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In the lists appear. New data on the dead in Syria “Wagner”

06 September 2018

· Mark Krutov

Mercenaries of the “Wagner PMC” in Syria

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The Security Service of Ukraine published recently the personal data of nine other people who, according to her information, fought in Syria as part of the “PMC Wagner” and died February 7 in a battle near the city of Deir ez Zor in an attempt to attack the position of the “Syrian Democratic Forces” and the US military advisers who helped them (see the details of this clash here ). Earlier, on July 26, the SBU, at a special briefing, released data on 41 of the dead in this clash. In total, according to representatives of the Ukrainian special services, that day more than 80 mercenaries from Russia and other countries were killed near Deir-ez-Zor.

Most of them had previously fought in the east of Ukraine on the side of the separatists “DNR” and “LNR”. The total number of participants in the fight from the side of the “WWG’s PWC”, which the SBU managed to confirm, is 206 people. Independent experts tend to evaluate the published data as reliable, despite the lack of direct evidence in the public domain and denial by relatives of some of the dead.

The figures published by the Security Service correspond roughly to the data of the US command about the fight on February 7. On February 16, Lieutenant-General Jeffrey Harrigian (the head of the US Air Force Central Command, responsible in particular for operations in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan) confirmed the previously named number of 100 “Wagneri” dead. According to Harrigian, on the part of the international coalition assisted by the “Syrian Democratic Forces”, F-15E fighters, MQ-9 percussion drone, AC-130 attack aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters participated in the battle.

Earlier, journalists already managed to talk with relatives and friends of some of the victims in this battle (read about it here , here and here ). Their motives were similar: basically it was a desire to quickly earn a large sum of money to ensure the comfortable existence of themselves and their families in Russia. The names and surnames of some people from the “SBU list”, for example Alexey Shikhov, Ruslan Gavrilov, Alexei Lodygin and others, have already been called independent investigators in connection with the February 7 battle.

The profiles of most of the people on the list have long been removed, but representatives of the Ukrainian special services maintain that the stored copies of evidence from open sources are at their disposal (some screenshots from the profiles of the deceased Wagnerites were shown at the SBU briefing on July 26).

As representatives of the SBU say, all data will be gradually provided for publication to journalists. On September 5, the day after the publication of the new 9 names and surnames of the soldiers killed at Deir-ez-Zor by the “PMC Wagner”, the first such publication appeared on the Moldovan information and political portal AVA. It is dedicated to the 30-year-old native of the Moldovan village of Floreshty Vladislav Apostol , the holder of Russian and Moldovan citizenship.

Mercenaries of the “Wagner PMC” in Syria, Vladislav Apostol – leftmost

Vladislav Apostol, as follows from the photos on the page of his mother Lyudmila in the social network Odnoklassniki (now the page is open only for friends), fought not only in Syria, but also in Chechnya, as well as in eastern Ukraine. On the death of his son, Lyudmila the Apostle, who openly called him “a mercenary”, learned only on May 15. However, we did not succeed in confirming that Vladislav the Apostle died in the battle near Deir-ez-Zor on February 7: his friends in social networks did not write about the date of death, and in a conversation with Radio Liberty Lyudmila Apostol refused to give details about the circumstances of Vladislav’s death (although she admitted that Vladislav was her son and fought in Syria):

“Why do you need to know how my son died and how did he get to Syria? Do you think that I’ll just take everything and tell you so?” I would like to know how this all got on Moldovan television? (After publication on the website ava .md the stories about Vladislav the Apostle were shown on the air of several Moldovan TV channels.) – Who gave permission? You are climbing where you are not supposed to climb .If I thought it necessary to say something, I would have already reported. I do not know anything about the SBU, nor about Ukraine, I’m generally out of politics. Who, where, how did I die – it’s perfect for me about not interesting, “- said Lyudmila Apostle voice messages sent in the” Classmates “correspondent of Radio Liberty.

Unlike the briefing on July 26, September 5, SBU did not publish screenshots from the pages of the dead “Wagnerov” in social networks, limiting themselves to photos of their faces. Radio Liberty managed to find information about some of them in open sources, as well as talk with a relative of one of the deceased. He claims that the person whose data was published by the Security Service of Ukraine was never in Syria, but was killed in an accident in Saudi Arabia, where he worked as an engineer on a drilling rig.

Vladimir Viktorovich Vertinsky in February 2018 was 64 years old – he became the oldest member of the “SBU list”. According to the intelligence service, he was born and lived in the Kurgan region. The last place of residence is in the village of Petropavlovskoye, in the Kataisky district. As Radio Liberty found out, he was a member of the “initiative group of the Cossacks” of the village , in 2014 he was elected a deputy of the Petropavlovsk rural Duma.

Another person, whom the Security Service considers a participant in the battle of Deir-ez-Zor, is 34-year-old Artem Valentinovich Koutsar . According to the SBU, he lived in the Chita region, in the village of Makkaveevskoye. The list of villagersindicated that he was a veteran of the fighting in the Chechen Republic. Worked in a taxi .

