Sabotage Assault Reconnaissance Group "Rusich"
Диверсионно-штурмовая разведывательная группа «Русич»
Patch of the Rusich Group featuring the kolovrat, a variant of the swastika
ActiveJune 2014 – present
Country Russia
TypeInfantry
Rolesabotage and assault reconnaissance group
Sizeseveral dozen people[1]
Part of Army of the South-East
Wagner Group
ColoursWhite, gold, black
Engagements
Websitevk.com/dshrg_rusich
Commanders
Current
commander		Alexey Milchakov
Notable
commanders		Alexey Milchakov
Yan Petrovsky
Insignia
Flag

The Sabotage Assault Reconnaissance Group (DShRG) "Rusich" (Russian: Диверсионно-штурмовая разведывательная группа «Русич», romanized: Diversionno-shturmovaya razvedyvatel'naya gruppa «Rusich») is a Russian far-right[2][3] and neo-Nazi paramilitary unit[4][1] that has been fighting against Ukrainian forces in the Russo-Ukrainian War. Its co-founder and leader is Alexey Milchakov and operates within the Wagner Group.[2][5] "Rusich" fought on the side of pro-Russian military in the Donbas war from June 2014 to July 2015, and in the Russian invasion of Ukraine alongside Russian troops.[6]

History

The foundations of the Rusich group were laid in 2009, when a military training base was founded[7] by Alexey Milchakov, a neo-Nazi from Saint Petersburg.[4][8] He had the nickname "Fritz" before being sent to the Donbas (there he changed to the call sign "Serb").[1][9][10] He took part in the Partizan paramilitary training program at the Novorossiya Aid Coordination Center (KCPN) run by the Russian Imperial Legion, a paramilitary arm of the Russian Imperial Movement.[11] Both Milchakov and the nominal commander of the Wagner group Dmitry Utkin served in the 76th Guards Air Assault Division of the Airborne Forces.[11]

According to Milchakov, "Rusich" consists of "nationalist Rodnovers, volunteers from Russia and Europe", operates as a "closed collective" and is a unit in which Russian nationalists receive combat training. The units turned out to be staffed by members of the GROM special unit, which is part of the Federal Drug Control Service. The brothers Konstantin and Boris Voevodin, for example, are Russian nationalists from St. Petersburg.[12]

Donbas war

The group has been fighting on the side of pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas war since June 2014, conducting reconnaissance and sabotage operations behind Ukrainian lines,[13] and also played a significant role in several key battles at the beginning of the war.[14]

2014

In the summer of 2014, "Rusich" fought alongside the Russian separatist commander Lieutenant Colonel Alexander "Batman" Bednov[15] and participated in the battles for the Luhansk Airport, near Novosvitlivka after the Armed Forces of Ukraine had cut the highway there, and placed Luhansk under blockade.[9] They also took part in the battles near the city of Shchastia, Stanytsia Luhanska, in the assault on the village of Khryashchuvate, in the occupation of the villages of Heorhiivka, Velyka Verhunka, Lutuhyne.

One of the most well known operations of "Rusich" was the ambush of a column of the Ukrainian Aidar Battalion near the villages of Metalist and Tsvitni Pisky in the Luhansk Oblast on 5 September 2014, after a truce was supposed to have gone into effect.[1][16] Andriy Khvedchak, coordinator of the Volyn Maidan Self-Defense, said that on 5 September 2014, a part of the company of the Aidar battalion was ambushed in the same place where Nadiya Savchenko was taken prisoner.[17] Detachments of "Rusich" and RRT "Batman" set up an ambush on the highway and attacked the retreating "Aidar". Part of the second company of "Aydar" (Volyn) was ambushed by Russian special forces. According to him, the ambushed fighters were killed.[18] On 6 September, Semen Semenchenko reported that 11 soldiers were killed in an ambush "arranged by Russian special forces".[19] On the same day, information appeared that from 20 to 29 fighters of the battalion were killed in an ambush.[20]

