Russian irregular units in Ukraine
Over the course of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, irregular military units began to play a more prominent role in the fighting, alongside the regular Russian Armed Forces. In the face of waning recruitment levels for the military as casualties mounted, the Russian government increasingly turned to a variety of mercenaries, militias, paramilitaries, and mobilized convicts. In a similar fashion to the pro-Russian people's militias in Ukraine such as the DPR People's Militia and LPR People's Militia, the combat effectiveness of these irregular combatants varies greatly. This can be seen in the contrast between the poorly equipped and virtually untrained prisoners serving under Storm-Z and the professional mercenaries of PMC Wagner. The Wagner group itself also used convicts in its ranks, alongside its more experienced cadre of fighters. The organization garnered much notoriety as it took up an increasingly prominent role in the fighting in late 2022, culminating in the Battle of Bakhmut.
Background
Russia's invasion effort has left the military strapped for volunteers to join the armed forces. In an attempt to circumvent this, Russia has employed a number of tactics to garner more recruits. The largest is to have Russian companies and organizations that are directly or indirectly tied to the Russian government to raise mercenary groups. The basis of these formations is that the higher pay and more stringent recruitment methods will garner more interest and volunteers from civilians, mainly veterans, who have not already joined the war effort. Similarly, many of Russia's subdivisions are paid by the government to raise volunteer militias, usually consisting of between 200 and 400 personnel. These units are largely former veterans, mostly of the Soviet–Afghan War and are between the ages of 50 and 60, however, that is not always the case, as the key driver for recruitment to these units is the higher pay they offer than a mobilized conscript, and the cult of personality around the politicians that created the units. In 2015 Russia created the Combat Army Reserves in an attempt to create an analogous reservist organization to the British Territorial Army or the United States Army Reserve with members being paid a salary to undergo part time military training. Additionally, most of the members of BARS units are retained veterans from the War in Donbass.Private military companies
Gazprom-affiliated companies
Fakel, Plamya and Potok are voluntary military formations, founded in 2023 by the Russian state run gas monopoly Gazprom subsidiary Gazprom Neft, as a more loyal alternative for the Wagner Group, which at the time had just begun clashing with Russian high command on issues of supplies and tactics. Fakel and Plamya reportedly are directly subordinate to the Russian Ministry of Defence, while Potok joined Redut PMC, a PMC which is also controlled by the Russian MoD. Although the company has no official political affiliation, several members stated they are fighting to restore the Russian Empire. The company hires primarily from Gazprom employees, who are promised that their old jobs are guaranteed for them when they return, and a large portion of the fighters are Gazprom security guards.The Alexander Nevsky private army is also affiliated with Gazprom.
Tsar's Wolves
The Tsar's Wolves was formed in 2014 during the War in Donbas as a way to circumvent Russia sending assistance to Russian separatist forces. The group consists of "experienced military advisers and experts" that provided "military-technical support" to the separatist forces. On November 11, 2022, former Roscosmos director Dmitry Rogozin announced that he was the new leader of the group shortly after his ousting from the agency. The unit works closely with the Russian Military–industrial complex to develop and test new technology in a "baptism of fire in the Donbas." The group's self stated goal is to restore the glory, and the borders, of the Russian Empire. The group has seen front-line combat during the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive where they performed a failed defensive action against the Ukrainian 47th Mechanized Brigade over the village of Lobkove.Uran
The Uran battalion is a PMC owned and operated by the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, and received international attention on June 16, 2023, when the agency released a recruitment video for the group styled like a trailer to a First-person shooter. The unit is named after the planet Uranus and has put an emphasis on their loyalty to the Russian state in an attempt to sway Wagner group fighters to join them after the Wagner Group rebellion. Mercenaries in the battalion receive a signing bonus of $1,200 and a monthly salary of $3,000. The group has ties to a Moscow based MMA club, and the Shield and Sword patriotic and veteran organization. The unit has yet to see front-line combat in the war, and its existence, and Roscomos' active recruitment for the group, has strained international space cooperation, namely with NASA and the policy of Russian membership in the International Space Station. The group has put an emphasis on recruiting from the 170,000 employees of Roscosmos, with their recruitment videos playing throughout Roscosmos installations.Redut PMC
Redut PMC is a Russian Private Military and Security Company that is part of the "Antiterror-family"—which consists of similarly named PMSCs that protect commercial operations of Russian companies. It is deployed in the Russian invasion and was deployed in the Balkans, Africa, Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean.Wagner Group
Patriot
Created as a more "specialized" alternative to Wagner, Patriot has modeled itself after the American Blackwater PMC by hiring only young ex-military paid $2,500. Founded and led by former Colonel General Leonid Ivashov who also leads the Honor and Motherland patriotic organization and is a chairman of the All-Russian Officers' Assembly. The unit has seen combat around Vuhledar, but have also been sent to Sudan, Gabon, and the Central African Republic.E.N.O.T.
A collection of far-right, ultra-nationalist guns for hire active from 2014 until its founder, Igor Mangushev, was killed in Ukraine in 2023.Minor PMCs
- The Orthodox Brotherhood is a mercenary group linked to the Russian Orthodox Church. They describe their motivation for fighting "to protect Russia from a decadent West that has hijacked Kyiv".
