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Since the death of Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin († 62) in August, his paramilitaries appear to have largely withdrawn from the fighting in Ukraine. Wagner is not the only Russian private army at risk of falling out with the Kremlin in its Ukrainian service. A stronger anti-Kremlin mood is now also spreading among the Russian neo-Nazi group Russitsch, which is also fighting on the front.
Russitsch recently threatened the Kremlin to lay down all its weapons, which military observers said would increase the number of Russian casualties in the affected front areas. Russian units held positions near Robotyne in the south, which Ukraine was in the process of recapturing.
The reason for the paramilitaries’ anger: their leader Jan Petrowski (35), a Russian-Norwegian dual national, was arrested in Finland. He tried to get in there under an assumed name. Now Petrovsky faces extradition to Ukraine on various terrorism charges. His comrades are angry that the Kremlin is not making efforts to extradite him to Russia – as was the case in 2016, when Petrovsky was arrested in Norway and deported to Russia.
Petrovsky, the lesser known Prigozhin
Petrovsky and Prigozhin are companions. Both were combat pioneers in the Russian invasion of Donbass in 2014, for which they founded their battle groups – both in St. Petersburg. Russitsch describes itself as a reconnaissance group for sabotage attacks.
Former close Putin confidante and later agitator Prigozhin died under mysterious circumstances in a plane crash at the end of August. Petrovsky now faces decades in prison, while his fighters report debilitating problems at the front.
On September 8, Russitsch published a list of shortcomings why Ukraine was in danger of gaining the upper hand in the war. The range and accuracy of Russian counterfire are inferior to Ukraine’s capabilities. The Russian units would also not have laser-guided artillery shells or drones.
The Kremlin is abandoning soldiers
According to the latest bulletin from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russitsch also criticizes the fact that Russian precision missiles are less resistant to jamming than the US-supplied Himars systems from Ukraine.
In addition, many Russian soldiers would buy their own communications equipment. This makes communication between different units more difficult due to different technology models.
Finally, the paramilitary irregulars claim – and this sounds like Prigozhin’s criticism – that the Russian forces are not evacuating wounded or dead soldiers from frontline areas. This disregard for their own warriors led some Russian soldiers to refuse combat service.
“Routine” problems
The ISW analyzes that Russian units may be more affected by these problems than the Russian armed forces because they are smaller units.
But other Russian armed forces also “routinely” report similar problems with return fire, communications and evacuations, according to the analysis. (kes)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