The 36-year-old Ilsur Ismagilovich Nurtdinov was born in the village of Tundinka in the Mari region of the Kemerovo region, lived in Krasnoyarsk, was involved in cargo transportation, and was registered as an individual entrepreneur. The Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs states that on March 12, 2018, a month after the Battle of Deir ez Zor, the activities of the IP were “discontinued due to death.” Approximately at the same time , the activity of an IP registered by another participant in the “Security Service of the Security Service” Yevgeny Baskakov (he was engaged in the production of furniture in his native Pyatigorsk) was terminated .

Direct evidence that these people (as well as the rest of nine identified by the SBU on September 4) were killed in the Battle of Deir-ez-Zor, the Security Service of Ukraine was not represented, and direct evidence of this in open sources of Radio Liberty also failed to find direct confirmation. Moreover, the relatives of one of the people from the “SBU list” categorically deny that he ever visited Syria, and they say that he died allegedly in Saudi Arabia – but they also can not provide this with any evidence. It is about Stepan Valentinovich Solomatov , born in 1990. SBU calls him “a close relative of Russian musicians from Moscow – Valentina Solomatova and Yuri Andreychuk.”

Yuri Andreychuk, translator, teacher, singer of Irish folk songs in Irish and English as part of the “Soldiers of the Siders” group, told Radio Liberty that Stepan Solomatov was indeed the son of bard Valentin Solomatov , the ex-husband of his sister. Valentin Solomatov died in a car accident in 2006, in addition to Stepan, he still had one more son from his first marriage, Ignat.

“Valentin Solomatov is my sister’s ex-husband, he died in a car accident,” Yuri Andreychuk told Radio Liberty.- He had two sons, Ignat and Stepan.Ignat is still alive, the youngest, Stepan, died in March on a drilling rig in Saudi His brother received a body, I saw the body, I saw a death certificate signed by a consul in Saudi Arabia, where Stepan was employed as an engineer for the oilfields, and already traveled twice. I saw oilmen from his firm who were at the funeral. Syria – this information is sucked from a finger: si Most likely, the SBU takes lists of Russian citizens who died in the region, and adds the names of those who somehow fit the deadlines into the lists of “mercenaries”.

There is also a post about the death of Stepan Solomatov in Saudi Arabia in a group specially created by his friends, in which they discussed the organization of the funeral (a link , a saved copy ). At the same time, neither in this group, nor in a special photo album of Stepan Solomatov’s memory, does not have a single photograph of the deceased, apparently made in Saudi Arabia. Yuri Andreychuk and one of Stepan Solomatov’s friends could not provide Radio Liberty with any evidence that he worked in this country. From the words of Stepan’s friend it follows that he did not know where Solomatov was at all: “I thought he was in a banal spree.” Brother Stepan Solomatova, Ignat, did not respond to the reports of Radio Liberty.

At the same time, Solomatova’s friend published a photograph in the group of his memory , which stands out among a number of other photographs. On it Solomatov is depicted in camouflage, a green object resembling a mouthpiece of a hydrator (“jellyfish”), a special flask often used by the military in hot countries , also fell into the frame . However, the “jellyfish” is an ordinary accessory and for the game in airsoft, which, judging from the photographs in the same group, was fond of Solomatov.

Stepan Solomatov was cremated on April 20, on July 25 Ignat Solomatov dispatched his ashes over the castle of the Kantara Crusaders in North Cyprus in accordance with the wishes of the deceased.

The SBU of Ukraine was unable to promptly provide Radio Liberty with confirmation of Stepan Solomatov’s participation in the fighting in Syria, assuming that this will be done in the future. However, the head of the apparatus of the head of the SBU Igor Guskov in an interview with Radio Liberty insists on the absolute reliability of the list of those killed in the battle near Deir-ez-Zor:

– How did the SBU manage to obtain data on citizens of Russia, Ukraine and other countries that fought as mercenaries in Syria and died in the Battle of Deir ez Zor? How did you manage, in particular, to establish that their death was connected with this fight?

– Unfortunately, I will not answer this question. You understand that all intelligence and counterintelligence are very sacredly guarding their secrets. The only thing I can say is that for four years we have passed a good school of the aggression that is going against us, and we have learned to work with dignity. We use operational data, we work in an open space.

– So you are 100 percent sure that all these people fought in Syria as mercenaries?

