We present to your attention a study by the OsintFlow team, which made it possible
to identify the unit of traitors and occupiers - the SB “Crimea”, fighting under
the leadership of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (former GRU).
As of late January - early February 2025, open sources featured information
that the assault battalion “Crimea” of the Volunteer Corps
is fighting on the territory of the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia region. Most often, in
Russian information sources and social media pages of Russian
servicemen from the mentioned military formation, the settlement of
Vasylivka, Zaporizhzhia region, is mentioned.
Collecting information on a serviceman from the “Crimea” assault detachment prompted us to conduct our own investigation,
which made it possible to reveal the hierarchical link between the unit of Russian
servicemen SB “Crimea” and the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU) through the “PMC REDUT”.
The mentioned so-called PMC was previously the subject of journalistic
investigations; in particular, in 2023, journalists from Radio Liberty projects “Schemes” and
“System” published a major investigation titled “The Trick of Redut. How the GRU created a phantom ‘PMC’ to recruit thousands of Russians for the war against Ukraine”, where it was exposed as part of a “shadow army”
of mercenaries, so-called volunteers, acting in the interests of the Russian occupation
army. According to journalists, at the time of publication in autumn 2023, more than 20
armed formations with a total number of tens of thousands of people recruit fighters
through this PMC, which is controlled by the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
(GRU). All these units are united by one thing: the scheme under which they conclude contracts with
mercenaries. This scheme works as follows: the mercenary signs a contract with
a non-existent company, is assigned to a “virtual” or existing military
unit, and as a result, receives money from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. This
mechanism is the “Redut system”.
However, in the materials among the lists of Russian armed formations recruiting
through the “Redut” system, the “Crimea” detachment (battalion) was not mentioned, which indicates
their constant expansion and the involvement of more servicemen who
are supervised by enemy intelligence agencies. It is also often possible to find in
open sources another name for the formation – “Tavrida”, but for quite some time these
are two different formations with different subordination, but everything in order and from the beginning.
Volunteer Corps and SB “Crimea”
In the already mentioned journalistic study, one important date is noted – February 4,
2023, when in Mariupol
a congress took place of the “Union of
Donbas Volunteers” (“UDV”), where they announced the unification of mercenaries into
a single structure called the “Russian Volunteer Corps” (not to be confused with
“RDK”). At this event were present both commanders of Russian mercenary formations
and high-ranking participants.
Vladimir Alekseev, Alexey Kondratyev, Sergey Drozdov
Source: Radio Liberty
Journalists of “Systema” published an exclusive document issued to one of the
“Redut” mercenaries, bearing the stamp of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the date of formation
of the “Russian Volunteer Corps” – February 27, 2023. The document bears
the stamp of the department and the signature of the commander for personnel affairs of the corps Alexey
Kondratyev — a retired GRU officer who was present at the UDV congress.
In January 2023, information appeared in open networks that Colonel
Kondratyev headed all volunteer formations of the Main Directorate of the General Staff
of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and already in March 2024 Kondratyev appeared as the commander of the
“12th Brigade named after Saint Prince Vladimir”.
According to Russian volunteers, including the “Bashnya” foundation, this brigade
is engaged specifically in reconnaissance.
https://фондбашня.рф/video/12-brigada-razvedki-im-knyazya-vladimira-mart-2024/
In September 2024, information appeared online that the first commander of the Cossack
brigade “Don” of the DSC, Alexey Kondratyev, call sign “Partisan”, became a member of the Federation Council from the Kursk region.
Another high-ranking participant of the mentioned UDV congress – Sergey
Drozdov. In 2023, he held the position of head of the 2nd Directorate
of the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In
journalistic investigations, it is assumed that in the “Redut” system
Drozdov is responsible for recruiting mercenaries into PMCs and volunteer formations.
