| Sabotage Assault Reconnaissance Group "Rusich" | |
|---|---|
| Диверсионно-штурмовая разведывательная группа «Русич» | |
 Patch of the Rusich Group featuring thekolovrat, a Slavic Pagan variant of the swastika | |
| Active | June 2014 – present |
| Country |  Russia |
| Type | Infantry |
| Role | sabotage and assault reconnaissance group |
| Size | a few hundred people[1] |
| Part of |  Army of the South-EastWagner Group |
| Colours | White, gold, black |
| Engagements | |
| Website | vk |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander | Alexey Milchakov |
| Notable commanders | Alexey Milchakov Yan Petrovsky |
| Insignia | |
| Flag | .svg) |
| Flag (2014) |  |
TheSabotage Assault Reconnaissance Group(DShRG) "Rusich" (Russian:Диверсионно-штурмовая разведывательная группа «Русич»,romanized: Diversionno-shturmovaya razvedyvatel'naya gruppa «Rusich») is aRussianfar-right[2][3] andneo-Nazi paramilitary unit[4][5] that has been fighting against Ukrainian forces in theRusso-Ukrainian War. Its co-founder and leader isAlexey Milchakov and operates within theWagner Group.[2][6] "Rusich" fought on the side ofpro-Russian military in theDonbas war from June 2014 to July 2015, and in theRussian invasion of Ukraine alongside Russian troops.[7]
The foundations of the Rusich group were laid in 2009, when a military training base was founded[8] byAlexey Milchakov, aneo-Nazi fromSaint Petersburg.[4][9] He had the nickname "Fritz" before being sent to theDonbas (there he changed to the call sign "Serb").[5][10][11] He took part in the Partizan paramilitary training program at theNovorossiya Aid Coordination Center (KCPN) run by the Russian Imperial Legion, a paramilitary arm of theRussian Imperial Movement.[12] Both Milchakov and the nominal commander of the Wagner groupDmitry Utkin served in the76th Guards Air Assault Division of theAirborne Forces.[12]
According to Milchakov, "Rusich" consists of "nationalistRodnovers, volunteers from Russia and Europe", operates as a "closed collective" and is a unit in which Russian nationalists receive combat training. The units turned out to be staffed by members of the GROM special unit, which is part of theFederal Drug Control Service. The brothers Konstantin and Boris Voevodin, for example, are Russian nationalists fromSaint Petersburg.[13]
The group has been fighting on the side ofpro-Russian separatists in theDonbas war since June 2014, conducting reconnaissance and sabotage operations behind Ukrainian lines,[14] and also played a significant role in several key battles at the beginning of the war.[15]
In the summer of 2014, "Rusich" fought as part of theBatman Rapid Response Group under the Russian separatist commander Lieutenant ColonelAlexander "Batman" Bednov[16][17] and participated in the battles for theLuhansk Airport, nearNovosvitlivka after theArmed Forces of Ukraine had cut the highway there, and placedLuhansk under blockade.[10] They also took part in the battles near the city ofShchastia,Stanytsia Luhanska, in the assault on the village ofKhryashchuvate, in the occupation of the villages ofHeorhiivka, Velyka Verhunka,Lutuhyne.
One of the most well known operations of "Rusich" was the ambush of a column of the UkrainianAidar Battalion near the villages ofMetalist and Tsvitni Pisky in theLuhansk Oblast on 5 September 2014, after a truce was supposed to have gone into effect.[5][18] Andriy Khvedchak, coordinator of the Volyn Maidan Self-Defense, said that on 5 September 2014, a part of the company of the Aidar battalion was ambushed in the same place whereNadiya Savchenko was taken prisoner.[19] Detachments of "Rusich" and RRT "Batman" set up an ambush on the highway and attacked the retreating "Aidar". Part of the second company of "Aydar" (Volyn) was ambushed by Russian special forces. According to him, the ambushed fighters were killed.[20] On 6 September,Semen Semenchenko reported that 11 soldiers were killed in an ambush "arranged by Russian special forces".[21] On the same day, information appeared that from 20 to 29 fighters of the battalion were killed in an ambush.[22]
Rusich published a video of an interrogation of Ivan Issyk, a member of the Aidar Battalion captured during the ambush. In the video, Issyk had akolovrat, a neo-Nazi symbol used by the Rusich Group, carved into his cheek. Five days later, Issyk, who by now had over 70% of his body covered in burns, was interviewed by the British pro-Russian propagandistGraham Phillips in a hospital. Issyk's parents accused Phillips of violating journalist ethics. Several days later Issyk was abducted from the hospital and murdered. An autopsy showed that his internal organs were cut out and shuffled in his body, including fragments of his brain being put in his stomach.[23]
In the fall of 2014, Rusich took part in the battles at theDonetsk International Airport along with theSparta andSomali battalions.
