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The flag of the
Russian Orthodox Army; a paramilitary group in Ukraine.
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The Russian Orthodox Army (Russian: Русская
православная армия, Russkaya
pravoslavnaya armiya), a pro-Russian insurgent group in Ukraine, originated in May 2014 as part of
the insurgency. It reportedly had 100 members at the time of its founding,
including locals and Russian volunteers. As fighting between separatists and
the Ukrainian
government worsened in Donbass, membership rose to 350, and later
to 4,000. Notable engagements of the ROA include the June 2014 skirmishes in Mariupol and Amvrosiivka Raion. The headquarters of the
ROA is located in an occupied Security
Service of Ukraine (SBU) building in Donetsk city. Members swore allegiance to
Igor Girkin ("Strelkov"), insurgent and Minister of Defence of the
self-declared Donetsk
People's Republic.
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Russian Orthodox Army
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INTERNET
SOURCE: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30518054
The Russians fighting a
'holy war' in Ukraine
18
December 2014
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A Russian Orthodox Priest leads the soldiers
in prayer
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Since the start of the
conflict in eastern Ukraine eight months ago, the Kremlin has denied any direct
involvement, including sending Russian troops. But there are Russian fighters
on the ground who are proud to announce their presence - and to discuss their
ideas of "holy war".
Even
when the morning sun catches the gold domes of its Orthodox churches, the
Ukrainian city of Donetsk, stronghold of the pro-Russian rebels, doesn't look
much like Jerusalem. Trolley-buses trundle through the dirty snow, past
belching chimneys and the slag-heaps from the coal-mines on the edge of town.
But
through the smoke and grime, Pavel Rasta sees a sacred city - and he's fighting
for it, Kalashnikov in hand, just like the Crusaders fought for the heart of
Christendom centuries ago. He may be a financial manager - most recently
working in a funeral parlour - who's never held a gun before in his life, but
he sees himself as the modern version of a medieval knight, dedicated to
chivalrous ideas of Christian purity and defending the defenceless.
And
the defenceless, for him, are the citizens of eastern Ukraine, mainly
Russian-speaking, who are under attack, as he sees it, by a ruthless Ukrainian
government intent on wiping them out culturally, or even physically.
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Pavel used Rasta as
his name for blogging, before it became his nom de guerre
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30518054]
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Pavel,
from the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don - a tall man in his late 30s
with a fashionably trimmed beard and a bookish air - is just one of hundreds,
perhaps as many as 1,000, Russian volunteers fighting in Ukraine.
What's happening here is a holy war of the Russian people for its own future, for its own ideals- Pavel Rasta
The
conflict around the self-proclaimed separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk
has now dragged on for eight months - with at least 4,600 killed, even by the
most conservative, UN, estimate. Despite Kremlin denials, evidence from
intelligence sources, and Russian human rights groups, suggests thousands of
regular Russian troops have also been fighting there, alongside a larger number
of local rebels. But men like Pavel say they aren't there under orders, or for
money, but only for an idea, the idea of restoring a Russian empire. It would
be Orthodox, like the empire of the tsars, including Ukraine and Belarus.
"Why
do I say Donetsk is Jerusalem? Because what's happening here is a holy war of
the Russian people for its own future, for its own ideals, for its children and
its great country that 25 years ago was divided into pieces," Pavel says.
We're
sitting on his narrow, squeaky bed in a barracks in Donetsk, our conversation
interrupted periodically by the boom of shelling and the crackle of gunfire.
Like the other Russians here, he says he's paid for much of his equipment and
travel arrangements himself. Some kit and food comes from donations channelled
through Russian nationalist organisations, while their weapons - in this unit,
mostly rifles - are from the rebel military authorities, originally captured
from Ukrainian forces or supplied by Russia.
Few
Western journalists have been allowed to meet the volunteers before - revealing
any Russian involvement in the war is sensitive - and some of his comrades in
this unit of Russian
and Ukrainian volunteers are nervous about our presence.
