The US state department has claimed Russian special forces are engaged in covert actions in the Ukraine, citing as evidence controversial photographs that purportedly identify known personnel and show bullet-proof jackets and “Russian-designed weapons like AK-47s”.



At first glance, the US appears to be opening itself up to ridicule by referring to the AK-47, a ubiquitous rifle used for decades in conflicts from the Middle East to Africa and Latin America due to its ease of use.

Armed pro-Russian forces guard a barricade in front of Slovyansk's city hall. The US says weapons used by some forces are Russian-made AK-74s. Photograph: Sergei Grits/AP Photograph: Sergei Grits/AP

But the state department’s assertion is not as dubious at it seems, according to Igor Sutyagin, a Russian affairs specialist at the London-based Royal United Services Institute. “They are a new generation of Kalashnikovs, not the kind it is possible to buy in the shops,” he said. “They are used by the Russian army and extensively used during the takeover in the Crimea.”

The dispute over the provenance of the AK-47 is just one piece of the row over whether the “green men” that have emerged in eastern Ukraine are merely pro-Russian supporters or are being bolstered by Russian special forces and intelligence agencies.

The controversy has been stoked by the US, which has backed pictures circulated by the Ukrainian government purportedly identifying Russian special forces that were part of Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008.

What is in these pictures?

The Ukrainian government sent pictures of pro-Russian separatists to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the pan-continental body whose aims include conflict prevention. According to Ukraine, the pictures offered evidence that Russian special forces and intelligence are engaged.

A collage of pictures shows a figure with a long beard that the Ukrainian government claims is “a soldier of the Russian special forces, who took part in combat operations in Georgia in 2008”, identified in Kramatorsk in Ukraine during the assault on a local police station by amed pro-Russian activists.

The US says the bearded 'green man', to the left of the Ukrainian police officer being arrested in Slavyansk last week, is the same man pictured in Georgia in 2008, below. Photograph: Kommersant/Getty Photograph: Kommersant/Getty

Photograph: PicDesk

Other pictures show groups of men apparently in Russian military uniforms with identifying tags removed. Few would have paid much attention to the pictures until the US state department joined in.

“There has been broad unity in the international community about the connection between Russia and some of the armed militants in eastern Ukraine, and the photos presented by the Ukrainians last week only further confirm this, which is why US officials have continued to make that case,” the state department spokesman Jen Psaki told CNN on Monday.

Do the pictures prove that Russian special forces are engaged in Ukraine?

Any US government should be wary of presenting photographs as proof little more than a decade after Colin Powell displayed at the United Nations photographs incorrectly showing Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.

The Ukrainian pictures do not provide unequivocal proof. The man with the grey beard cited as being in the Ukraine does resemble the one in Georgia in 2008, but only loosely. Close inspection shows the moustache is combed up in one and down in the other, the beards are different lengths, the hair much whiter and there a difference in weight. That could be explained away by the seven-year gap, but it is far from conclusive.

Does this mean Russian special forces are not engaged in eastern Ukraine?

Viacheslav Ponomariov, commander of the pro-Russian forces in east Ukraine, speaks with his troops in Slavyansk. Photograph: Pierre Le Crom/Le Journal/Rex Photograph: PIERRE LE CROM/LE JOURNAL/SI/REX

Russia initially denied that similar tactics were used in Crimea, where Russian soldiers removed their badges and pretended to be Crimean paramilitaries. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, last week admitted that they had been Russian soldiers, but denied special forces and intelligence agents were engaged in the same tactics in eastern Ukraine.

Brigadier Ben Barry, who specialises in land warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which has offices in London and Washington, offers a cautious assessment that hints at the involvement of people with military training.

“Some of the photos and video footage I’ve seen shows armed men acting much more professionally and better-equipped than the vast majority of activists," he said. "But they seem to me to be in a minority. This may be because there are few of them, or they are deliberately staying in the background, or both.”

“My judgment is that there is strong evidence that there are a small number of better-equipped and trained personnel involved with the pro-Russian activists. Are they Russian Spetsnaz [special forces]? Possibly, but I’ve not yet seen a smoking gun,” Barry added.

What other ‘evidence’ is there that Russian special forces and intelligence agents are involved?

The US says many of the pro-Russian militants engaged in seizing government offices in six cities in eastern Ukraine were “outfitted in bullet-proof vests, camouflage uniforms with insignia removed … These armed units, some wearing black and orange St George’s ribbons associated with Russian victory day celebrations … These operations are strikingly similar to those used against Ukrainian facilities during Russia’s illegal military intervention in Crimea in late February and its subsequent occupation.”



But the bullet-proof jackets, the St George’s ribbons and the other paraphernalia mentioned are easily available.

Other evidence? The Ukrainian intelligence services released a recording of what it claimed was an intercepted communication between Russian agents in eastern Ukraine and Russia, basically suggesting that special forces should stay in the background and leave interviews to locals.

Sutyagin says this is among possible pointers to the involvement of Russian special forces. He acknowledged that many Ukrainians involved are genuinely dissatisfied and see a better future with Russia, but he believes they are being backed by special forces. “I do not think the special forces make up less than 10% of those involved,” he said, predicting “a long period of instability ahead”.