“Our confidence is even greater than one hundred percent.” During the security briefing, which was a month ago, we said the number – we managed to identify more than 200 people. For 41 people, we had at that time evidence that came from social networks: photos of these people in the corresponding Syrian landscape, or in the Ukrainian Donbass, or their relatives themselves told how these people died, how it was all hidden, how their forced to remain silent. That is, the corresponding Proofs are given for each name. Yesterday we identified nine more names, and believe me, they are exactly the same situation – under each of these names, if you carefully read the report of the SBU, it is written, we are ready to provide additional open evidence. In particular, the material has already been published in one of the Moldovan information agencies,(in the publication of the site ava.md there is a screenshot of the commentary, in which the mother of the Apostle says only that her son was “in Syria on February 7.” – RS Note). For all of the victims we have evidence that we can present to journalists, that these people did not just fight, but died or died from wounds as a result of the battle from February 7 to February 8 this year in Syria. When we received this information in February, we did not hurry to issue it, because we understood that it would “hang in the air”, that we need to present the evidence that will be perceived by independent journalists who want to understand this situation.

The transfer of bodies of the dead in March and April was actually stopped, only after the presidential election the coffins were again brought back

We also noted that the transfer of bodies of the deceased to relatives in March and April was actually stopped, and only after the presidential elections the coffins again began to be brought slowly, giving people the opportunity to bury their loved ones. After we saw that we were trying to give out that one of them was killed in the Donbas, someone was killed in Syria, but in May or June, we provided evidence, including correspondence on social networks where relatives say , that it is not true that they died in February, but the corpses were brought in late March, in April, some even in early May. In my opinion, it is enough for each of the names listed in the list of SBU to go to the site “Peacemaker” (blocked in Russia site, at which Ukrainian activists publish data of war participants in the east of Ukraine and in Syria, as well as people who supported the annexation of the Crimea or visited the peninsula bypassing Ukraine. – Note. PC) , find this name and see all the links and all the screenshots that are there to make up an independent opinion (all the figurants of the “SBU list” really are on the “Peacemaker”, but far from all of them on the site there is such evidence, more In many cases, the only evidence on the “Peacemaker” is the reference to the news of the deceased in the Battle of Deir-ez-Zor on the website of the Security Service itself. To date, we note that more than 80 percent of those who fought or are currently fighting in Syria as part of the so-called “Wagner PMC”,

– How SBU estimates the total number of participants in the Battle of Deir ez-Zorom and could you clarify whether some previously unknown or disputed facts of this fight?

– To date, we identified 206 people, we know the names, names, patronymics, personal data, we know that these people were there, took part [in this battle] to some extent. To date, we have clearly established that more than 80 of them have died, and we will be monotonous, quietly, in parts to make public certain data. We do not dance on the heads of the dead, you know, we want to convey the truth. As for the circumstances of the battle, if you look at the screenshots of the correspondence in the social networks of its participants, which are known at the moment, it is very clearly described there that it was actually destruction. An order was given, they directly speak about this, to take the plant, and in the framework of the execution of this order they received a blow in response from the forces of the coalition. But this is not our goal – to savor the circumstances. We for ourselves want to clearly confirm that those people,

We do not dance on the heads of the dead

– Which of the persons on this list, in your opinion, deserves special attention?

– From the point of view of the evidence, this is the story of a person who has dual citizenship of Russia and Moldova. He participated in the fighting in the North Caucasus, unfortunately, he killed us here in the Donbass, and was killed in Syria. It is significant that my mother calls him “mercenary”. They were not builders of the “Russian world”, they did not collect strawberries in Syria, they fought for money.

– You say that you will provide collected materials only at the request of journalists. Do you plan to just publish them publicly?

– We give official information. We are currently cooperating with several groups, including volunteer and journalistic, we pass on what we have. If you take the last list of nine names, then after a while each of them will have a short story that relatives wrote, how they were buried. For each of them there will be additional information, we pass it on to those journalists who are trusted in terms of the fact that they will double-check it, but at the same time will place this material.

“I’m interested in information about one of the people on this list.” This is Stepan Valentinovich Salamatov, born in 1990.

“I understand your interest.” If you carefully look at the Salamatov memory group created in VKontakte, you will see fake data that he died almost in Saudi Arabia, allegedly went to work as an engineer at the plant. These are not the first relatives who say so. In fact, it’s easy enough to double-check: he left his passport, you can ask for a passport and see visas, and you will immediately answer all questions at once, where he was, “says Igor Guskov, the head of the SBU head’s staff.

Ruslan Leviev of the independent investigation group Conflict Intelligence Team isinclined to consider the “list of the Security Service” as reliable, but calls to be cautious about the information published by the Ukrainian special services:

– The list looks pretty believable. Indeed, we already know some of these names, some have seen additionally, and apparently, these people died precisely in the same battle on February 7. We also contacted some of our colleagues, in particular Denis Korotkov (former journalist of the Fontanka website, who was investigating the activities of the PMC Wagner) , and he also says that the list looks rather plausible. In addition, the Security Service of Ukraine calls the total number of deaths in that battle – about 80 people, which also roughly corresponds to our estimates of the number of losses of the Wagner group in a clash on February 7. Therefore, with some caution, but I would say that the information published by the SBU looks quite reliable.

“More than six months have passed since the battle took place. Did you manage to clarify some circumstances of this event? Or the most reliable versions were expressed then and since then nothing has changed?

