Russian troops ill-prepared for conflict with Ukraine, says ex-Kremlin mercenary

The Russian army’s failure to grab the Ukrainian capital was inevitable as a result of within the previous years they’d by no means instantly confronted a strong enemy, in keeping with a former mercenary with the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group who fought alongside the Russian military.

Marat Gabidullin took half in Wagner Group missions on the Kremlin’s behalf in Syria and in a earlier battle in Ukraine, earlier than deciding to go public about his expertise contained in the secretive personal army firm.

He stop the Wagner group in 2019, however a number of months earlier than Russia launched the invasion on Feb. 24 Gabidullin, 55, mentioned he obtained a name from a recruiter who invited him to return to preventing as a mercenary in Ukraine.

He refused, partially as a result of, he mentioned, he knew Russian forces have been less than the job, though they trumpeted their arsenal of recent weapons and their successes in Syria the place they helped President Bashar al-Assad defeat an armed revolt.

“They were caught completely by surprise that the Ukrainian army resisted so fiercely and that they faced the actual army,” Gabidullin mentioned about Russia’s setbacks in Ukraine.

READ | Russia preventing for motherland in Ukraine: Vladimir Putin on Victory Day

He mentioned individuals he spoke to on the Russian aspect had informed him they anticipated to face rag-tag militias once they invaded Ukraine, not well-drilled common troops.

(Photo: AP/File)

“I told them: ‘Guys, that’s a mistake’,” mentioned Gabidullin, who’s now in France the place he’s publishing a ebook about his experiences preventing with the Wagner Group.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned he didn’t know who Gabidullin was and whether or not he has ever been a member of personal army firms.

“We, the state, the government, the Kremlin can not have anything to do with it,” he mentioned.

The Russian defence ministry didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is just not designed to occupy territory however to destroy its southern neighbour’s army capabilities and seize what it regards as harmful nationalists.

Gabidullin is a part of a small however rising cohort of individuals in Russia with safety backgrounds who’ve supported President Vladimir Putin’s international incursions however now say the way in which the conflict is being performed is incompetent.

Igor Girkin, who helped lead a pro-Kremlin armed revolt in jap Ukraine in 2014, has been vital of the way in which this marketing campaign is being performed. Alexei Alexandrov, an architect of the 2014 revolt, informed Reuters in March the invasion was a mistake.

READ | Putin channels reminiscence of Hitler’s defeat to induce victory in Ukraine

Gabidullin took half in among the bloodiest Syrian clashes in Deir al-Zor province, in Ghouta and close to the traditional metropolis of Palmyra. He was significantly injured in 2016 when a grenade exploded behind his again throughout a battle within the mountains close to Latakia.

Gabidullin spent per week in a coma and three months in a hospital the place he had surgical procedures to take away considered one of his kidneys and a few intestines. Reuters has independently verified he was within the Wagner Group and was in fight in Syria.

Wagner Group fighters have been accused by rights teams and the Ukrainian authorities of committing conflict crimes in Syria and jap Ukraine from 2014 onwards. Gabidullin mentioned he had by no means been concerned in such abuses.

DIFFERENT PROPOSITION

Moscow’s involvement helped flip the tide of the Syrian conflict in favour of al-Assad, however Gabidullin mentioned Russia’s army restricted itself primarily to assaults from the air, whereas counting on Wagner mercenaries and different proxies to do the lion’s share of the preventing on the bottom.

The Russian army’s job was simpler too. Its opponents — Islamic State and different militias — had no anti-aircraft programs or artillery.

Fighting Ukraine, he mentioned, was a distinct proposition.

“I’ve seen enough of them in Syria… (The Russian military) didn’t take part in combat directly,” he mentioned in an interview in Paris to advertise his ebook, which shall be revealed by French publishing home Michel Lafon this month.

READ | Ukraine’s mine-sniffing canine will get a medal after discovering over 200 explosives

“The military forces …. when it was needed to learn how to fight, did not learn how to fight for real,” he mentioned.

Wagner Group is an off-the-cuff entity, with — on paper not less than — no places of work or workers. The U.S. Treasury Department and the European Union have mentioned the Wagner Group is linked to Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin. Prigozhin has denied any such hyperlinks.

Concord Management and Consulting, Prigozhin’s principal enterprise, didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin. (Photo: AP/File)

President Vladimir Putin has mentioned personal army contractors have the suitable to work and pursue their pursuits anyplace on the planet so long as they don’t break Russian regulation. Putin has mentioned the Wagner Group neither represented the Russian state nor was paid by it.

Gabidullin mentioned though he had recognized the Russian invasion of Ukraine was coming, he didn’t anticipate it to be on such a scale.

“I could not even think that Russia will wage a war on Ukraine. How could that be? It’s impossible,” he mentioned.

READ | Elon Musk says Russia ‘ramping up’ cyber conflict amid studies Moscow downed Ukraine’s web