The most famous losses are the death ofAlexander Bednov's personal guards in an ambush on January 1, 2015. A lesser-known story is about DShRG getting into the counter-base, during which the former Kyiv anti-fascist "Whiskas" died.[13] In January 2015, Milchakov announced that his unit was no longer subordinate to the leadership of theLuhansk People's Republic. Thus, Milchakov reacted to the information about the killing of the former commander of the Batman group, Alexander Bednov. The commander called theHead of the Luhansk People's RepublicIgor Plotnitsky and the government of the LPR “whore children” and said that his unit would fight “against them and against the Ukrainians”.[24]
In February 2015 Milchakov was included in theEU sanctions list.[25][26]
In 2015, together with the commanders of other groups, Milchakov and Petrovsky received a certificate of membership of the Union of Donbass Volunteers. Upon returning to Ukraine, the group was transferred to thePrizrak Brigade ofAleksey Mozgovoy.[12] At the end of March 2015, after being redeployed to theDonetsk People's Republic due to persecution by the Ministry of State Security of the LPR, the group became part of the Viking battalion, where it took part in the battles aroundVolnovakha, near the villages of Belokamenki andNovolaspa. In mid-2015, the group was completely withdrawn from the Donbass.[27]
Upon his return from the Donbass, Milchakov engaged in combat training of teenagers in special camps in Russia. This was done in conjunction withright-wing radicals from theE.N.O.T. Corp.private military company.[28] The online edition "Belarusian Partizan" calls the "raccoons" a group of Russian militants who took part in the war in Donbass from its very beginning, and that they are close friends with Milchakov. As the publication notes, since 2015, raccoon began its legalization in Russia. They received the status of a public organization and the full support of the state, regularly holding military-patriotic games-gatherings. The chief instructor of the organization, Roman Telenkevich, simultaneously headed the Union of Donbass Volunteers.[29]
In 2016, Milchakov, as a member of the "Union of Volunteers of Donbass", may have been presented with an award by thehead of theRepublic of CrimeaSergey Aksyonov in the presence of the then assistant to the President of the Russian FederationVladislav Surkov. Milchakov himself, however, was not shy in terms, criticizing the leadership of the LPR for this ostentatious “anti-fascism” on hisVK page.[30]
Milchakov's deputy, Jan Petrovsky, is a former resident of Norway, where he lived and worked with a Norwegian associated with the far-right groupsSoldiers of Odin andNordic Resistance Movement.[31][32][33][34][30] The peculiar glory of the Russian in the conflict in Donbass, apparently, was the last straw for the Norwegian authorities, and he was finally recognized as a threat to national security. In October 2016, Norwegian police arrested Petrovsky and deported him to Russia.[35][36]
The group was one of the most mentioned in the negative connotation among the Ukrainian media and bloggers because of the photos of the killed soldiers of Ukraine and the stories that the group does not take prisoners.[37][38] In 2017, the military prosecutor's office of Ukraine accused Milchakov of involvement in the murder of 40 Ukrainian soldiers.[24]
In 2017, Rusich militants showed up inSyria guarding the strategically important oil and gas infrastructure owned by Russian companies. On their (now inaccessible) Instagram account, the militants posted photos fromPalmyra in central Syria, where one of them poses in front of ancient ruins, raising his hand in aNazi salute.[12][39] An investigation byBellingcat analyzed a 2017 photograph depicting a man in military uniform holding a severed human head near Palmyra. The investigation concluded the uniform was likely worn byAlexey Milchakov.[40] Bellingcat found that on 17 October 2017, Rusich member Nikitin Alexander Vladimirovich (AKA “The Livonian”) was killed in Syria.[41]