– Since then, nothing has changed much. In many respects, thanks to the first hype that took place in February, March and the next two to three months, it seems to us that the Wagner Group and their representatives sharply strengthened their activities in terms of information security. And we ourselves, and many Russian journalists who are engaged in the topic of Wagner, noted that in the following months, the number of reports of those killed in action on February 7 in social networks fell sharply, and the relatives abruptly ceased to categorically refuse any interaction, communication with the press . That fight was too media loud, therefore, it seems to us that representatives of the Wagner group and representatives of Russian law enforcement agencies made every effort to contact the relatives of the Wagnerites, whose names were not yet known,

– Now there is a lot of talk about the participation of the “PMC Wagner” in this or that capacity in the activities in the Central African Republic. Among the soldiers of the “Wagner PMC” in Syria are military retirees, people who are 50, 60 years old. It is hard to believe that they can perform some serious tasks in a country like the CAR. Does this mean that the staff of the “PMC Wagner” for the CARs has undergone major changes?

“We have not yet met the specific names of people from the Wagner group, who now serve in the Central African Republic. I suspect that a more professional staff was selected for Africa, most likely from those who already took part in the battles in Syria, because they already have real combat experience. In Syria, the tactic is somewhat different, there, as we see from the statements of the relatives of the dead fighters, they are mainly used as “cannon fodder”, and not as some super elite squadron squad. Therefore, some super-training, super-mental, super-health, apparently, was not required. They took all, including such pensioners. So far, as we have seen from the few photos of mercenaries in Africa, there are mostly younger, more suitable under the definition of “spetsnaz” guys, – says Ruslan Leviev .

Soon, perhaps, to get any information about the Russians fighting in Syria or dealing with security in Africa, will become even more difficult. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decreeon the inclusion in the list of information classified as state secret, “on foreign intelligence officers employed by the intelligence services of the Russian Federation who are not members of the cadre”. It is not excluded that under this definition, which was not previously met in Russian legislative acts, the Wagnerites will also fall: the data of independent investigations have repeatedly shown that the management of this group is carried out by the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense (former Main Intelligence Agency, GRU) In particular, before being sent to Syria, the soldiers of the “WVC’s” are trained on the base near the village of Molkino in the Krasnodar Territory, in the same territory as the 10th Special Brigade of the GRU.

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Mark Krutov

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KrotovM@rferl.org

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Le Monde reported on the deployment in the CARs of mercenaries from the “PMC Wagner”

13 June 2018

Battalion of the government army of the CAR

An armed contingent from Russia is stationed in the Central African Republic to “provide security” to the president of the CAR Fosten-Arkanjah Tuader and train local military personnel. This is reported by “Novaya Gazeta” referring to the French Le Monde.

The publication writes about arriving in the country five cadre military intelligence officers and 170 civilian instructors. It is alleged that formally they work for two private military companies – Sewa Security Services and Lobaye Ltd. However, as the experts told the newspaper, it is a question of “Russian mercenaries” from the so-called “private military company Wagner” (“PMC Wagner”), which is allegedly connected with businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is called a friend of the Russian president.

It is noted that the “envoys of Moscow” settled 60 kilometers from the capital of the CAR of Bangui – on the territory of the former residence of the ex-emperor of the country Jean-Bedel Bocassa. According to Le Monde, the task of Russians is to protect the head of state in conditions of ethno-religious conflict. The administration of Tuaderi controls only the capital and its environs. On the rest of the territory armed clashes between Muslim and Christian groups are regularly taking place.

The administration of the Tuaderi confirmed the arrival of a detachment of Russian military specialists in the republic to strengthen the security of the head of state, writes Le Monde. According to her, armed Russian specialists have unlimited access to the schedule and environment of the head of state. It is noted that one of the Moscow “advisers” coordinates the presidential bodyguards, combining this post with the position of an intermediary between Russia and the CAR in military and economic spheres.

In April, Radio Liberty reported that Russian military instructors, advisers and mercenaries from private military companies appeared in Central and Eastern Africa. At the same time, it was said that Russian political strategists began to work in the run-up to elections in several African states.

“PMC Wagner” gained fame after media reports on the participation of this group in armed conflicts in eastern Ukraine, Syria and other regions where Russia, as experts say, prefers to hide its state participation. Moscow denies involvement in the activities of “PMC Wagner.” Earlier, the State Duma raised the question of how to legislate the status of private military companies.

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https://www.svoboda.org/a/27283566.html

“Many now go to Syria”

02 October 2015

· Mark Krutov

The flag of “Novorossia” and the phones for recording in the “militia” – graffiti on one of the streets of Donetsk

How Donetsk lives in the context of the Minsk agreements, “extended” on Friday until 2016

On Friday in Paris , the heads of state of the so-called “Norman Quartet” for the settlement of the situation in the Donbass – the presidents of Russia, France and Ukraine Vladimir Putin, Francois Hollande, Peter Poroshenko, as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel. From this meeting, observers waited for a statement of the cessation of hostilities in the east of Ukraine, where a “silence regime” operates on the dividing line between the separatists and the Ukrainian army from September 1. In fact, it happened and it is difficult to name the results of the meeting as a breakthrough. According to the statementHolland, the action of the Minsk Peace Agreements may be extended until 2016 – if the parties are not able to agree on holding local elections in the Donbass under Ukrainian law until the deadline (December 31, 2015). In the self-proclaimed “people’s republics” the outcome of the talks is promised to be commented on next week.