Rusich published a video of an interrogation of Ivan Issyk, a member of the Aidar Battalion captured during the ambush. In the video, Issyk had a kolovrat, a neo-Nazi symbol used by the Rusich Group, carved into his cheek. Five days later, Issyk, who by now had over 70% of his body covered in burns, was interviewed by the British pro-Russian propagandist Graham Phillips in a hospital. Issyk's parents accused Phillips of violating journalist ethics. Several days later Issyk was abducted from the hospital and murdered. An autopsy showed that his internal organs were cut out and shuffled in his body, including fragments of his brain being put in his stomach.[21]

In the fall of 2014, Rusich took part in the battles at the Donetsk International Airport along with the Sparta and Somali battalions.

2015

The most famous losses are the death of Alexander Bednov's personal guards in an ambush on January 1, 2015. A lesser-known story is about DShRG getting into the counter-base, during which the former Kyiv anti-fascist "Whiskas" died.[12] In January 2015, Milchakov announced that his unit was no longer subordinate to the leadership of the Luhansk People's Republic. Thus, Milchakov reacted to the information about the killing of the former commander of the Batman group, Alexander Bednov. The commander called the Head of the Luhansk People's Republic Igor Plotnitsky and the government of the LPR “whore children” and said that his unit would fight “against them and against the Ukrainians”.[22]

In February 2015 Milchakov was included in the EU sanctions list.[23][24]

In 2015, together with the commanders of other groups, Milchakov and Petrovsky received a certificate of membership of the Union of Donbass Volunteers. Upon returning to Ukraine, the group was transferred to the Prizrak Brigade of Aleksey Mozgovoy.[11] At the end of March 2015, after being redeployed to the Donetsk People's Republic due to persecution by the Ministry of State Security of the LPR, the group became part of the Viking battalion, where it took part in the battles around Volnovakha, near the villages of Belokamenki and Novolaspa. In mid-2015, the group was completely withdrawn from the Donbass.[25]

From 2015 to 2022

Patch of the Zimargl Group, subunit of the DShRG Rusich[26]

Upon his return from the Donbass, Milchakov engaged in combat training of teenagers in special camps in Russia. This was done in conjunction with right-wing radicals from the E.N.O.T. Corp. private military company.[27] The online edition "Belarusian Partizan" calls the "raccoons" a group of Russian militants who took part in the war in Donbass from its very beginning, and that they are close friends with Milchakov. As the publication notes, since 2015, raccoon began its legalization in Russia. They received the status of a public organization and the full support of the state, regularly holding military-patriotic games-gatherings. The chief instructor of the organization, Roman Telenkevich, simultaneously headed the Union of Donbass Volunteers.[28]

In 2016, Milchakov, as a member of the "Union of Volunteers of Donbass", may have been presented with an award by the head of the Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov in the presence of the then assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Vladislav Surkov. Milchakov himself, however, was not shy in terms, criticizing the leadership of the LPR for this ostentatious “anti-fascism” on his VK page.[29]

Milchakov's deputy, Jan Petrovsky, is a former resident of Norway, where he lived and worked with a Norwegian associated with the far-right groups Soldiers of Odin and Nordic Resistance Movement.[30][31][32][33][29] The peculiar glory of the Russian in the conflict in Donbass, apparently, was the last straw for the Norwegian authorities, and he was finally recognized as a threat to national security. In October 2016, Norwegian police arrested Petrovsky and deported him to Russia.[34][35]

The group was one of the most mentioned in the negative connotation among the Ukrainian media and bloggers because of the photos of the killed soldiers of Ukraine and the stories that the group does not take prisoners.[36][37] In 2017, the military prosecutor's office of Ukraine accused Milchakov of involvement in the murder of 40 Ukrainian soldiers.[22]

