The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

War in Ukraine: Convoy, a new Russian militia to protect Crimea

2023-04-12T08:59:29.623Z


A new private military company was born in Crimea at the end of 2022, in a context of friction between Prigozhin and the Russian Ministry of Defense. Ally or competitor of Wagner?


You don't know how to do it: we'll teach you

”.

In mid-November, a Telegram channel in Russian called "

Convoy

", shared two visuals that are similar to a recruitment campaign.

The PMC (private military company) Convoy forms a Cossack company within the framework of the volunteer regiment

,” the text reads.

After Wagner, a new militia seems to have emerged, built to fight in Ukraine.

To discover

  • Follow information on the war in Ukraine with the Figaro application

On April 4, in its daily bulletin, the British Ministry of Defense confirmed the birth of a new private military company, “

sponsored and developed by Russia

”.

Moscow “

probably sees a utility in the PMCs engaged in Ukraine, as they are not subject to the limited pay levels and inefficiency that hampers the Russian regular army

,” the ministry points out.

However, the role of this new militia is still unclear.

Prigozhin's former right-hand man in charge

The paternity of this battalion of volunteers seems to go directly to Sergei Axionov, head of the Republic of Crimea since its annexation.

On March 16, it was he who announced on Crimea 24, a local television channel, the existence of a “

Crimean reconnaissance and assault battalion

”, baptized Convoy.

It is also he who must be at the origin of its financing.

According to information from iStories, an independent Russian investigative media, the unit is based in the southern Kherson region.

Their main training ground is believed to be near the village of Perevalnoye in Crimea.

Read alsoUkraine: the war according to Wagner under fire

At the head of this militia, a certain Mazai.

Under this mysterious nom de guerre, Konstantin Pikalov is actually hiding, as revealed in August 2020 by the investigative NGO Bellingcat.

This retired high-ranking Russian was for a long time the right arm of Evgueni Prigojine, head of Wagner.

In particular, he has worked extensively in Africa, where he could be directly involved in several attempts to destabilize states.

In Russia, he is listed as the head of the Cossack society Konvoy and founder of the "

military security society

" of the same name, according to iStories.

Another man seems to play an important role in Convoy's organization chart: Vasily Yashchikov.

Cap screwed up to the eyes and long black beard, he appears regularly on the videos published by the militia on Telegram.

According to iStories, this seasoned fighter is directly descended from the personal bodyguard of Russia's last emperor, Nicholas II.

Is it the origin of the name Convoy?

At the time, an imperial convoy of Cossacks systematically accompanied the Tsar on his travels.

Small numbers, but cutting-edge arsenal?

True to her role, the Kremlin's "

little telegraph operator

" Olga Kurlaeva published a report on this new unit last February.

I've never seen such a fortification: an entire building underground

,” she testified, describing Convoy's HQ.

The propagandist also indicates that the battalion has heavy equipment, including T-80 and T-90 tanks.

On several videos posted on Telegram, we also see fighters armed with Lobaev sniper rifles, but also rocket launchers.

Read alsoWar in Ukraine: the National Assembly ready to accuse Wagner of terrorism

All of this, however, needs to be qualified.

For the time being, Convoy has less than 500 men, far from the 50,000 of which Wagner boasts.

It is not even known whether they have ever fought in Ukraine.

In a Telegram post dated January 11, the channel indicates that the unit "

will soon be deployed to the front

".

Above all, "

there are a lot of PMCs in Russia

", despite the law which prohibits mercenary activity, underlines Peer de Jong, co-founder of the Themiis Institute and author of Acting

Between the Lines

, a book on private military companies.

Will this newcomer weigh in on the current conflict?

"

Serguei Axionov's problem is the Crimea

", tempers the former colonel of the navy troops.

With Convoy, the oligarch "

wants to create a system that will protect him

" in the event of a Ukrainian attack on Crimea, and which will protect the peninsula.

In summary, Convoy will watch over Axionov today, before serving his interests in the future.

"

The Wagner experience gave wings to some oligarchs

," says Peer de Jong.

Promised lands in Crimea or Abkhazia

On its recruitment criteria, Convoy seems to brew quite broadly.

To join the unit, you must be a man of Russian nationality under the age of 60, according to the announcement translated from Russian by

Le Figaro

.

It is also necessary to have “

a military specialty, any

” and “

an experience in the army is welcome

”.

The announcement promises in return "

military preparation under the aegis of experienced leaders

", "

a status of veteran of military operations

" and the benefits that flow from it, "

life and health insurance

" and a "

monthly financial allowance

".

A recruitment poster for Convoy, published in November on the militia's Telegram channel.

Convoy/Telegram

Another recruitment poster for Convoy.

Convoy/Telegram

According to a former member of the militia interviewed by iStories, the fighters are paid up to 200,000 rubles a month, or just over 2,200 euros.

In addition, Convoy offers a contract for a period of three to six months, signed both with the militia and with the Russian Ministry of Defense.

For any fighter who has served for a year in the SMP, he is even promised land in Crimea or Abkhazia, a region which declared its independence from Georgia in 1992.

The West as an enemy

But according to the company's Telegram channel, "

Convoy members are not motivated by money, but by an ideological component

."

Their target is clearly identified: “

We know that our enemy is not the Ukrainian army, but NATO

”.

And more broadly, the West as a whole.

"

Look at what is happening at the gates of the empire: desecration of sanctuaries, destruction of monuments, substitution of history, propaganda of sodomy and gender at the state level, idealization of Nazi criminals..."

, enumerates the string.

Read alsoThese infiltrators that Russia had placed in Ukraine before the invasion

Besides pure propaganda for its military capabilities, Convoy persists in underlining all the "

tares

" of Western countries that should be fought as "

soldiers of Christ

" on a mission for a "

strong Orthodox Russia

", using and abusing the religious lexicon.

They relay a video of drug addicts wandering the streets in the United States, comparing them to “

zombies

”.

But also conspiracy theories with anti-Semitic overtones, such as when the militia's Telegram channel insinuates that the Rockfellers bought Ukraine's water supply system and that "with the help of

a special chemical composition, they paralyze the parts of the brain responsible for identifying a person

”.

Complementary to Wagner?

The genesis of this new group of mercenaries is part of a particularly tense context between the Russian Ministry of Defense and Wagner's boss, Evgueni Prigojine, who accuses Moscow of using his men as cannon fodder in Bakhmout.

With Convoy, "

the Russian General Staff probably wants to replace Wagner with a more docile private military company

", indicates the British Ministry of Defense in its April 4 update.

Read alsoWar in Ukraine: in Dnipro, mass burials of unknown soldiers

"

The tension between the General Staff and Wagner naturally leads one to believe that any new militia would naturally be destined to compete with Wagner

", Peer de Jong nuance.

The arrival of Convoy could rather be perceived as complementary to the presence of Wagner.

"

Prigojine and Axionov are friends, they know each other very well

," said the former officer.

And if Ukraine soon targets Crimea, which it says it wants to reconquer, Convoy could be in charge of defending it, and not Wagner.

Even if Convoy wanted to compete with Wagner, the group would not be able to match the numbers and fighting power of Prigozhin's militia.

The existence of Convoy should therefore not necessarily be put in opposition to that of Wagner.

It simply participates in a “

gangsterization

” of the Russian security system, as defined by Peer de Jong, with the emergence of more and more private military companies fulfilling independent objectives.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2023-04-12

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.