They're
a mixed bunch: some are retired professional soldiers hardened by Russia's wars
against the Chechen rebels, some former policemen - and possibly, secret
service agents - who later went into business, some youngsters who've never
even served in the army. And their cultural reference-points are bewilderingly
eclectic. The image of Orthodox Crusaders sits uneasily with the emblem of the
brigade they serve in - a skull-and-crossbones - and their motto: "The
more enemies - the more honour."
Some
are clearly driven partly by an existentialist quest to give meaning to their
lives - it's no surprise to find Pavel's most recent reading is Albert Camus
and Jean-Paul Sartre. But what seems to unite most of them is a belief that
they're in Ukraine not to support a rebellion against the legitimate government
there, but rather to defend Russia itself against sinister Western forces that
want its total destruction.
"The
Ukrainian authorities aren't responsible for starting this war," says a
young volunteer from the outskirts of Moscow who wants to be known only by his
military nickname Chernomor (Black Sea). "It's Britain, Europe and the
West." He's a trained lawyer who served in the Interior Ministry forces,
partly in Chechnya, and now he's left his new wife and baby son to fight, he
says, for "freedom". That means freedom, in the first instance, for the
Russian nation. Pavel is more apocalyptic. "Our efforts are saving the
Russian state," he says. "Because if the war for Donetsk is lost, it
will immediately cross the border and begin in Russia. Rostov, Moscow,
Vladivostok will be in flames."
To
many outsiders this looks like paranoia. But the idea that Russia - and the
wider Orthodox, Slav world - are surrounded by steadily encroaching enemies has
been a powerful current in Russian thought for at least 200 years. And the
tradition of volunteers travelling to defend it also goes back a long way. In
the late Nineteenth Century there were many real-life equivalents of Count
Vronsky, the lover of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, who signs up after her suicide
to protect fellow Slavs against the Turks in Serbia, and dies in the struggle.
In the 1990s Russian volunteers - including some now fighting in Ukraine - took
the same road, joining the Orthodox Serbs against the Catholic Croats and
Bosnian Muslims in the Yugoslav wars.
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Pavel Rasta on patrol with other
members of his unit
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30518054]
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How do Russia's rulers regard such volunteers?
Certainly, there's a complex interplay between nationalist groups and the
authorities. The nationalists share the Kremlin's distaste for Western liberal
values and its love of strong central authority. But many are ultimately
monarchists who dream of turning the clock back to before the 1917 revolution.
"God, Tsar, Nation" is their slogan - and a president who was once an
agent of the hated Communist secret police is distinctly second-best. Putin has
borrowed some of their religious imagery: in his annual address to the Russian
parliament, which I see him deliver on a fuzzy TV in Pavel's barracks, he too
uses the Jerusalem comparison. But he's not talking about Donetsk, only about
Crimea, annexed by Russia earlier this year. In this speech, he stresses
Ukraine's right to determine its own path - unlike Pavel, who says simply that
there should be no Ukrainian state.
So are the volunteers loose cannons who could
potentially embarrass the Kremlin? Or are they simply useful tools of a policy
that can be officially denied? In April a force led by Russian volunteers under
the shadowy former intelligence agent Igor Strelkov - another monarchist -
seized the strategic town of Slavyansk, north of Donetsk, effectively sparking
the war. In recent interviews, Strelkov has said he takes full responsibility
on himself. But he's now back in Moscow. And other Russian citizens who played
a prominent role in the formation of the separatist republics have also now
left Ukraine, at least partly it seems under pressure from Moscow. Their role
there no longer suited the Kremlin's purpose.
Moscow could easily - if it chose - prevent
rank-and-file volunteers like Pavel travelling to Ukraine. But for now it
chooses not to hinder them. It interferes neither with the nationalist websites
that recruit volunteers, or with their paramilitary training camps - like one I
visited on the outskirts of St Petersburg which trains them in the handling of
firearms, survival techniques, battlefield first-aid and basic discipline.