In 2017, Rusich militants showed up in Syria guarding the strategically important oil and gas infrastructure owned by Russian companies. On their (now inaccessible) Instagram account, the militants posted photos from Palmyra in central Syria, where one of them poses in front of ancient ruins, raising his hand in a Nazi salute.[11][38] On 17 October 2017, Rusich member Nikitin Alexander Vladimirovich (AKA “The Livonian”) was killed in Syria.[39]

At the end of 2020, Alexey Milchakov said in an interview that the number of Rusich DShRG at that time was several dozen people, but “a lot of people come and they have to be weeded out”.[1]

Russian invasion of Ukraine

External videos
video icon Captured Ukrainian soldier was beheaded by Russian war criminals from DShRG «Rusich»

The group returned to Ukraine at the beginning of April 2022, as the Russian invasion was underway.[40][41] Rusich's fighters were transferred to the Kharkiv Oblast of Ukraine, where they were photographed near the village of Pletenivka.[42] In 2022, the detachment and its commanders Alexey Milchakov and Yan Petrovsky were included in the US sanctions list for their "special cruelty" in the battles in the Kharkiv Oblast.[43][44]

In April 2023, the Rusich Group posted a video on their Telegram channel showing a captured Ukrainian soldier being beheaded with a knife, together with a caption stating that many more are to come.[45][46][47][48]

In August 2023 Yan Petrovsky was detained in Finland and Ukraine requested his extradition.[49] The Rusich Group issued an ultimatum to the Russian government that they will not participate in any combat in Ukraine until Russia secured the release of Petrovsky. The group had been fighting on the Robotyne-Verbove line, defending the sector from the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive, with their absence likely exacerbating Russian tactical losses in the region.[50]

Ideology and symbols

Rusich emblem[51][52][53] featuring a combination of the Kolovrat swastika, the Black Sun, the Algiz rune, the Týr rune, the ribbon of Saint George and the black-yellow-white flag of the Russian Empire.

"Rusich" is described as a far-right extremist[2][3] and neo-Nazi unit.[54] According to Petrovsky, Rusich is "a Pan-Slavic, Pan-Scandinavian group."[55]

The following are used as symbols of the group: runes, in particular Tiwaz (ᛏ)[40] (meaning the god of military prowess Týr), the eight-rayed Kolovrat, Valknut, and code slogans.[1] Like many Russian nationalists, they also use the Russian imperial flag (black-yellow-white tricolor), but reversed so that white is on top.

Milchakov became an influential figure among the neo-fascist youth in Russia. He is also one of the few who were not affected by arrests upon his return to Russia. According to Milchakov himself, his group does not even try to get into politics, no matter how insulting it is for decisions from above.[56]

Foreign volunteers

Rusich has neo-Nazi volunteers from around Europe fighting in its ranks. Polish neo-Nazis from "Zadrużny Krąg - Slavic Division" led by former police officer Arwid Pływaczewski have joined Rusich.[57] At least one of the members of the Polish neo-Nazi group "Zadruga" fought as part of this unit.[12] Further, members of Rusich have previously been associated with the Nordic Resistance Movement in Fennoscandia.[32][30] Finnish volunteer group Karhu (Bear) joined and fought with Rusich when they were subordinate to Prizrak.[58][11][59]

Small vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flag Tsar Alexander II's Flag of the Russian Empire (1858–1896)

