“The Hawks”: the new mercenary brigade that Russia is recruiting to fight in Ukraine

On Russia Social media channels and private messaging groups are being used to recruit a new mercenary brigade to fight in Ukraine with the army, the BBC has learned.

The BBC spoke to a serving mercenary and an ex-combatant with close ties to one of Russia’s main mercenary organisations, who shared details of the recruitment drive.

The serving mercenary said that many veterans of the secret Wagner organization were contacted in a private Telegram group a few weeks before the start of the war.

They were invited to a “Ukrainian picnic”, and references were made to tasting “Salo”, a pork fat traditionally eaten in Ukraine.

The message calls on “those with criminal records, debts, banned from mercenary groups or without an external passport” to apply.

The message also stated that “those from the Russian-occupied areas of the Luhansk and Donetsk republics and Crimea, (are) cordially invited.”

The Wagner group is one of the most secret organizations in Russia. Officially, it does not exist: serving as a mercenary is against Russian and international law.

But it is believed that up to 10,000 operators have signed at least one contract with Wagner in the last seven years.

The serving mercenary who spoke to the BBC said the new recruits are being placed in units under the command of officers from the GRU, the Russian defense ministry’s military intelligence unit.

He emphasized that the hiring policy had changed and fewer restrictions apply.

“They are recruiting anyone and everyone,” he said, unhappy with what he described as the lower level of professionalism of the new fighters.

He said that the new units being recruited are no longer known as Wagners, but new names are being used, such as The Hawks.

This appears to be part of a recent trend away from the Wagner group’s reputation, as “the brand is tainted,” says Candace Rondeaux, a professor of Russian, Eurasian and Eastern European studies at Arizona State University.

Wagner has faced repeated accusations of human rights abuses and war crimes in his operations in Syria and Libya.

Mercenary sources who spoke to the BBC said the recruits are trained at Wagner’s base in Mol’kino, in southern Russia, next to a Russian army base.

Mercenaries for “the near foreigner”

In addition to private messaging groups, there has also been a public campaign in Russia to recruit mercenaries.

On the Russian social media platform VK, a page describing itself as a specialist in security activities posted an ad during the first week of the invasion calling on “security guards” from other countries of the former Soviet Union to apply. for “the near stranger”.

military experts They claim that this is a reference to Ukraine.

Previously, criminal records were an obstacle for those who wanted to join the mercenaries.

Restrictions had also been placed on anyone born outside Russia due to questions of loyalty.

There is a “high demand for fighters” and to make a difference on the ground “you’re going to need thousands of mercenaries,” says Jason Blazakis, a senior fellow at the Soufan Center, a US-based security think tank.

On Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said 16,000 fighters from the Middle East had volunteered to fight with the Russian military.

Presence in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave orders allowing Middle Eastern fighters to be deployed in the war.

It has been reported that up to 400 Wagner group fighters have been to Ukraine.

The Wagner group was first identified in 2014, when it was backing pro-Russian separatists in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The Wagner fighter explained that in the first days of the invasion of Ukraine he was sent to the country’s second largest city, Kharkiv, noting that his unit successfully completed a mission there, without revealing what it was about.

“Then they paid us $2,100 for a month’s work and we went back home to Russia,” he told the BBC.

Blazakis describes the use of mercenaries as a “sign of desperation” to maintain the support of the Russian public.

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked several protests in Russia. Thousands have been arrested.

Blazakis added that the use of mercenaries allows the Kremlin “to keep the death toll low because mercenaries are used as cannon fodder.”

moscow always he has denied any links to mercenary groups.

The BBC asked the Russian Defense Ministry if the Mol’kino base was being used to recruit additional forces for what Russian authorities call “a special military operation in Ukraine”. No response received.

Additional reporting by Nader Ibrahim and Ahmed ElShamy

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