Perhaps, secretly, it even encourages such activities.
What's certainly true is that with their
ideological zeal, the volunteers are playing their part in prolonging the war -
and they believe it will rumble on for a long time. I ask Pavel, over supper,
whether his friends don't think he's crazy - doesn't he ever feel like giving
up and going home? "I will," he says with a grim smirk, "but
only when the job's done." And that, in his fantasy, means fighting all
the way to the westernmost boundaries of Ukraine - creating a new Russian
empire.
INTERNET
SOURCE: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ukraine-crisis/meet-russian-orthodox-army-ukrainian-separatists-shock-troops-n107426
Meet the Russian
Orthodox Army, Ukrainian Separatists' Shock Troops
by
May 17 2014, 6:59 am ET
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Members of the Russian
Orthodox Army training in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. Bojan Pancevski
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DONETSK,
Ukraine - Dozens of armed men in camouflage and black balaclavas bristled as
visitors approached the heavily barricaded Security Services building in
downtown Donetsk recently.
The
men guarding the building in this city at the heart of an independence movement
tearing Ukraine apart are
members of the Russian Orthodox Army, the breakaway region’s unofficial shock
troops.
Later
in the parking lot, some of them demonstrated how to hijack a car.
“Do
it like the time when we got Yakubovych,” Mikhail Verin, 33, the commander of
the battalion, told his men, referring to the recent abduction of Ukrainian
government adviser Nikolai Yakubovych.
Despite
jokes and laughter, they are deadly serious about their fight. The Russian
Orthodox Army is driven by Christian faith, and motivated by a sense of lost
honor and glory, which many feel was stolen when the Soviet Union disintegrated
and Ukraine’s national boundaries were established about 20 years ago.
Aggrieved
by what they consider decades of corrupt and inefficient leaders who have
neglected the industrial region, the army looks to Russia for leadership as it
fights the so-called "fascists" in power in Kiev.
Recent victory
"At
least in the Soviet
Union it was all more honest and fair," said Mikhail, a foot soldier
in his 50s who only identified himself by his first name. "Russians are
stronger because they have a powerful feeling of justice."
The
group –- which according to its leaders was founded in February, around the
time the protesters in Kiev ousted pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych
-– claimed its first major victory last Sunday when parts of eastern
Ukraine declared independence after a disputed referendum. There are other
armed groups, but the Russian Orthodox Army is the most cohesive.
Separatist
leaders in the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk say the majority of their
population voted in favor of the “Donetsk
People’s Republic” and independence, but it is obvious the militiamen feel
they don't need to take orders from the movement’s homegrown leaders.
Russians
pulling the strings?
The
army’s undisputed commander is Igor Strelkov, who Ukrainian officials have
identified as GRU Officer Igor Girkin. He is now the minister of defense of the
self-proclaimed republic.
To
Mikhail, Strelkov -- which means "arrow shooter" -- is the man “in
charge.”
However
Ukrainian security services have accused Strelkov, who is based in Slavyansk,
of being a Russian intelligence officer.
NBC
News tried, but was unable to reach Strelkov to get his reaction to the claims.
Moscow
denies that its agents are agitating in the east of Ukraine, but many of the
Russian Orthodox Army’s foot soldiers assume Strelkov and other senior
commanders are.
“There
are some Russians in Slavyansk, but only top commanders,” said Mikhail, after
admitting that he too had lived and worked in Moscow. A factory worker, he said
that he didn’t like Russia’s capital, which he viewed as breeding ground for
debauchery.
Verin
echoed the Russian connection, saying openly that 20 percent of the Russian
Orthodox Army’s chiefs are Russian, and the remaining 80 percent local
volunteers.
He
said the entire organization has about 4,000 members in East Ukraine. A manager
at a fast-food restaurant, Verin decided to join the armed movement when plans
for his own business fell through.
“I
am a family man,” he said, adding that while he is ready for combat, he does
not want to see war engulf the region.