“Head of the Union of Donbas Volunteers, State Duma deputy Alexander
Borodai at an operational briefing. Area of responsibility: the battalion
of the Union of Donbas Volunteers BARS-14. North of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic,
vicinity of the settlement of Makiivka”
In May 2023, Drozdov appeared on the UDV VK page. It is claimed that the photo of Borodai and Drozdov
was taken during an operational meeting near Makiivka. As of
February 2025, Borodai is the commander of the “Reconnaissance-Assault Brigade of St. George
UDV,” which is also part of the corps.
In 2024, on the official Telegram channel of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Colonel Sergey
Drozdov appears at an awards ceremony for so-called “BARS” volunteers as the “Deputy
Head of the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.”
The main curator of the “Redut” system, according to investigative journalists, is
the Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU) Vladimir
Alekseev, who was also present at the UDV congress in 2023. Alekseev was named the initiator
of the creation of “Redut” in investigations by The Insider and Der Spiegel.
Since June 2023, Alekseev has appeared in various propaganda promotional videos
signing contracts with so-called volunteer formations.
It should also be noted that in July 2023, the so-called Cossack brigades also
decided to unite into a corps. In particular, three Cossack volunteer brigades fighting
in Ukraine – “Don”, “Terek” (which includes the BARS-35 detachment (KB “Skif”),
which we covered in a two-part study) and “Dnepr” – were combined into one
corps. This was reported to journalists by the deputy commander of the
“Cossack Volunteer Assault Corps,” ataman of the SKVRiZ, Nikolay
Dyakonov.
Source: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation https://t.me/mod_russia/27408
Subsequently, Alekseev regularly appeared at award ceremonies for various volunteer
formations, including the awarding of fighters from SB “Crimea”. Next to
Alekseev at the signing of contracts with the first ten brigades stands
the subject of our study – ex-gauleiter of
South Ossetia, General Anatoly Ilyich Bibilov.
In the fall of 2023, Bibilov, as the “Deputy Commander of the Corps for Military-
Political Work”, stated in an interview with journalists that volunteer
units located in Ukraine had merged into the “Volunteer Assault
Corps ‘Expeditionary’ (DSC (E))”. Bibilov explained that the word
“Expeditionary” means that the corps members are ready to carry out missions anywhere,
at any time.
“According to Bibilov, by decision of the Russian command, the corps was created
from those units that voluntarily came here after the start of the ‘SMO.’ It includes
many battalions and brigades, in particular the ‘Wolves’ brigade, Cossack units
‘Dnepr’, ‘Don’, ‘Terek’, BARS battalions, ‘Alexander Nevsky’, ‘Veterans’,
‘George the Victorious’, ‘Sever Z’, and others.” — IA Krasnaya Vesna
As of December 2024, Bibilov continues to serve as the political officer
of the corps, which he reported in an interview with propagandist Pegov.
As of February 2025, within the so-called Volunteer Corps, only on
social networks, 30 formations of occupiers are mentioned, but information about the creation of new brigades
appears online, so the number of units is even greater.
Recruitment of mercenaries is carried out both through the DSC website and through the social networks
of the ROV formations.
“Crimea” or “Tavrida”?
The 2nd Cossack Assault Battalion “Tavrida” was formed on March 18, 2022,
by order of Cossack Colonel and Ataman of the Black Sea Cossack Army Anton
Sirotkin, on behalf of the command of the Southern Military District of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
Sirotkin himself was appointed to the position of Ataman by order of Russian dictator
Putin in 2021.
In an interview in 2022, Sirotkin shared that the “Tavrida” battalion fought on the
Zaporizhzhia front until mid-September 2022. From September 2022, the “Tavrida” battalion was withdrawn from the front for
reorganization and the idea of creating another Cossack assault company began
to be implemented — it was named “Sevastopol”, and the battalion itself began to be called
“Aksonovtsy,” after Sergey Aksyonov, who was behind the creation of this
volunteer unit. In September 2023, the “Tavrida” battalion officially joined the 116th Separate Operational Brigade of the Russian Guard.
According to information provided by “Crimea” fighters in numerous interviews,
in March 2022 many of them volunteered for “Tavrida”.
