“Convoy”: Russia would have more mercenaries

Russia would have a new mercenary force, reports the Russian medium “Important Stories”. Sergey Aksyonov, governor of the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia, is said to have hired the private military unit “Convoy”.

The group is currently located in the Kherson region and consisted of about 300 people at the time of its formation, according to “Important Stories”. Konstantin Pikalow, former leader of the mercenary group Wagner and confidant of boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, will lead the group.

According to “Important Stories,” Pikalow has already been to Madagascar and the Central African Republic for the Wagner Group. The international investigative collective “Bellingcat”, as well as journalists from the Russian-language Internet newspaper “The Insider” and “Spiegel” also described him as a key figure in Prigozhin’s “Africa Project”. Pikalov is said to have been the only one of the Central African Republic team to speak on an equal footing with Prigozhin. So the familiarity should be closer. Pikalow does not appear publicly under his real name, but as “Mazai”.

“Convoy” is formally an army combat reserve, whose members sign both a contract with the private military company and a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense, the news site “Meduza” writes.

The training ground of the “Convoy” group is located in the village of Perevalne in Crimea, “Important Stories” reports, citing chats from the members. In the village there is a center for training Crimean snipers. According to the report, “Convoy” should also have a sniper unit. Via Telegram, Convoy also shares messages about “strong Orthodox Russia”, the “victorious nation” and conspiracy theories.