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Руни, православ'я та георгіївські стрічки. Що відомо про неонацистів у російській армії" [Runes, Orthodoxy and St. George ribbons. What is known about neo-Nazis in the Russian army]. BBC News Україна. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  2. 1 2 3 Townsend, Mark (20 March 2022). "Russian mercenaries in Ukraine linked to far-right extremists". The Guardian. Russian mercenaries fighting in Ukraine, including the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group, have been linked to far-right extremism ... Much of the extremist content, posted on Telegram and the Russian social media platform VKontakte (VK), relates to a far-right unit within the Wagner Group called Rusich ... One post on the messaging app Telegram, dated 15 March, shows the flag of the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM), a white-supremacist paramilitary ... Another recent VK posting lists Rusich as part of a coalition of separatist groups and militias including the extreme far-right group, Russian National Unity.
  3. 1 2 Šmíd, Tomáš & Šmídová, Alexandra. (2021). Anti-government Non-state Armed Actors in the Conflict in Eastern Ukraine. Czech Journal of International Relations, Volume 56, Issue 2. pp.48–49. Quote: "Another group of Russian citizens who became involved in the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine were members of the so-called right-wing units of the Russian Spring. Here we mean mainly extreme-right activists" ... "the members of Rusich around Milchakov are activists of various Russian extreme-right groups".
  4. 1 2 Kozhurin, Dmitry (27 May 2022). "Who Are The Neo-Nazis Fighting For Russia In Ukraine?". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 2022-06-27. Rusich is one of several right-wing groups that are actively fighting in Ukraine, in conjunction with Russia's regular armed forces or allied separatist units.
  5. ↑ "Wagner Group Contingent Rusich on the Move Again". New America. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
  6. ↑ "Spiegel: "В составе российских войск в Украине воюют неонацисты"" [Spiegel: "Neo-Nazis are fighting as part of Russian troops in Ukraine"]. belsat.eu (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-05-27.
  7. ↑ "Говорит ангел смерти: Алексей Мильчаков, ДШРГ "Русич"" [The angel of death speaks: Alexey Milchakov, DShRG "Rusich"]. CzarTalks (in Russian). 2020-12-26.
  8. ↑ "Фашист-живодер из Петербурга приехал воевать за ополченцев ЛНР" [Fascist flayer from St. Petersburg came to fight for the militias of the LPR]. www.mk.ru (in Russian). 4 July 2014. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  9. 1 2 "Интервью с Алексеем Мильчаковым, командиром ДШРГ "Русич" — Спутник и Погром" [Interview with Alexei Milchakov, commander of the Rusich DShRG - Sputnik and Pogrom] (in Russian). 14 March 2015. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  10. ↑ "Неонацист Алексей Мильчаков, который отрезал уши украинском солдатам, похвастался отдыхом в Беларуси" [Neo-Nazi Alexei Milchakov, who cut off the ears of Ukrainian soldiers, boasted of his vacation in Belarus]. naviny.belsat.eu (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 "Inquiry into the Murder of Hamdi Bouta and Wagner Group Operations at the Al-Shaer Gas Plant, Homs, Syria 2017". New America. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
  12. 1 2 3 "О причинах вывода ДШРГ "Русич" из "ДНР", или как живодеры становятся героями" [About the reasons for the withdrawal of the Rusich DSHRG from the DPR, or how flayers become heroes]. Новини України - #Букви. 2015-07-13. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  13. ↑ Vyacheslav Likhachev (2016). "The Far Iight in the conflict between Russian and Ukraine" (PDF) (Французский институт международных отношений ed.).
  14. ↑ "Russian Nationalist Veterans of the Donbas war | Yudina, Natalia; Verkhovsky, Alexander | download". ru.booksc.eu. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
  15. ↑ "Wagner Group Contingent Rusich on the Move Again". New America. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