Verin
explained that the movement is organized into different units -– some
specialize in storming buildings, while others are snipers or soldiers who
focus on defense or reconnaissance.
Only
qualified “professionals” are allowed to handle weapons, he said, but as these
are in short supply, the “the first aim for the fighters is to capture weapons
in battle."
Clashes continue
The
Russian Orthodox Army has clashed repeatedly with pro-Kiev forces, taking over
towns and government buildings. Although there is no official death toll for
the turmoil in eastern Ukraine, over 100 deaths have been reported during
recent violence. Pro-Russian militia have taken hostages, including journalists
and Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) members.
Apart
from the Ukrainian military, they are also up against pro-Ukrainian militias
such as Donetsk 1 and 2, Dnipro and Artemevsk battalion. Both the pro-Russian
and the Ukrainian sides contain radically inclined members.
On
Thursday, Ukrainian
steelworkers and police forced separatists from their positions in Mariupol, another
key city in the east of the country.
Steelworkers
employed by Ukraine's richest man Rinat Akhmetov bolstered police numbers in
Mariupol late Thursday night, according the AP. Around 100 groups, each
consisting of two policemen and six steelworkers, were patrolling the streets
on Friday, police spokeswoman Yulia Lafazan told the AP.
So
it looks like neither side is ready to back down.
Russian Orthodox Army –
a case of “Russian World” implementation
| 01/09/2015 |
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Insignia of “Russian Orthodox Army”
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://lugansk-news.com/a-member-of-russian-orthodox-army-detained-by-security-service-in-kharkiv/] |
We have
written about the rising phenomenon of Russian Orthodox Extremism already, and
to illustrate its practical implementation here is a brief sketch of its most
dreadful implementation – a band called Russian Orthodox Army (ROA) – savage
heavily armed terrorist group operating in the Russian-occupied areas of
Ukraine’s Donbas. This regiment is known (and feared in Donbas) for
kidnappings, persecutions, killings, and tortures of believers of other than
Russian Orthodoxy religions. Ukrainian Orthodox, Catholics, Greek-Catholics,
and Protestants are in the top of ROA’s hit-list.
The
name “Russian Orthodox Army” first appeared in the news in spring 2014 though
their leader told in public interviews that they had been organized in February
2014. Actual preparations and training must had started much earlier. In summer
2014 the “Army” boasted 4000-5000 fighters and was one of the three major armed
terrorist bands controlling separatist regions of Donbas. In his interviews to
Western media the group’s leader mr. Verin openly told that 20 percent of the
Russian Orthodox Army’s chiefs had been Russians, and the remaining 80 percent
locals.
Since
its appearance ROA has specialized at kidnapping activists, journalist,
non-Russian-Orthodox clergy.
Though
most of its people are from Ukraine’s East, the organization is closely
connected with Russian ultranationalist organization “Russian national unity”.
The Russian orthodox Army doesn’t have its own web-site, only several groups in
Russian social network Vkontakte.
Russian
Orthodox Army Beliefs, “Russian World” ideology and practice
The
beliefs of the band are very dualistic: fundamentalist Orthodoxy on one hand, neo-paganism
– on the other. Being Russian here is much more important than being an
Orthodox. Even more – the word “Orthodox” often means some idealized, pagan,
pre-Christian world that, according to ideologists, existed in Russian lands
before Christianity appeared. The main goals of ROA are connected with
revanchist ideas – the dream of return to Soviet Empire’s grandeur through kind
of “Slavic reconquista” justified with “spiritual” ideology – protection and
broadening of the “Russian World”.
ROA
is a core spreader of Russian Orthodox and ultra-right ideas among the Donbas
separatists and population. They promote ideas like extermination of all
Ukrainians and Ukrainian language, “Russian ‘reconquest’” of all the Ukraine,
turning the rest of Ukraine (and some other countries) into Russian provinces
as it had been under Russian Empire and Soviet Union.