Thus, the situation in the Donbass remains in a “limbo” state. What’s next? Will the Donbas be “exchanged” by Putin for Syria? Radio Liberty recently published an interview with a journalist who left Donetsk , who is confident that Russia is not going to leave this region. Today we publish a conversation with a pro-Ukrainian resident of this city, who has never left the territory of the DNR during the war, and does not doubt that the reintegration of the Donbas regions occupied by the separatists into Ukraine is only a matter of time.

In the past week, the contact group for monitoring compliance with the Minsk Peace Accords initialed an agreement to withdraw from the front line of weapons with a caliber of less than 100 millimeters. As I stated shortly afterwards one of the leaders of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” Denis Pushilin now war in Donbass can be considered “fully completed”. However, according to the Ukrainian authorities, on the way to the implementation of the Minsk agreements remains an important obstacle – local elections, which the separatists refused to conduct under Ukrainian law and on the same day with the elections in Ukraine on October 25.

Denis Pushilin

“Grab the popcorn and set up receivers on Syria,” – he wrote in facebook popular Donetsk blogger Stanislav Vasin – author ironic notes about what is happening in the “DNR” and one of the few supporters of the preservation of Donbass as a part of Ukraine, never left him throughout the war. According to him, many of those who yesterday fought on “Novorossiia”, now go to the Middle East. Radio Liberty talked with Stanislav Vasin about the state of Donetsk’s approach to the “end of the war” declared by the authorities of the “DNR”, how life is organized here, whether the economy works, how much the Donbass depends on Moscow’s subsidies and whether Donetsk expects an early reintegration of the employed separatists of regions to Ukraine:

– Most of the residents of Donetsk, standing on the pro-Ukrainian position, left after the war. Why did you stay?

– First, in order to understand what is happening, it is necessary to be inside the situation that you want to understand. No news images, no media will be able to describe and convey what is happening here, starting from the emotional picture, when shells and mines lie next to what the person who is here feels. Secondly, maybe it will sound paradoxical, but the fact is that I’m not sure that I would feel comfortable enough, having moved to the territory under Ukraine’s control. Despite the fact that I completely disagree with people who joined the ranks of the “militia,” as a person from Donbass I do not attach extreme nationalism, which to this day are full of the minds of many of my fellow citizens in Ukraine. Despite all the differences, I talk with those who are fighting for the “DNR”, in one language, because he himself is from this region. Living in Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk or Kharkov, I’m not sure that the dialogue would be in one language.

– Do you think part of Donbass of Ukraine, or it should have a special status?

– No, there are no alternatives for me here, Donbass is the territory of Ukraine!

Graffiti on the wall of a house in Donetsk, March 2014

– If we imagine that tomorrow Donetsk returned to Ukraine – how much there is people like you, people standing on the pro-Ukrainian position and not left on the armed conflict?

– My personal social sample suggests that there are very few of them, but it does not represent the entire Donbass. Among my relatives and friends, only one girl stands on the pro-Ukrainian position, all the others support the idea of ​​a “people’s republic” to a greater or lesser degree, someone has joined the ranks of the militia, some do not care. Probably, the share of pro-Ukrainian people between 30 and 40 percent, at best. Based on what I see, and from the conversations that are available to me.

– Was there something in Donetsk that reminded him of his existence as a part of Ukraine and could somehow serve his reintegration as a part of the united Ukrainian state?

“There’s not much left.” Here no one speaks Ukrainian, with the possible exception of some peripheral villages, where “surzhik” is present even among those who support the “DNR”. So with the [Ukrainian] language there are no difficulties here – nobody communicates with it. Ukrainian symbols, of course, are banned. On the territory of the “DNR” is not even worth the risk, hanging the Ukrainian flag on some public buildings, shops or just on your balcony – it will be pursued. There are no such severe reprisals for Ukrainian views. They were about a year ago, then the idea of ​​”tapping on a neighbor if he is loyal to the Ukrainian authorities is probably a spy and a saboteur” was very widely spread. But then there were still active hostilities, and the MGB (““DNR” suspected literally every second. Now, because of the lull, this is not the main theme.

– That is, acts principle , similar to the one that operated until recently in the US Army against members of sexual minorities – “do not ask – do not tell”, ” do not ask – do not tell”?

– Yes, yes, approximately so.

– You have a lot of friends among the so-called “volunteers”, many of them still keep weapons in their hands, how many have returned to civilian life? Why did they go to war?