  16. ↑ Цензор.НЕТ (6 September 2015). "5 сентября 2014 года - кровавая дата 24-го отдельного штурмового батальона "Айдар". ФОТОрепортаж" [September 5, 2014 - the bloody date of the 24th separate assault battalion "Aidar". PHOTO report]. Цензор.НЕТ (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-06-26.
  17. ↑ "Батальон "Айдар" попал в засаду российского спецназа, погибла часть роты" [Battalion "Aidar" was ambushed by Russian special forces, part of the company was killed]. glavred.info (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  18. ↑ "Бійці "Айдару" потрапили у засідку російського спецназу, – джерело" ["Aidar" fighters were ambushed by Russian special forces, the source said]. Archived from the original on 2014-09-09. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
  19. ↑ ""Айдар" потрапив у засідку російського спецназу, загинуло 11 осіб, – Семенченко" ["Aidar" was ambushed by Russian special forces, 11 people died, - Semenchenko]. Archived from the original on 2014-09-09. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
  20. ↑ "В "Айдарі" більш як 20 загиблих – ЗМІ" [More than 20 dead in "Aidar" - mass media]. Укрінформ (in Ukrainian). 2014-06-09. Archived from the original on 2014-09-07. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  21. ↑ Weiss, Michael; Vaux, Pierre (2023). "Vile Bodies: How Fascists, Cultists and Spooks Spearheaded Russia's War on Ukraine" (PDF). Chapter 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-06-17. Retrieved 2023-06-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  22. 1 2 "Военная прокуратура Украины обвинила российского неонациста Мильчакова в причастности к убийству 40 украинских военных" [The military prosecutor's office of Ukraine accused the Russian neo-Nazi Milchakov of involvement in the murder of 40 Ukrainian soldiers]. gordonua.com. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  23. ↑ "EUR-Lex - Official Journal of the European Union".
  24. ↑ "Евросоюз расширил антироссийские санкции" [EU expands anti-Russian sanctions]. Interfax.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  25. ↑ "Одно из националистических подразделений "ДНР" уходит из Донбасса". Новини України - #Букви. 2015-07-10. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  26. ↑ "Where is the nazification? How neo-Nazis, with the support of Governor Beglov, teach Russian children to kill". Russian Free Press. 22 May 2023.
  27. ↑ "Неонацист Мильчаков, который тренировал белорусских подростков, уехал в Сирию в "ЧВК Вагнера"". naviny.belsat.eu (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  28. ↑ "Белорусские подростки приняли участие в сборах, проводившихся причастной к боям в Донбассе организацией". NEWSru.com (in Russian). 2017-09-25. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
  29. 1 2 "Activatica". Activatica (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  30. 1 2 ""Ei ole mahdollista" – Moskovassa yllätyttiin Wagneriin kytkeytyneen johtajan kiinniotosta Suomessa". Helsingin Sanomat. 15 December 2023. Jan Petrovski (nyk. Voislav Torden) on ollut mukana Soldiers of Odinin ja Pohjoismaisen vastarintaliikkeen toiminnassa.
  31. ↑ Candace Rondeaux, Jonathan Deer, Ben Dalton (26 January 2022). "Neo-Nazi Russian Attack Unit Hints It's Going Back Into Ukraine Undercover". The Daily Beast.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  32. 1 2 Gigstad, Knut (8 April 2023). Masteroppgave i undersøkende journalistikk (PDF) (Thesis). University of Bergen. Flere av personene som var involvert er relativt kjente skikkelser innenfor nynazistiske kretser, sånn som Ronny Bårdsen, en av lederskikkelsene i den Nordiske Motstandsbevegelsen...Yan Petrovskiy var nestkommanderende i Rusich, en liten paramilitær gruppe, hvor kjernen bestod av nynazister fra St.Petersburg.
  33. ↑ Harald S. Klungtveit (8 April 2023). ""Brenn din lokale moské": Kjent nynazist selger jødehets og muslimhat i egen nettbutikk". Filter Nyheter.
  34. ↑ Ахмедова, R. (2022). "Информация как основа формирования информационно-коммуникационного пространства". Ренессанс В Парадигме Новаций Образования И Технологий В Xxi Веке: 161–162. doi:10.47689/innovations-in-edu-vol-iss1-pp161-162. S2CID 249361295.