In
practice making Donbas only-Russian-Orthodox requires extermination of local
long-existing tradition of many religions’ peaceful coexistence (Donbas is the
most religiously diverse region of Ukraine, thus – there’s a lot of potential
victims for the enforcers of the “only true belief”). This is where news about
mass turning of Donbas protestant prayer houses into Russian soldier barracks
and storehouses, executions of priests and pastors come from, as well as
dreadful confessions about tortures and persecutions of non-Russian-Orthodoxes.
“Russian
world” doesn’t need religious tolerance, freedom of conscience and religion.
After the creation of Russian separatist “states” they declared the
“constitutions” which claim religious intolerance to be the basis of their
religious politics – Russian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchy is to be
considered the “prime and dominant” faith.
* * *
ROA
looks weird: it often issues calls like “we won’t stop until we capture Kyiv
and Lviv” some of its soldiers have been reported bringing icons to the
battlefield, the journalists who had seen their headquarters report them to be
infested with icons. One of group’s commander goes by the nickname
“Demon,” a pseudonym unthinkable for an Orthodox, which is much more
concerned with fighting devil and demons than other branches of
Christianity. Many of their members are Russian “Cossacks” and radical
pagans and there have been rumors of Orthodox monks fighting on their side.
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Pavel Shulzhenok, a Russian Orthodox deacon
from the Alexandr Nevskyi Church in St.Petersburg, during his visit to ДНР\ЛНР
separatists. Summer 2014.
|
ROA
is not alone – there are other Russian terrorist groups fighting in Donbas
which claim to be following Orthodox or Orthodox-neopagan ideology in their
quest, like the battalions “Orthodox
Donbass“, “Orthodox rise”, “Svarog”.
Official
Chruch’s attitude
Despite
lots of witnesses of the bloody deeds of ROA, the Russian Orthodox Church still
hasn’t neither condemned the band in their speeches, nor commented their
activity in any public way.
Ukrainian
Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchy (an autonomous sub-branch of Russian
Orthodox Church) in June 2014 told that they “condemn the so-called political
Orthodoxy when religious symbolics and rhetorics is used for achievement of
earthly goals. UOCh’s official speaker, Georgiy Kovalenko admitted that Donbas
separatists “are trying to bring a religious component into geopolitical
conflict”. Still, the UOCh seems to be flabbergasted by the phenomenon.
Numerous parallels of Russian Orthodox
Terrorism to islamic, jihhadist terrorism have been noted in media. They are
true to large extent, ROA and the like groups do have much in common
with many ISIL-like fundamentalist terrorist groups all over. The main difference
is that despite seeming spontaneity of appearance, all these Orthodox terrorist
groups are guided, armed, and inspired from one center.
For
the civilized world this band’s activity should be a demonstration of what
“Russian World” ideology really is and an illustration of how dangerous Russian
Orthodox Extremism can be, and how easily it crosses the line between
academic constructions that theoretically ground the superiority of Russian
people over others, and ruthless fundamentalist terrorism.
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INVASION: Armed
pro-Russian supporters carry an Eastern Orthodox icon of Mary Magdalene outside
the secret service building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk
[AFP/GETTY]
|
Where does
ROA lead?
Whom
do ROA and other Russian Orthodox Extremist groups threat? – Everyone around
Russia – first to occupied Crimea, where pressure on Crimean Tatars and arsons
of their mosques takes place already. Potentially Orthodox extremism and terrorism
can be used at any territories that Russia’s military leadership sees as
possible aim of invasion like Kazahstan, Baltic states, Balkans, Belorus, and
for inner terror against religious minorities in Russia itself (Muslims, Jews,
Buddhists, Catholic and Protestant believers, and even those Russian Orthodox,
not subordinate to Moscow Patriarchy).
At
this point Putin doesn’t let the Russian Orthodox Army to Russia. It’s too
dangerous for his regime. Anarchy in Donbas is the great training ground to
play with it and study possible usages of this group and the like in provoking
interreligious conflicts or empowering existing conflicts with religious
component.