- "Konvoy" is the name of two identical organizations founded by the St. Petersburg City Cossack Society in 2022, and are led and managed by Konstantin "Mazai" Pikalov, a former member of the Wagner group and the Crimea militia as well was a close personal ally of Yevgeny Prigozhin. Numbering 300 fighters, each member is paid $2,500 a month and is promised land in Crimea and Abkhazia.
- The "Ural" PMC was founded and led by Igor Altushkin, a Russian oligarch. As its name suggests, the group is reportedly composed of volunteers from the Urals. According to Russian state media, the company has fought near Kreminna. Reportedly, at one point Altushkin attempted to recruit from Russian prisons, but was blocked from doing so by Yevgeny Prigozhin of the Wagner Group.
- PMC "Bokarev" is a private military company that was likely founded and operated by Russian billionaire oligarch Andrei Bokarev. The PMC was first mentioned in April 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin. Little else is known about the unit or their operations.
- "Sparta" and "Demon" are two other private military companies.
- "Cascade" is founded and led by prominent Anti-Maidan oligarch Dmitry Sablin. the unit is named after an operational-reconnaissance combat detachment from the Soviet–Afghan War. Six members of the State Duma from United Russia claimed to be members of the group including: Dmitry Khubezov, Sergei Sokol, Oleg Golikov, Oleg Kolesnikov, and Evgeny Pervyshov.
Militias
Storm Ossetia
Storm Ossetia was a militia in service to the Russian Armed Forces raised from volunteers from North Ossetia–Alania. Consisting of 300 personnel, the unit saw combat near Lobkove during the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive, forming a first line of defense for the Russian units there. The defense of the village would fail, with it being occupied by Ukrainian forces on June 13. The unit was then tasked with defending the village of Piatykhatky just south of Lobkove. They were able to hold onto the village for five days until their position became untenable and they were ordered to retreat. During the chaos of the retreat the unit would find themselves encircled and were "liquidated" to the last fighter, including their deputy commander Aivengo Tekho.Pavel Sudoplatov Battalion
Raised by pro-Russian collaborators in Russian occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the unit is named after Pavel Sudoplatov, a member of the NKVD from Melitopol that assassinated the leader of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, Yevhen Konovalets, was involved in the assassination of Leon Trotsky and performed espionage on the Manhattan Project. The battalion was raised in 2022, and is led by Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian installed governor of Zaporizhzhia, with his son being a prominent member of the battalion. Volunteers for the battalion are paid $5,000 and the group claims to have volunteers from Serbia, Sweden, and Turkey.Akhmat battalions
On 26 June 2022, Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of the Chechen Republic of Russia, announced the creation of four "Akhmat" military battalions. He claimed this would help reduce unemployment in the republic.On 28 October 2023, commander of the Akhmat forces Apti Alaudinov confirmed that former Wagner Group fighters were being recruited into the Akhmat units. In an interview, he said that the number of recruits was "massive", and that the former Wagnerites were serving under their former Wagner commanders.
;Sever-Akhmat
is one of the four volunteer "elite special forces" Akhmat units raised by Ramzan Kadyrov on June 26 that has seen combat in Ukraine. In May 2023, Kadyrov claimed that Sever Akhmat had taken over Wagner Group positions in Bakhmut, taking over their role in the Battle of Bakhmut. Prior to this, earlier in May, the unit was reported as performing rear-guard policing operations behind Russian lines. Adam Delimkhanov claimed that the unit saw combat around Marinka and were being commanded by Apti Alaudinov. Russian state news agency TASS reported that the unit captured Ukrainian positions in the village of Novomykhailivka in the Donetsk Oblast on January 26, 2023. In late May 2023, it was reported that Sever-Akhmat soldiers were involved in a prisoner exchange with Ukraine for members of the Azov Brigade captured at the Azovstal. On 30 July 2023, Kadyrov reprimanded journalists who reported "mass deaths" within the unit, insisting that the unit is still fully functional and seeing active combat in the battle for Bakhmut.
;Yug-Akhmat
Yug-Akhmat is one of the four volunteer "elite special forces" Akhmat units raised by Ramzan Kadyrov on June 26. Kadyrov claimed the unit was trained by the Spetnaz at the Russian Special Forces University and had been sent to the front on September 19, 2022. On May 19, 2023, the unit was reported to have been transferred to the Zaporizhzhia front.
;Vostok-Akhmat
Vostok-Akhmat is one of the four volunteer "elite special forces" Akhmat units raised by Ramzan Kadyrov on June 29. Russian state news agency TASS reported that the unit was sent to the front on September 17, 2022. Kadyrov claimed that the unit destroyed a Leopard 2 tank on July 8, 2023. Kadyrov also claimed that the unit might be sent to defend the southern border of Chechnya, in an interview where he was questioned for ordering the installation of air defense in the region. In June, Kadyrov announced that the unit's barracks in Chechnya would double as a patriotic youth center. On 15 August it was reported that the unit is subordinate to the 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division and has been sent to Southern Ukraine as part of the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive to defend Russian positions south of Orikhiv.
;Zapad-Akhmat
Zapad-Akhmat is one of the four volunteer "elite special forces" Akhmat units raised by Ramzan Kadyrov on June 26, 2022. Russian state news agency TASS reported that the unit was sent to the front on September 17, 2022, and are commanded by Ismail Aguyev who had served for other units prior to his command of the unit. The unit was sent to the Belgorod Oblast to defend against incursions there by anti-government Russian militant groups.