At the end of 2020, Alexey Milchakov said in an interview that the number of Rusich DShRG at that time was several dozen people, but “a lot of people come and they have to be weeded out”.[5]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Captured Ukrainian soldier was beheaded by Russian war criminals from DShRG «Rusich» |
The group returned to Ukraine at the beginning of April 2022, as the Russian invasion was underway.[42][43] Rusich's fighters were transferred to theKharkiv Oblast of Ukraine, where they were photographed near the village ofPletenivka [uk].[44] In 2022, the detachment and its commanders Alexey Milchakov andYan Petrovsky were included in the US sanctions list for their "special cruelty" in the battles in theKharkiv Oblast.[45][46] Rusich is affiliated with a coalition of neo-Nazi military groups taking part in theRussian invasion of Ukraine made up ofRussian Imperial Movement,AWD Russland andRussian ONA, with some overlap.[53]
In April 2023, the Rusich Group posted a video on their Telegram channel showinga captured Ukrainian soldier being beheaded with a knife, together with a caption stating that many more are to come.[54][55][56][57]
In May 2023 Rusich posted on their Telegram channel how they had used drones to drop the banned poison gaschloropicrin on Ukrainian positions.[58][59]
In August 2023Yan Petrovsky was detained in Finland and Ukraine requested his extradition.[60] The Rusich Group issued an ultimatum to the Russian government that they will not participate in any combat in Ukraine until Russia secured the release of Petrovsky. The group had been fighting on the Robotyne-Verbove line, defending the sector from the2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive, with their absence likely exacerbating Russian tactical losses in the region.[61]
In August 2024 Rusich posted on its Telegram channel a video of a severed head of a Ukrainian soldier mounted on a spike. Ukrainska Pravda claimed that a Russian soldier "was ordered to cut off the heads of four dead Ukrainian soldiers".[62] On August 19, 2024 Rusich asked for a Ukrainian prisoner to be surrendered to them for a human sacrifice for "autumnal equinox to encourage and strengthen the spirit of the new personnel of the unit". Rusich is affiliated with neo-pagan groups and the satanistOrder of Nine Angles that practices human sacrifice and its affiliated groups like Atomwaffen.[65] Later it emerged that Rusich members had sacrificed aChechen Akhmat fighter in a ritual and recorded themselves mutilating him.[66]
Rusich Group stated in September 2024 that it has entered an official agreement with Border Service under the FSB to strengthen the border and conduct intelligence activities on the Finnish border in the northwestern district ofKarelia and posted pictures of their soldiers atRättijärvi.[67][68] The newspaper "Contando Estrelas" pointed out that "last year, the Russian newspaper Izvestia linked the ONA to murders committed in the Karelia region", location of the Russian central nexion, and now the region where Rusich is deployed.[47]
In November 2025 Rusich organized a competition for its members, promising cryptocurrency rewards for submitted photos of Ukrainian prisoners of war being executed, featuring them on their Telegram channel. They featured a picture of a Rusich militant posing with three executed Ukrainian prisoners to announce the competition.[69]
"Rusich" is described as afar-right extremist[2][3] andneo-Nazi unit.[73] According to Petrovsky, Rusich is "a Pan-Slavic, Pan-Scandinavian group."[74]
The following are used as symbols of the group: runes, in particularTiwaz (ᛏ)[42] (meaning the god of military prowessTýr), the eight-rayedKolovrat,Valknut, andcode slogans.[5] Like manyRussian nationalists, they also use theRussian imperial flag (black-yellow-white tricolor), but reversed so that white is on top.
