The Russian Ministry of Defence is increasingly centralising command and control over irregular forces. It will most likely facilitate their use in offensive operations in Ukraine.
Points of attention
- The Russian Ministry of Defence has created a "volunteer corps" to centralise the management of mercenaries at the front, which may facilitate their use in offensive operations in Ukraine.
- Russia's irregular forces have limited support and are more vulnerable than regular formations, resulting in higher casualty rates among mercenaries.
- Russia recruits mercenaries from various countries, including Nepalese, which negatively affects international relations and angers governments.
- The example of a mercenary of the Russian army from Somalia testifies to the large-scale recruitment of foreigners to participate in the conflict in Ukraine.
Russia took control of all mercenary groups on front
As noted in the summary, in February 2023, the Russian military department created a "volunteer corps", which united under a single management system and controlled over 20 thousand mercenaries, reservists and former prisoners who served in numerous irregular units.
According to British intelligence, since the creation of the "volunteer corps", irregular forces are increasingly used in offensive operations for which they are not suitable. Russian irregular formations are primarily light infantry units that lack integrated artillery or air support, making them more vulnerable than Russian regular formations.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine — 14 June 2024.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 14, 2024
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/Z1jVFuNkk7 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/XyLTVFIkra
Therefore, over the past 9 months, Russian irregular units have had a proportionately higher level of casualties than Russian regular units, the British Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
Russia recruits mercenaries in various countries
In the summer of 2023, it became known that residents of Nepal who came to the Russian Federation to study were being recruited for the war against Ukraine. The main argument for making such a decision is money.
In December, Nepal issued an official statement calling on Moscow to stop recruiting its citizens for the war and to return the bodies of those who had already died.
A mercenary of the Russian army from Somalia, Muhammad Adil, was captured by the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the beginning of January 2024. Online.ua journalists managed to ask the captured foreigner why he came to Russia, how he got into the occupier's army, how much he trained before he got to the front line, and which of his decisions he regrets.
After arriving in the Russian Federation, he got a job at a factory but soon saw an advertisement for the Russian army on the street and signed a contract on December 3, 2023.
In less than a month, already on January 4, 2024, he found himself on the front line on the territory of Ukraine.