Such
criminal bands armed with latest Russian weapons and blessed with the light of
the only true Russian religion and thus having mandate for murder, armed
robbery, rape, kidnapping, and racket will be used by Putin’s regime against
neighboring countries. Russian society will never condemn those people – just
because they call themselves “Russian” and “Orthodox”.
Thus
we witness a new trend: after years of careful experimentation with the use of
religion in ideology, Putin has worked out an effective ideologic tool for
motivating bearers of “Russian (Orthodox) identity” to suffer, fight, and
endure any hardships for the Orthodox Empire. This blend of aggressive
fundamentalist religion with the power of government controlled media and TV
has become such an effective tool for mass manipulation that Dr. Goebbels with
his primitive propaganda machine looks like an innocent infant. Russian
Orthodox Army and smaller Orthodox fundamentalist organizations are the warhead
of this ideology. For sure if not stopped in Ukraine such a tool is soon to
receive new uses and developments.
It’s
not mere theorization – the presence of Serbian Orthodox fighters on the
Russian side in Donbas shows that fundamentalist Orthodox ideology has
followers abroad and thus might be exported.
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Russian Orthodox Tank Operators
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INTERNET
SOURCE: https://news.vice.com/article/order-from-chaos-moscows-men-raise-a-rebel-army-in-ukraines-east
Order from Chaos:
Moscow’s Men Raise a Rebel Army in Ukraine’s East
June 5, 2014 | 12:40 am
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Members of the Russian Orthodox Army train in
Donetsk, Ukraine / AP
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The
metal gates slowly shut behind the car. “Sorry it smells of blood, I was
transporting our wounded,” Aleksandr Verin, a senior commander of the Russian
Orthodox Army (ROA), tells VICE News.
Commander
Verin — who goes by the nom de guerre “Kerch,” a reference to the three years
he spent living in the Crimean city — steers his silver Land Cruiser slowly
through the military compound of this newly-formed faction. There’s pile of
camouflage flak jackets on the backseat and an AK-47 in the front. On either
side of the entrance, soldiers man makeshift gun positions built out of stacked
sandbags. Dusk is drawing in, and light spills out from the garages where
rebels work on the vehicles they have commandeered: shiny BMWs, Audis and 4x4s.
All have their license plates removed. In the background squads practice their
drills.
'We are cleansing this territory of criminals and looters, we are bringing order to the DPR, this is our task.'
Kerch
proudly points out the Orthodox chapel in the unit’s yard, a commandeered
security service building. Its golden towers glint in the last rays of the
day’s light, providing beauty amid the encroaching darkness. “The priest comes
every Tuesday, everything here is as it should be: ordered,” he tells VICE
News.
The
unit commanders’ HQ is next door, in a UniCredit bank. Through a warren of
corridors and coded security doors the ROA’s leaders have occupied a swish
office, decked out with cream leather seats and a large glass table. A muted
flat-screen television plays the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) channel in the
background.
"We
are cleansing this territory of criminals and looters, we are bringing order to
the DPR, this is our task" says Kerch with a steely gaze.
The
leaders sit while a striking redhead brings a bottle of cognac to the table —
the gangsters of the revolution are making the most of their rise to
prominence.
The
ROA is just one of three pro-Russia units that have risen to the fore in
Ukraine’s eastern conflict. There’s also Oplot, a militarized Russian
nationalist movement based in Donetsk and Kharkiv that predates the crisis, and
Vostok Battalion, a unit that has borrowed its name from a defunct Russian
military special force based in Chechnya.
The
Ukrainian military’s "anti-terrorist operation" (ATO) forces clashed
with separatist militants on the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian city of
Slovyansk on Tuesday. Video via YouTube/Yaroslav K.
