With the approach of deoccupation, the fear and panic of the Crimean collaborators grows, and their actions begin to transform into a continuous system of war crimes, which the Kremlin not only approves, but also provokes with its decisions.
Earlier on the occupied peninsula, traitors led by Serhiy Aksyonov announced the formation of criminal “private military companies” (“PMC”), which will supposedly consist of “local volunteers”.
The information support of this process is also appropriate: almost all telegram channels and “media” of the occupied peninsula spread “advertisements” of the designated criminal “PMC”, which, according to the Crimean collaborators, should influence Crimeans and encourage them to participate in the war against Ukraine.
We are talking about various “PMC”, which, by the way, are not entirely new, because at one time one of them distinguished itself in Syria, and the other was part of the Russian army.
That is, the Kremlin is trying to restore former unsuccessful “projects”, and in this they are betting on their own puppets in the temporarily occupied Crimea. Experts from Association of Reintegration of Crimea investigated the situation surrounding the service provided by the Crimean collaborators of “PMC”.
At the beginning, we should note that since the fall of 2022, criminal advertisements of the terrorist “PMC” “Wagner” began to appear en masse on the occupied peninsula. Local residents noticed her not only on advertising billboards in cities, but also in shuttle taxis.
The criminal advertisement indicated a “salary” of 240,000 rubles and an “age limit” of 24 years. Similar “announcements” are also distributed in “Crimean” telegram channels controlled by the aggressor to this day [1]. In parallel with criminal advertising, the Crimean collaborators have already announced their intention to build a whole “training base” for the “Wagner” mercenaries in the occupied Crimea, for which they announced the “allocation of 500 hectares of land” in the mountainous region of the peninsula [2].
However, the heavy losses of the Kremlin’s mercenaries in Ukraine probably forced the Kremlin to significantly expand their criminal aspirations to replenish the “cannon fodder” at the expense of the Crimean residents, who are simply trying to throw them into the hell of war against Ukraine. It is likely that the new “Wagner” base will be used for the criminal training of mercenaries, whom the collaborators will be able to recruit to the specified “PMC”.
Criminal recruitment in the “PMC” has already begun, and the main candidates for mercenaries are “former military personnel and representatives of law enforcement agencies”, with “priority for officers”. It should be noted that the Crimean collaborators even promise that mercenaries “will not be used in hostilities in Ukraine” [3], but of course no one will believe such “guarantees”.
This points to two key aspects: first, the Kremlin clearly lacks “officers” to command the mobilized; secondly, promises about not being sent to the combat zone are a priori lies, because the criminal meaning of the formation of the above-mentioned “PMC” by Crimean collaborators is lost.
If we summarize the information available in open sources, then a rather ambiguous picture emerges regarding “PMC”, with which the criminal Serhiy Aksyonov and his company are connected.
Thus, the “Rusich” formation is known as a “sabotage-reconnaissance assault squad” within the Russian army, which consists of persons with outspoken neo-Nazi views. They took part in hostilities in the East of Ukraine since 2014, and after the start of the full-scale invasion, they appeared in the occupied Crimea. It is known about numerous murders of Ukrainian prisoners of war committed by representatives of this formation.
In their Telegram channel, members of the “Rusych” formation published criminal instructions for the interrogation and execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war. It describes in great detail the methods of killing Ukrainians and the forms of evasion of accusations of war crimes committed [4]. It is also known that mercenaries from “Rusych” spread the criminal idea of making money on information about the burial place of Ukrainian prisoners of war killed by them. They criminally offer to take 2-5 thousand dollars in cryptocurrency from the relatives of the deceased, which will be transferred to a specially created electronic wallet [5].
Apparently, the Kremlin decided to formally “distance” itself from war criminals. To do this, they were purely fictitiously removed from the ranks of the “personnel military” and created on their basis the “PMC”. One can imagine why they will criminally seek to teach the Crimean residents, and what war crimes they plan to involve them in. “Rusych” is an example of the distorted reality that exists for the aggressor, because his fighters pose with the flags of Nazi Germany and at the same time declare that they are supposedly killing “fascists” in Ukraine.
