by Sergei Adamov
[REGNUM] Against the background of reports about the resignation of the head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Reznikov, the leadership of the Kyiv Ministry of Internal Affairs showed activity in terms of military development. For the “liberation” of Crimea and Donbas declared by Vladimir Zelensky, an “Offensive Guard” is being created - assault brigades with a total strength of over 30,000. Among the brigades also appears "Azov." In fact, we are talking about the second edition of the “dobrobats” of the 2014-15 model. What does the return to past experience mean?
Dobrobats means volunteer organization.
At the end of last week, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine announced the beginning of the formation of the "Offensive Guard." As follows from the document published on the website of the law enforcement agency, we are talking about eight volunteer assault brigades, in which it is planned to attract 32,000 people - 4,000 per brigade.
“Many of our military personnel, who have defended and are defending our country, came out with the initiative to recruit people into such units. Therefore, it was decided that all those who wish, who are patriots who have lost their homes or relatives due to the war, should be united in such brigades," the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian edition of Strana quoted the statement and. O. head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Igor Klimenko (who recently replaced the deceased Denis Monastyrsky in this post ).
According to Klymenko, the brigades have already begun to form on the basis of the already existing units of the National Guard of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. The structures will not have any actual law enforcement functions and, in general, rear functions. The minister mentioned constant combat training and participation in operations on the front line.
At the same time, it is reported that when forming new units, military enlistment offices and other structures subordinate to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense are practically ignored. According to a number of reports, you can sign up as a volunteer through the centers for the provision of administrative services (TSNAP - an analogue of Russian MFCs). This, in particular, was stated in their Telergram channels by the head of the Transcarpathian regional administration Viktor Mikita and his Kharkiv colleague Oleg Sinegubov .
As the "immediate goal" of the eight assault brigades, "liberation of territories" and "access to internationally recognized borders" are indicated. Considering how Kyiv understands “recognized borders,” the declared task is to occupy four new regions of Russia, as well as the Crimea and Sevastopol.
One of the brigades being created is called the Crimean Tatar name "Karadag" - in honor of the mountain near Feodosia. Other brigades were named:
"Red Kalina" (after the name of the unofficial anthem of Ukrainian nationalists),
"Hurricane",
"Spartan",
"Frontier",
"Steel Border" (a unit within the border service) and
"Fury" (as part of the National Police).
Finally, one of the new assault brigades is called Azov, coinciding with the name of an extremist and terrorist structure banned in Russia.
The latter is remarkable. The banned "Azov" de jure had the status of a separate special forces unit in the structure of the National Guard of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On January 26, the head, founder and first commander of the unit, Andrei Biletsky, announced that the “Azov,” previously subordinate to the National Guard, were reformatted into the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (this, in particular, was reported by portal "Military review" with reference to Biletsky's message in social networks).
The next day, the press service of the current leadership of Azov denied this statement. And now, judging by the statement of Klimenko, an assault brigade of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is being formed on the basis of a nationalist structure banned in the Russian Federation.
The application of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine for the formation of new armed structures in its composition coincided with reports of reshuffles in the Ministry of Armor - on Monday it became known about the likely resignation of the head of the military department, Alexei Reznikov.
Against this background, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in fact, made a request to return to the status of a "combat" structure," along with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Judging by Klymenko's statement, the newly created eight assault brigades of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will include not only border guards and National Police officers with combat experience, but also, in fact, the military.
At the initial stage of the conflict in the Donbass, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine (which was then run by Arsen Avakov , who was taking care of the nationalists) was already creating similar "volunteer" battalions, military expert Anatoly Matviychuk , a former officer of special forces units, reminded REGNUM news agency.
In 2014, it was the Ministry of Internal Affairs that oversaw the creation of punitive formations Donbass, Tornado, Dnepr, and a number of others.
Many of the then "field commanders" were later arrested on charges of crimes against civilians, Matviychuk said. Now, the expert believes, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine can give them a second chance.
Not just arrested. Ukrainian regulars were about to assault a location held by Tornado in 2015 when they capitulated.
At the same time, according to the expert, there is a significant difference with the volunteer battalions of the beginning of the so-called "anti-terrorist operation" (ATO, 2014-2018), since those formations were engaged in punitive actions, and now they will have to participate in combined arms operations against the regular army.
Therefore, although we are talking largely about nationalist formations, it would be more accurate to draw an analogy here not with the experience of 2014 or 2015, but with how irregular formations of various armed groups fought in Syria.
The interlocutor also drew attention to the phrase and. O. head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs Klymenko: it is planned to involve in the new assault brigades those who are not just “patriots”, but those who “lost their homes or relatives due to the war.” It can be concluded that the decisive factor for the "stormtroopers" should be high personal motivation, with which the existing personnel may have difficulties.
So, the interlocutor noted, the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine puts pressure on ordinary police officers, either forcing them to join the ranks of new front-line brigades, or motivating them financially.
The main goal is obvious: Kyiv intends to use existing structures (in particular, the basis of the same "Azov," planning to infuse the most experienced and motivated fighters into their ranks, the expert is sure.
“The main advantage of suicide volunteer units is not only the ability to perform various combat missions,” said Matviychuk.
"More importantly, at the cost of their lives, they can not only capture, but also hold certain positions until the approach of the main forces, control structures. During the offensive, this is of key importance for securing on the sector of the front where it was possible to break through, in order to accumulate forces for the performance of subsequent tasks. So the formation of such units has begun now due to the emergence of specific tasks, with which, as the experience of past wars shows, suicide volunteer squads are doing a good job," the source said.
In addition to volunteers motivated personally or ideologically (nationalists or Crimean Tatar radicals of an Islamist or again nationalist persuasion), “citizens who have problems with the law who make a deal with the authorities” can be recruited into the assault brigades, the source said.
“Real or imaginary criminals are under the control of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. That is why this structure was engaged in the formation of new divisions, - the interlocutor believes. - They have data on these citizens, they work with them. The same can be said about activists of neo-Nazi organizations. Many of them pass through the archives of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, because they were previously prosecuted. This is simply not the contingent that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense is used to working with.”