The
rise of the DPR army, which was formerly announced on May 13 by self-styled
people's leader and Donetsk native Denis Pushilin, has been accompanied by a
power change in the rebel republic’s political elite, a shift that has bought
Moscow's men to the fore. “Our first government was not suitable to rise up the
republic. But with time, two to three weeks ago, strong personalities came to
the front amid this sea of chaos,” ROA commander Misha the Fifth, a former
businessman from Moscow, tells VICE News as he knocks back another cognac.
Those
new strongmen are both Russians: Igor Girkin, a.k.a. Strelkov, meaning
“shooter,” and Aleksandr Borodai.
Borodai,
a political unknown in the fledgling republic until the May 11 referendum and
his appointment as “prime minister” five days later, already has substantial
mileage in the Ukraine crisis under his belt, and its attached pistol holster.
Before arriving in Donetsk, with an entourage of swarthy security personnel and
Moscow political consultants in tow, Borodai acted as an advisor to Sergei
Aksyonov. Aksyonov is the figurehead of Crimea’s secessionist movement, which
resulted in the southern peninsula’s annexation by Russia in April.
Strelkov,
a Russian military officer and accused by Kiev of being a secret agent for the
Kremlin, arrived in the DPR to lead the Sloviansk militia groups but was
formerly appointed as the rebel republic’s defense minister at the same time
Borodai was made prime minister. The two men go way back, having fought
together in Transnistria and other hotspots.
Indeed,
it was with the support of Strelkov’s army that Borodai’s grip on power in the
DNR was completed with a “cleansing operation” of the city’s administration
building on May 29, which ousted lower-ranking militia accused of looting and
criminal activities.
The
operation, was carried out by a heavily armed unit of the Vostok Battalion, but
also had the support of the DNR’s other two security forces.
The
commanders of all three factions told VICE News they are subordinate to
Strelkov and Borodai. “There has been a need to install order. And the
republic’s new leaders know how to get this done,” Aleksandr Zakharchenko,
commander of the Donetsk branch of Oplot told VICE News.
Sitting
at his desk on the second floor of the rebel-occupied television tower, Zakharchenko,
a burly former miner, cuts an imposing figure. Outside his office beside a
television set, a World War II era anti-tank rifle is aimed out of the window.
“The position of Oplot is completely that of the DPR,” he tells VICE News. “We
work closely with Vostok and the Russian Orthodox army. These are now the only
security services of republic. We answer to Strelkov and Borodai,” he added.
But the suspicion is that these men in turn answer to Moscow.
 |
|
Russian Orthodox Priest firing his Kalashnikov
automatic rifle.
[PHOTO SOURCE: https://twitter.com/RutheniaRus/status/506100609419055104]
|
Military
actions in Donbass #1: Russian Orthodox Army Training, in battle, and firing
D-30 artillery
Published on Dec 9, 2014
This is the first in a series of military actions
in Donbass I will show you what I see and the information that is given to me.
You be the judge. Yesterday I was with a reconnaissance and artillery division
of the Russian Orthodox Army in Luhans'ke Donbass 20 KM from Donetsk. The base
is less then 1km from the final DNR checkpoint before Ukraine territory.
Yesterday started slow with auto and sniper live fire training to "prepare
for battle". . In the night incoming artillery started then the commanders
radio went off and it become clear that the incoming Ukrainian artillery was
hitting the Donetsk Peoples Republic checkpoint. Everyone ran outside. All that
could be seen was explosions lighting up the sky. I could night understand what
was being said over the commanders radio but it was screaming. We returned to
the commanders room and he said they where going to find the Ukrainian army
recon team that that shot the flare to mark the spot for the artillery. I went
with. We got in a car and headed off. Another radio call came. One of the
patrols had encountered the Ukrainian recon team and was in mid battle. We went
to this location a intense firefight ensued. Glowing bullets lighted the air
both ways. Then the Battle ceased we returned to the base. during this
firefight no ROA fighters were hit ,Ukrainian army unknown. Today as i woke and
was told they were launching heavy artillery at the Ukrainian position that
shelled the checkpoint the night before. I went and they shot two D-30 many
times.
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