Milchakov became an influential figure among the neo-fascist youth in Russia. He is also one of the few who were not affected by arrests upon his return to Russia. According to Milchakov himself, his group does not even try to get into politics, no matter how insulting it is for decisions from above.[75]
In post on their Telegram channel on how to “solve the Ukrainian question,” they propose forcing Ukrainian women to serve as wives of Russian soldiers without any civil or human rights. In particular, they call for soldiers to be “given 2-3 girls each” aged 10 or below as sexual slaves “to solve the demographic question in Russia.” Further, they claim that "rape is not a crime" and "Ukrainian women dream about being raped by Russian soldiers".[76]
According to religious studies scholars Kaarina Aitamurto and Ross Downing Rusich members are anti-Christian and view Christians as egalitarian, passive and weak and Christianity as whole as a cunning Jewish plot to enslave Russians. Some of them "align with satanism for the reason that Satan is the one who is fighting against the Jewish God".[77]
Rusich has neo-Nazi volunteers from around Europe fighting in its ranks. Polish neo-Nazis from "Zadrużny Krąg - Slavic Division" led by former police officer Arwid Pływaczewski have joined Rusich.[78] At least one of the members of the Polish neo-Nazi group "Zadruga" fought as part of this unit.[13] Further, members of Rusich have previously been associated with theNordic Resistance Movement inFennoscandia, where Petrovsky has also sought to recruit people from. Petrovsky has a close relationship with theFinnish far-right.[82] Finnish volunteer group Karhu (Bear) joined and fought with Rusich when they were subordinate to Prizrak.[83][12][84]
.svg)
Tsar Alexander II's Flag of the Russian Empire (1858–1896)There are no more than a few hundred troops in the Rusich group
Russian mercenaries fighting in Ukraine, including the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group, have been linked to far-right extremism ... Much of the extremist content, posted on Telegram and the Russian social media platform VKontakte (VK), relates to a far-right unit within the Wagner Group called Rusich ... One post on the messaging app Telegram, dated 15 March, shows the flag of the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM), a white-supremacist paramilitary ... Another recent VK posting lists Rusich as part of a coalition of separatist groups and militias including the extreme far-right group, Russian National Unity.
Rusich is one of several right-wing groups that are actively fighting in Ukraine, in conjunction with Russia's regular armed forces or allied separatist units.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)Jan Petrovski (nyk. Voislav Torden) on ollut mukana Soldiers of Odinin ja Pohjoismaisen vastarintaliikkeen toiminnassa.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Flere av personene som var involvert er relativt kjente skikkelser innenfor nynazistiske kretser, sånn som Ronny Bårdsen, en av lederskikkelsene i den Nordiske Motstandsbevegelsen...Yan Petrovskiy var nestkommanderende i Rusich, en liten paramilitær gruppe, hvor kjernen bestod av nynazister fra St.Petersburg.
In Syria, multiple members of Rusich fight for the Wagner mercenary group, and their involvement in the country can be tracked on social media. For example, Nikitin Alexander Vladimirovich (AKA "The Livonian") was killed in Syria on 17 October 2017, and according to online images it is very likely that six members of Rusich were fighting for Wagner in Syria in 2017.
Some sources link the DSHRG "Rusich" with an international neo-nazi and Satanic network, the Order of the Nine Angles (ONA), accused of terrorist practices, child abuse and human sacrifice, and which in Russia also has one of its branches in the so-called Ave Satan Legion.
This group, made up of mercenaries with neo-Nazi and neo-pagan beliefs, is involved in serious war crimes that have sparked controversy even within Russia. Some members of the group are connected to satanic and neo-Nazi organizations such as the Order of Nine Angles.
RIM has developed supportive relationships with other transnational violent extremist groups grounded in mutual aid and training. The closest of these connections are with...the Russian neo-Nazi organization Rusich, and the transnational accelerationist neo-Nazi organization Atomwaffen Division...Rusich and the Russian Imperial Movement [have] U.S. nationals sympathetic to their cause [like] far-right organizer Matthew Heimbach and U.S. cells of the extremist Atomwaffen Division.
{{cite thesis}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)We also observed significant overlap between members of [RIM and Rusich] and well-known transnational White supremacist organization Atomwaffen Division...adherents of the Russian Imperial Movement, Rusich and related identitarian paramilitary groups such as...Atomwaffen Division
photos emerged of the Rusich battalion, a Russian neo-Nazi group fighting against Ukraine, mutilating and "sacrificing" a Chechen Akhmat fighter.
"Русич" є панслов'янською, панскандинавською групою... розповідав Петровський в інтерв'ю каналу "Новороссия ТВ" у 2015 році.
Yan Petrovskii, was a neo-Nazi who used to live in Norway and built a close relationship with members of the Finnish far-right organization Soldiers of Odin.
A 2019 report by the Norwegian Security Service revealed that Petrovsky allegedly tried to recruit fighters for Rusich in Norway
Milchakov's deputy Yan Petrovsky (alias Voislav Torden) is jailed in Finland awaiting trial. He built strong connections with Scandinavian nazis, including members of the Nordic Resistance Movement, which was recently proscribed by the US authorities as a terrorist organisation.
Media related toDShRG Rusich at Wikimedia Commons