Initially, they fought alongside regular troops in the area of Mariupol and
Bezimenne in the Donetsk region, and then the volunteers were transferred to Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region. During this period, the split into two formations occurred –
“Tavrida” and “Crimea”, which was transferred to Vasylivka and as of February 2025,
the fighters are still there.
Reference:
The assault Cossack battalion “Tavrida”, led by
Aksyonov’s trusted ataman – bandit and fraudster Anton Sirotkin, was covered by
the Crimean news agency “Center for Journalistic Investigations” in its video blog
back in September 2022.
Hierarchy of SB “Crimea”
The investigation began with the identification of individuals from among the rank-and-file and command staff
of the SB “Crimea” unit, who frequently appear in various interviews with Russian
propagandists. For better visualization, the main connections and key persons are shown
in the diagram. Personal data of the fighters presented in the infographic and those not included in the scheme are published at the end of the material.
Patches. P.M.C REDUT
During the identification of individuals and analysis of materials available in
open sources, the first evidence of the involvement of SB “Crimea” in the
“Redut” structure was obtained.
The assault detachment’s initial patch design featured an image of an orc’s head and two cannons — a typical artillery symbol.
Further analysis revealed an updated version of the “orc”.
The new design of the insignia included the characteristic inscription P.M.C REDUT and BATTALION “CRIMEA”. Such a change indicates full integration and formalization of relations between the occupier’s unit and “Redut”.
The updated patch was recorded on the uniforms and gear of most servicemen featured in the investigation, which also confirms their belonging to the “Redut” system.
Awards from the “GRU”
The next stage of the investigation was the analysis of award practices for servicemen
of the unit under investigation.
One such recorded case is the awarding of the militant of the “Crimea” battalion,
Kruglov P.A., call sign “Oper.” In one published photo, he is seen receiving the “For Courage” medal from Vladimir Stepanovich Alekseev.
According to available information, Alekseev is the Deputy Head of the Main Directorate
of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (former GRU), mentioned earlier.
The entire unit also received awards from Alekseev, as reported by the political officer
of SB “Crimea” on his blog.
This fact also indicates a hierarchical connection between the “Crimea” unit and the GRU.
Vladimir Stepanovich Alekseev was also spotted awarding special forces involved in the war as part of the “Yug” group.
He also awarded the “Veterans” ODSBR, a confirmed component of the “Redut” system.
Awards play a leading role within the unit.
Open-source analysis reveals numerous mentions of various decorations, ranging from internal awards to high distinctions presented by GRU representatives and State Duma deputies.
This tool also emphasizes the ideological component: affiliation with Russian military intelligence evokes pride among collaborators, often manifested publicly in various ways. The next section covers such examples of “self-expression”.
Publications on Social Media
Although posts on social media and the use of distinctive insignia are not direct proof of affiliation, they are noteworthy, as some of these individuals were later confirmed to have links to intelligence services.
When collecting data on a serviceman with the call sign “Voron,” numerous mentions of intelligence agencies were found, along with greetings on GRU professional holidays and contextual hints at his affiliation.
A collaborator with the call sign “Skif” was seen wearing a pin reading “Are you from the GRU?”
Another example is a person with the call sign “Grin.” According to archived VK data, under “place of work” he indicated “Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU GS).”
Phone leak databases confirmed his past service in the Bezler unit, known as “Bes” (Russian saboteur, GRU officer, collaborator, DNR field commander).
Another interesting figure is “Bond,” who has served in multiple formations with a long “service record.”
He allegedly participated in the Second Chechen War and served in the 346th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion (2002–2004). In March 2023, propaganda materials show “Bond” as commander of the “Baghdad” detachment of SB “Crimea”.
By January 2025, “Bond” appears as commander of the “Baltika” battalion (Cossack Reconnaissance Brigade “Terek”). Though he no longer features in “Crimea” publications, his personal data was collected.
V/Ch 08818 – “M”