  35. ↑ "Враг государства и его основа Русского националиста Яна Петровского, обвиняемого в военных преступлениях на Украине, депортировали из Норвегии. Репортаж "Медузы"". Meduza (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  36. ↑ "Грани.Ру: Казнекрады". graniru.org. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  37. ↑ "Германская разведка доложила о воюющих в Украине "российских неонацистах". Они и сами этого не скрывают". BBC News. 2022-05-22. Archived from the original on 2022-05-23. Retrieved 2022-07-24.
  38. ↑ "Русские националисты на сирийском контракте (фото)". fontanka.ru - новости Санкт-Петербурга (in Russian). 2017-10-19. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
  39. ↑ "Violence-Oriented Right-Wing Extremist Actors in Russia: Rusich - Part 1". Counter Extremism Project. 12 December 2023. In Syria, multiple members of Rusich fight for the Wagner mercenary group, and their involvement in the country can be tracked on social media. For example, Nikitin Alexander Vladimirovich (AKA "The Livonian") was killed in Syria on 17 October 2017, and according to online images it is very likely that six members of Rusich were fighting for Wagner in Syria in 2017.
  40. 1 2 "Meet the Irregular Troops Backing up Russia's Army in the Kharkiv Region". bellingcat. 2022-06-17. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
  41. ↑ Dalton, Candace Rondeaux,Jonathan Deer,Ben (2022-01-26). "Neo-Nazi Russian Attack Unit Hints It's Going Back Into Ukraine Undercover". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2022-06-25.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  42. ↑ Ball, Tom. "Rusich's neo-Nazi mercenaries head for Kharkiv". the Times. 0140-0460. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
  43. ↑ "BBC News | Русская служба". Telegram. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
  44. ↑ "Russia-related Designations; Issuance of Russia-related General License and Frequently Asked Questions; Zimbabwe-related Designation, Removals and Update; Libya-related Designation Update". U.S. Department of the Treasury. Retrieved 2022-09-20.
  45. ↑ "Russians accused of beheading Ukrainian soldiers". Telegraph.co.uk. 12 April 2023.
  46. ↑ "Ukraine probes alleged beheading of captured soldier by Russian forces". Financial Times. 12 April 2023.
  47. ↑ "Ukraine war: President Zelensky condemns beheading video". BBC News. 2023-04-12. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  48. ↑ "Gruesome Video Appears to Show Ukrainian PoW's Beheading". The Moscow Times. 2023-04-12. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  49. ↑ "Finnish authorities detain militant from Russian neo-nazi military unit". Ukrainska Pravda. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
  50. ↑ Bailey, Riley; Mappes, Grace; Harward, Christina; Clark, Mason; Wolkov, Nicole. "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 26, 2023". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  51. ↑ ДШРГ Русич (2022-03-21). "ДШРГ Русич". VK.com/dshrg2 (in Russian).
  52. ↑ Alberto Testa (2022-03-21). "Russia vs Ukraine and the far-right". STUDYING FAR-RIGHT EXTREMISM.
  53. ↑ Meliha Kešmer (2022-03-21). "Iz redova ekstremne desnice među ruske plaćenike u Ukrajini". Radio Slobodna Evropa (in Bosnian).
  54. ↑ Likhachev, Vyacheslav (July 2016). "The Far Right in the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine" (PDF). Russie.NEI.Visions in English. pp. 18–28. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  55. ↑ "Руни, православ'я та георгіївські стрічки. Що відомо про неонацистів у російській армії". BBC Russian. 13 January 2024.
  56. ↑ Андрей Никитин (2015-03-14). "Интервью с Алексеем Мильчаковым, командиром ДШРГ "Русич"" [Interview with Alexei Milchakov, commander of the Rusich DShRG]. Спутник и Погром (in Russian).
  57. ↑ "POLSCY NEONAZIŚCI WALCZĄ W ARMII PUTINA! KILKADZIESIĄT OSÓB". planeta.pl. 15 December 2023.
  58. ↑ "Itä-Ukrainassa Venäjän puolesta taistelleet suomalaiset kehuskelevat kokemuksillaan – muualla Euroopassa vierastaistelijoita on tuomittu rikoksista". Yleisradio. 16 December 2023.
  59. ↑ "Venäjän puolella". Helsingin Sanomat. 16 December 2023.

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