As for “Shchyt” (“Shield”) “PMC”, the situation is approximately the same. Since 2018, its mercenaries have “distinguished themselves” in Syria. Officially, they are engaged in the “protection of objects” controlled by Russian businessmen close to the Kremlin. The base of this formation is located near Moscow, in the neighborhood of the 45th Separate Guards Special Forces Brigade of the Airborne Forces, and it is headed by former generals of the Russian Ministry of Defense. At the same time, there are data on the death of “Shield” mercenaries in combat operations in Syria, which the Kremlin has never officially recognized. The dead “Shield” mercenaries were also seen in combat operations in the East of Ukraine [6].
Experts point out that “Shield” is a kind of analogue of “Wagner”, because it recruits both former prisoners and military personnel whose careers are over and they are in a very difficult situation.
Although among them there are persons who have good military training, and can even command untrained mercenaries [7]. This kind of “cannon fodder” is what the Kremlin needs, which is used to not counting its own losses and constantly denying obvious facts.
So, it was on the basis of these two formations that the Crimean collaborators criminally planned to recruit the local population of the occupied peninsula as “cannon fodder”. In addition to ex-military and “enforcement officers”, Sergey Aksyonov plans to drag prisoners who are in the Crimea [8], as well as marginalized strata of the population, to the “PMC”. In this case, the “voluntariness” of the set becomes quite conditional.
The thesis regarding the active involvement of prisoners in the “PMC” is confirmed by the data on the criminal removal of more than 3,000 prisoners from the newly occupied territories of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to the Crimea by the occupiers’ punishers. The Kremlin is particularly interested in persons who have been convicted of serious crimes. The algorithm of action is simple: the prisoners are brought to the occupied peninsula or to the Russian Federation, they are created intolerable conditions, and after that they are “offered to serve” in the criminal “PMC”of the occupiers.
According to the data available at the Center of National Resistance, even under such conditions, a significant number of prisoners refuse to “sign contracts” with criminal “PMC” [9]. At the same time, Moscow probably does not fully trust the traitors on the peninsula, since they ordered “their people” to coordinate the process. We are talking about Serbs named Dejan Beric and Zika Radojicic. The first lives on the territory of Russia and is a former mercenary who fought against Ukraine in Donbas in 2014. The second – after the start of a full-scale invasion, fights on the side of the Kremlin against Ukraine [10].
Such mistrust may indicate the intentions of the Russian leadership to eliminate Crimean collaborators in the event of deoccupation, since they know a lot about the Kremlin’s war crimes. In fact, it is about the creation of a “regional army”, which will formally somehow “coordinate” with the Crimean collaborators, but in reality – carry out all the instructions of the Russian authorities.
Recently, there has been information about the use by Crimean collaborators of the village of Perevalne as a material and technical base for “PMC”. In particular, the owner of the “Lobaev arms” brand, Vladyslav Lobaev, announced the creation of “sniper units” in the occupied Crimea and indicated that “organizational aspects are coordinated by Sergey Aksyonov”, while the sniper rifles for these criminal formations were provided by Lobaev’s company [11].
It should be noted that in parallel with the formation of the “PMC”, Crimean collaborators are creating a hospital for the Russian military on the occupied peninsula [12]. This is an unnecessary testimony to the lies of the Crimean collaborators, who apparently “do not plan” to send mercenaries from the “PMC” to the front. At the same time, the most common version of the collaborators is the alleged “protection of important objects”, in particular in the occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and the criminal maintenance of the occupation “order” [13].
It is difficult to believe this lie, because the occupiers use the “Rosguard” and other punitive force structures for these tasks. Therefore, of course, there is another goal or even goals pursued by the Crimean collaborators. Experts emphasize that the private “PMC” is a way to hide the next forced mobilization of Crimean residents. There are also prospects that the criminal “PMC” will be used in the future to suppress anti-war sentiments in the Crimea itself, which are constantly growing and getting out of the control of the Kremlin [14].
It is obvious that with the approach of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the Crimea, these sentiments will grow. At this moment, the occupiers can use mercenaries who have no moral principles and are ready to terrorize for money. However, there is another important goal pursued by the Crimean collaborators, creating their own “PMC”. It was announced by the head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, Refat Chubarov, who believes that the “PMC”, connected to Sergey Aksyonov, can be used to suppress a civil war in Russia itself, the probability of which is increasing every day [15].