“I am completely against the point of view, according to which the current war in the Donbass is exclusively Mr. Putin’s plan. This is completely wrong. You can not take revenge of all under one comb, in each case it is an individual choice. What is happening today in the Donbass, it’s not just the realization of the thoughts of one person from the Kremlin, to a large extent the “Russian world” was waiting here. And I’m afraid that they have been waiting for years, and the worst thing is that even now many people continue to wait for him, they go with the thoughts “Russia, come!”. Donbass has always been a fertile ground for these ideas, and it was necessary, of course, to throw some seeds, so that here something sprouted, and nothing would sprout without Putin. My friends, who mostly support the “DNR”, most of the people from the house where I lived, joined the “militia” largely under the influence of external circumstances. It’s clear that propaganda matters, but many simply lost their jobs, and, poking around, not finding themselves even as porters, and many of them working in factories, factories, mines and so on, they were simply forced, not to die of hunger, go to the militia.

From the stories of Stanislav Vasin – “People of IKS in Donetsk”:

“The picture of the day: the entrance to Amstor, or more precisely – the exit.There are two red mugs with a white rectangle on the door.At the door there is a camouflage drunk in the trash, which cuts through the air with the hands, hoping, apparently, to get on the photocell.In short, the doors do not open , while two meters away from him people quietly go in. Near the “militiaman” is already a decent company of some schoolchildren who are in full bursting from the free show. “To approach and guide the true path no one dares either” because I do not care “, then whether “because sho do not care” – then everyone himself chooses a local dialect I did not do it either, but … on the way back, it turned out that the scarecrow is still standing at the door, but to exit anyway through them. “I go out.” The genius mutter something in my direction, like “bro, give on beer”. Due to his padded legs and the lack of an automaton, I was already quite bold and advised him to pick up a pair of trolleys that stood right there, saying “there coins will drop out, right now the course is normal.” And what do you think? I already tensed, expecting some kind of “rebuff” – he silently turns around and walks, rolls the carts)). “You give the militiamen a job!” – you take Donetsk without a fight) “.

“Militia” in Donetsk

– The question was this: either move to Ukraine and start life from scratch, or just go to the mine for 600-700 hryvnia, which practically do not pay, shells, missiles are falling next to you, you are hardly lifted from the ground … It was October-November Last year, serious funding began for the “Army of the People’s Republic of France,” and there they paid from 300 to 360 dollars. There you also risk your life, but not so stupid as if you just die under fire. Therefore, many went to the militia under the influence of external circumstances. Then, when I met them six months later, in eight months, they were completely different people. There they were brainwashed completely, and they are really protecting the “Russian world”, fighting for the holy land. Personality of a person is radically changing. Today’s militia are already quite specific people. A man is fighting a year and a half, risked his life, constantly was under missiles and “Grads”, and suddenly he was put up to guard some private garage – and today it happens very often due to the so-called truce. Such people behave specifically. Alcoholism in the “army of the People’s Democratic Republic” is gaining today just an industrial scale.

How do you even imagine this? I commanded the battery Grads, and that, again, will I interfere with the solution?

I think this is already a one-way ticket, these people will never go to factories, factories. Because the psychological changes that occur to them, they are cardinal. I talked with such people. I have a close friend, he fought, two or three months ago he left the ranks of the “DNR”. And before that he covered the seams in our district. And I ask him if he is going to return to that life, and he says: “How do you even imagine this? I commanded the battery Grads, and that, again, I will interfere with the solution? For me it is impossible!”. Now he is trying to enter the Emergencies Ministry, to return to some units that are on the front line. These people can not afford to simply be in the location of the unit, not fighting, after they passed Debaltsevo, Ilovaysk and have a cardinal combat experience. It is very difficult for them to be at rest, not to mention returning to the machine. This, unfortunately, is the most lost generation that Hemingway and many other writers once wrote about. Young people who have passed the front, are no longer able to find themselves in a peaceful life. It’s no coincidence that many of them now go to Syria and other hot spots.

– You know those people who have already left or are going to go to war from the Donbass in Syria?

– I had an acquaintance who said it some six months ago, when there were still fighting. He said: if the war in the Donbas ends in approximately the same way as it ends now, that is, no one will win and it will all hang in the air, he will go to Syria. I have not seen him for several months and I do not know if he is still alive and where he is now. There are such people.

– A Russian military, whether they were in Donetsk and, if so, whether they have withdrawn from the city?

– For the entire period of my stay in Donetsk, I have not seen a single Russian military officer in the form in which they were in the Crimea. That is, going to Donetsk streets, you will not see smart, slender professional military men in a new form without identification signs that walk the streets. Militiamen go around here, and this can be seen even from the bearing. Perhaps many of them were former military men, they had combat experience, but the regular Russian units, if they are deployed, and they are deployed, judging by the numerous evidence provided by the Ukrainian side, they do not stand within the city limits. As far as I know, they tend to stand on the periphery, very close to the Russian border .

