in Kharkiv. Aged 24, Chubarin had been in Ukraine for only two days. Two days before he had been in his native Karelia – before being sent to the frontline, volunteers who sign contracts with the army receive no training.
When he was 18, Yevgeny enrolled, served, then got married. He was raising his son, working for a stoneworks firm in his hometown. “He made good wages: at times 80, 90 or 60 thousand [the equivalent of 1,000-1,500 EUR]”, Nina Chubarina says. “When he left to the frontline, I asked him: Zhenya, at least how much are they going to pay you? He told me he didn’t know”.
Yevgeny decided to fight in Ukraine not for the money, but because of his broken marriage. “He wanted to prove to his ex-wife that he didn’t fear anything”, his mother explains. “He thought he would win her back this way, he thought she would tell him ‘Zhenya, don’t go’, but she said she didn’t care”.
Recalling her son’s departure, Nina Chubarina utters the word “war”, then points out she uses this term casually, just in private, to describe what is happening in Ukraine [using the term “war” to refer to the actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine is forbidden in Russia].
From the military registration office to the frontline in three days
As of March, when the invasion in Ukraine slowed down, they started luring those who have completed the military service. Drafting notices hang on the streets or in means of public transportation. The military registration office would call or summon reservists. For three and a half months, HeadHunter alone posted some seven thousand vacancies in the “contracted military” category. Another 18,000 vacancies were made available in early April on Superjob, and another 500 on a website affiliated to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
As a rule, the minimum term of military service is two years. Now, however, they are offering short-term contracts for three, six or twelve months.
Those who sign such contracts are also called “volunteers”. “They rounded up everyone in two days”, one of these volunteers has told the BBC. “We arrived at our military unit at night. In the morning, they gave us clothing: boots, a uniform, a towel, soap and Soviet-era underwear. Mine was stamped 1960”.
Usually, before being sent to the frontline, the new recruits are not provided with any training. “We didn’t carry out any tactical exercises, no combat cohesion drills, which came as a shock. Some of us didn’t even know how to handle a machine gun, they had never seen a tank, and two days later we were sent to the frontline. The troops have to be trained and tried in battle, how else are they supposed to do their job?”, the outraged volunteer said.
The death toll has surged among the groups of volunteers, according to the estimates of Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service. Most likely, the groups of volunteers are actively engaged in combat. On June 17, there were already 158 volunteers reported dead”. […]
NOVAYA GAZETA: Pupils in Russia will study “the recognition of LNR and DNR”. Ideology makes a strong comeback to Russian education
Russian authorities continue to politicize historical education in schools. The head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, highlighted on the sidelines of a general meeting of the Russian Historical Society, which he heads, the need to reflect “the heroic struggle of the people of Donbass” in school textbooks. Later, TASS announced that Rosobrnadzor “doesn’t exclude the possibility” that graduation exams should include questions about Russia’s recognition of LNR and DNR, shortly after the textbooks are edited and the “Introduction to Recent History” module starts being taught in schools. Novaya Gazeta explains what that means for schools in Russia.
The issue of Russia’s annexation of Crimea has long been included in history textbooks for 11th graders. Textbooks were gradually changed, all mentions about Ukraine were eliminated. Yet, overall, history classes have not been overideologised, as the case has been with group classes or school activities that are part of the patriotic education or military education program. Since the start of the war, schools were notified specifically with respect to history classes: teachers were told to explain to the pupils what was happening in an ideologically correct manner. The Institute for Education Development Strategies was the initiator of such a class: “The Heroes of our Time”, which was taught in most schools in Russia on March 11.
This spring, the website of the Institute published an anonymous curriculum for the 9th-grade module “Introduction to the Recent History of Russia”. On April 29, it was approved by the Federation Association for General Education. At the time, no mention was made to the recognition of DNR and LNR, since the curriculum had been drafted the previous year. By May-June, the phrase “the recognition of DNR and LNR by the Russian Federation (2022)” had already appeared in the draft.
The authors of the curriculum recommend one hour to be allocated to the introduction and conclusion, with four major topics being considered in-between. The first three – milestones in Russian history in the 20th century: the revolution, the Patriotic War, the collapse of the USSR and the “formation of a new Russia (1992-1999)”. The fourth theme is the revival of the country starting 2000: the reunification of Crimea with Russia”.
This category includes the top milestones of the “rebirth of the country”, starting with “the investiture of the president of the Russian Federation, V.V. Putin” and followed by “the restoration of the country’s unified legal framework”, the fight against terrorism, strengthening the army, national projects, “restoring Russia’s position as a leader in international relations”, “the reunification of Crimea with Russia”, in detail. Pupils will also study the elaboration of family policies, the fight against the coronavirus, and major economic projects (the Crimean Bridge, Nord Stream), and even support for gifted children at the Sirius (educational) center. The curriculum also includes amendments to the Constitution and ends with “the recognition of the DNR and LNR republics by Russia”.
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