Indeed, the Kremlin’s policies prevent Russian oligarchs from enriching themselves, and as a result of the sanctions they lose profits, and the middle class is also unhappy with the mobilization and sanctions restrictions. Although ordinary Russians support the Kremlin’s policy, they are dissatisfied with the low standard of living and the large-scale losses of the aggressor in Ukraine. This may well become a reason for internal conflicts. If a civil war begins in the Russian Federation, then Crimeans as part of the “PMC” can be sent to the regions of the aggressor to carry out the Kremlin’s criminal orders.
There is also another dimension in the events related to the creation of the “PMC” by Crimean collaborators. We are talking about the fear of de-occupation, which has completely controlled their minds for the last year, that is, since the moment when they saw that the greatness of the Russian army is a product of pure propaganda. Therefore, the collaboration of collaborators with “PMC” is also a form of their desire to “ensure their own security”. Probably, it is the mercenaries who will be tasked with covering the escape of the Kremlin’s proteges.
Thus, in recent months, the criminal activities of collaborators in the “facilitation of the formation” of the aggressor’s “PMC”, whose mercenaries have repeatedly committed war crimes in Ukraine since 2014, have intensified in the occupied Crimea. This activity contradicts the legislation of Ukraine, international legal acts, and even the legislation of the aggressor himself, in which hiring is positioned as a criminal offense. Despite this, the Crimean collaborators are trying as much as possible to involve ordinary Crimean residents in the war against Ukraine and, under the guise of them, to ensure personal safety in the event of deoccupation of the peninsula.
It is obvious that the Kremlin plans to use mercenaries to maintain the occupation regime and, if necessary, to suppress the civil war in Russia itself. The process of recruiting mercenaries to the criminal “PMC” is accompanied by a powerful advertising company, which has signs of the use of illegal “administrative resources” by Crimean collaborators.
Against this background, Ukraine is intensifying its information campaign and calling on Crimean residents not to join the terrorist “PMC” that are served by Crimean collaborators.
Sources:
- https://www.blackseanews.net/read/199220
- https://war.obozrevatel.com/ukr/okupanti-u-krimu-zbirayutsya-pobuduvati-bazu-pvk-vagner-zyavilisya-podrobitsi.htm
- https://www.unian.ua/war/u-krimu-okupanti-pochali-nabir-naymanciv-do-tak-zvanih-pvk-12106650.html
- https://focus.ua/uk/voennye-novosti/544939-v-krymu-sozdayut-dve-chvk-naemnikam-obeshchayut-chto-oni-ne-budut-voevat-v-ukraine-genshtab
- https://focus.ua/voennye-novosti/530295-neonacisty-dshrg-rusich-prizyvayut-rossiyan-pytat-i-kaznit-ukrainskih-voennoplennyh-foto
- https://tsn.ua/ru/svit/chastnaya-armiya-schit-v-rossii-razoblachena-esche-odna-chvk-naemniki-kotoroy-gibnut-v-sirii-1386135.html
- https://www.rbc.ua/rus/news/okupanti-krimu-zbirayutsya-pobuduvati-vagnerivtsyam-1678197417.html
- https://babel.ua/news/89862-okupanti-vivezli-3-5-tisyach-uv-yaznenih-z-ukrajinskih-koloniy-do-krimu-ta-namagayutsya-zaverbuvati-jih-do-pvk-vagnera
- https://world.novyny.live/v-krimu-stvoriuiut-dvi-pvk-naimantsiam-obitsiaiut-shcho-tse-ne-dlia-viini-v-ukrayini-genshtab-72152.html
- https://uazmi.org/news/post/41e4d6a2844950323e303ced22cd5160
- https://telegraf.com.ua/mestnyiy/2023-01-12/5775133-uvodyat-gospitali-pod-zemlyu-i-ishchut-naemnikov-kak-okkupanty-gotovyatsya-k-boyam-za-yug-ukrainy
- https://24tv.ua/situatsiya-krimu-kolaboranti-namagayutsya-zabezpechiti-sobi-mozhlivist_n2255654
- https://crimea.suspilne.media/ua/articles/304
- https://apostrophe.ua/ua/article/society/2023-01-13/putin-sozdaet-chvk-v-kryimu-ne-dlya-napadeniya-na-ukrainu-tam-vse-interesnee—refat-chubarov/498 96.