“Grad” at the rehearsal of the Victory Parade in Donetsk, May 5, 2015

As for the instructors, there is nothing to hide here – tank units, for example, are being prepared exclusively in Russia, near Taganrog. My friend, who worked on “Castle”, and before that kneaded solution to manage such a machine, as the BM-21 ( “Grad” . – MS) was just not able to. It was taught by Russian instructors, this is also a fact. From the stories of my acquaintances from the militia, I know that the Russian military actively participated in the Ilovaiskii kettle. They said: first we entered, without uniform, someone in sports pants, with what got, and then the Russian military entered in a new uniform and with new equipment and “crumbled the dill”. But there was no such situation, as in the Crimea, in Donetsk.

From the stories of Stanislaw Vasina – Ukrainian language in Donetsk:

“They often ask how things are in Donetsk with the Ukrainian language today, a small illustrative example: I was now climbing Lenin Square, talking on the phone in Ukrainian with a girl from Lviv.” I see a shoulder patch “Somalia” from behind my shoulder, in a second he passes the fighter in camouflage, with a gun on his hip and looks intently into his face, takes several steps forward, staring at me, turning away and silently moving on, an example that does not illustrate the general situation, but somehow still talking. this on the same prospectus drove three small wagons with a red cross.On the windshields – printouts on the A4 “cargo 200”.

Celebrating the anniversary of the “referendum on the independence of the People’s Republic of Germany”, Donetsk, May 11, 2015

– You say that many are still waiting for the “Russian world” in Donetsk, and that he did not yet come?

“The Russian world” may have come to a certain degree, but this is an ephemeral concept. I used it simply as a figure of speech, because many expected the same development of events as in the Crimea. They expected that there would be a certain push from the separatists, then a referendum on the independence of the “DNR”, and then a week later everyone expected a referendum on joining the Russian Federation. That did not happen. “DNR” is not exactly what I wanted, because initially everyone thought of the categories of Russia. Here Russia is a great country, a fraternal people. And an independent state inside an incomprehensible geopolitical space is probably the people of Strelkov, “ideological,” thought about it, who all founded it. Ordinary people for the most part focused on Russia, which will take them into its composition. This did not happen, does not happen and, most likely, will not happen. But many still, really, expect this. But the “Russian world” – it’s not just any ideas, but pork for 400 rubles, a pension of 2 thousand rubles, constant repression in relation to dissenters. If you look at this idea in an abstract way, you can discuss it, and maybe we will come to the conclusion that this is not so bad, but in reality, as everything is shown in the Donbass, it’s terrible! Of course, people who fight in the militia, who give their lives, risk, you will not be told. They will say: “Yes, I am ready to fight, just not to be part of Ukraine.” Neither I can convince them, nor they can not convince me over the past year and a half. Russian world “is not only some ideas, but also 400 rubles pork, a 2,000-ruble pension, constant repressions against dissenters.If you look at this idea in an abstract way, you can discuss it, and maybe we we come to the fact that this is not so bad, but in reality, as everything is shown in the Donbass, it’s terrible! Of course, people who fight in the militia, who give their lives, risk, you will not be told about it. : “Yes, I am ready to fight, just not to be part of Ukraine.” Neither I can convince them, nor they can not change me ereubedit over the year and a half. Russian world “is not only some ideas, but also 400 rubles pork, a 2,000-ruble pension, constant repressions against dissenters.If you look at this idea in an abstract way, you can discuss it, and maybe we we come to the fact that this is not so bad, but in reality, as everything is shown in the Donbass, it’s terrible! Of course, people who fight in the militia, who give their lives, risk, you will not be told about it. : “Yes, I am ready to fight, just not to be part of Ukraine.” Neither I can convince them, nor they can not change me ereubedit over the year and a half. we will come to the fact that this is not so bad, but in reality, as everything is shown in the Donbass, it’s terrible! Of course, people who fight in the militia, who give their lives, risk, you will not be told. They will say: “Yes, I am ready to fight, just not to be part of Ukraine.” Neither I can convince them, nor they can not convince me over the past year and a half. we will come to the fact that this is not so bad, but in reality, as everything is shown in the Donbass, it’s terrible! Of course, people who fight in the militia, who give their lives, risk, you will not be told. They will say: “Yes, I am ready to fight, just not to be part of Ukraine.” Neither I can convince them, nor they can not convince me over the past year and a half.

– As it is now, in a peaceful environment, but outside the jurisdiction of Ukraine living the so-called “DNR”? Does the economy work? Are there any products in stores and do people have money to buy them, if there is, then where does this money come from?

One of the machines of the Russian “humanitarian convoy” in Donetsk

“Khodakovsky, one of the leaders of the separatist movement, answered this question very well, today he heads the” Vostok “battalion. He frankly said just a couple of weeks ago in one interview, that 70% of the budget of the “DNR” is the funds that come from Russia. He commented this in such a way that those humanitarian convoys that come here are just a drop in the bucket. The number of working enterprises has decreased at times, and the local population, especially pensioners, remains in the majority and requires funding in the form of scholarships, salaries to state employees and the same pensions, which, although scanty, but paid. To do it out of those drops of taxes that come to the budget of the “DNR” from still operating enterprises is absolutely impossible, no one would pay anything, based only on the money of those enterprises that remained here. Therefore, money, of course, comes from the Russian Federation, which provides and “militia.” Although recently with the financing of the army – this is my insider information – big problems began. It is because of this that there is a certain outflow of people. Basically, this is Russia’s money. The trade sphere here mainly operates, of course, the products are needed by everyone and always, even during the war. The mines and factories are somehow functioning, but here again there must be a certain qualification, and there also have problems with the salary.

– I recently spoke with the Donetsk journalist who was forced to go to Kiev-controlled territory , it is certain that no question about Russia’s withdrawal from the Donbas, no matter what the Minsk agreement. Do you have a feeling that Moscow is preparing somehow for these territories to return to Ukraine?

– Of course! I would even say that most people have this feeling. Even those who still hope for Putin. They openly say that “our idea is being drained”. It is clear that the project “Novorossiya” from Odessa to Kharkiv is completely closed, it is impossible. Even to take now Mariupol, I need I do not know what physical costs, means and how much time. The Donetsk airport was taken almost a year, and to seize the territory from Odessa to Kharkov … it is absolutely impossible. That is, the project “Novorossiya” is finally closed. As for the “DNR”, it is quite obvious that “ideological” people are gradually being removed from here. This is demonstrated by the same last story with Purgin, which slightly diverged in positions with an official point of view. Today she is mostly represented by Pushilin, not even Zakharchenko, but Pushilin, who is absolutely loyal to the Ukrainian authorities and is unlikely to even participate in the Ukrainian elections. Here, after all, is a perfect paradox, because there are questions that can not be answered. Mr. Zakharchenko constantly says that “we are an independent state that has nothing to do with Ukraine, and Ukraine will not enter here”, I literally quote one of his recent interviews. The question arises: which election processes can be discussed in the context of the constitution of another state, that is, the Ukrainian one? And it is about this is constantly bidding. That is, people who give their lives do not understand how to talk about it, not just what to find some points of contact, but in principle: they look at Ukraine as an enemy state that occupied two-thirds of their territory, whose army you just need to break and drive out of the Donetsk region, now the “DNR”. It seems that the same thing is declared at the top, but the negotiation process in Minsk is completely different.

“DNR” is a painful wound on the body of Ukraine, which Moscow constantly pulls in the case of the smallest movements of Ukraine towards the West

Therefore, yes, it is quite obvious, and the majority understands that “DNR” is a painful wound on the body of Ukraine, which Moscow constantly pulls in the case of the smallest movements of Ukraine towards the West. And then a new Marinka appears , new shelling, “boilers”, new Minsk-2, Minsk-3, again agree on something, and Ukraine is again hampered in economic and geopolitical development.

– You are talking about bargaining. Many believe that this auction ended in vain, because local elections will be held in Ukraine on the same day, in DNR and LCN on other dates, that this puts an end to the Minsk agreements, that no bargaining has taken place.

– So this is the essence of this bargaining. The paradox of the situation is that no one moves to the right or to the left. As for the elections, I would not say so unambiguously, because in the “DNR” they are still discussing whether it is necessary to hold these elections on October 18, maybe it is worthwhile holding them in February . Although it is completely unclear what this has to do with Ukraine, if we are an “independent state”. Elections are dust in the eyes, I would say. In fact, “DNR” and “LNR” are considered as a small change, which Russia constantly pushes the West in its own geopolitical interests. As for the intrigues surrounding the elections, this can all be decided within one day. We have already seen something similar to that of Strelkov, when they simply removed the “ideological” person, who saw all this in completely different colors.

Igor Girkin-Strelkov

– Even if you put aside the issue of elections, it is not visible and the special signs that Ukraine is ready to take back the occupied areas of Donbas – at least under the conditions of Moscow. Donbass yet – it’s not even Transnistria, where the open border, where residents receive Moldovan passport and travel on them without visas to Europe. Cross the checkpoint – it’s half a day in the queue, Ukrainian goods get to Donetsk in many ways by smuggling, and so on.

– I can not say that Ukraine is “not ready.” She even in theory should be ready, because she considers it her territory. But on what terms? The negotiations in Minsk are one thing, but no one communicates officially with the side of the “DNR” at a high level. There representatives – Kuchma, Medvedchuk and so on, but mentally they [negotiators from the Ukrainian side] can not descend to the level of people who are considered the heads of terrorist organizations, as the “DNR” and “LNR” were identified in Ukraine.

Therefore, all this is complicated, but in the end, all the same, everything will end with the fact that the “DNR” and “LNR” will somehow remain part of Ukraine. And in what form and how soon – it’s hard to say.

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Mark Krutov

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KrotovM@rferl.org