'Baptism by blood': OSINT agency Molfar on special forces of Russia's semi-secret elite unit

He said this on Espreso TV.

"This is a semi-secret elite sabotage and reconnaissance unit that is subordinated to the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff, and in fact to its chief, Valery Gerasimov. This unit is considered to be one of the elite ones, and its special forces took part not only in operations during the war in Ukraine, but also, for example, in the East, and distinguished themselves in Syria. In general, their task is deep reconnaissance, rear operations, sabotage, disruption of communications and infrastructure," noted Polozhai.

According to him, to become a special forces officer in this unit, one must undergo a "successful first baptism," that is, having entered the territory of Ukraine, kill a Ukrainian military or civilian.

"They are trained in Moscow, and are mostly based in the Belgorod region. Information about this unit was collected from open sources, and there are also some sources that provided the agency with certain "tips". These special forces differ from the Wagner PMC in that they are an official part of the Russian military, subordinated to the Russian General Staff. We did not see any similarities with the Wagner mercenaries, who are engaged in direct combat, while the sabotage and reconnaissance unit operates in the rear," said the expert of the OSINT agency Molfar.

The analyst added that the special forces of this unit have been operating in Crimea as "green men" since 2014. There is also speculation that they operated in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014-2015. And since 2022, they have been operating in the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions.

"In 2023, they were transferred to the Belgorod region due to the intensification of the guerrilla movement in this area. Therefore, another task of this unit was to conduct anti-sabotage operations and protect border facilities. There is evidence that these special forces are involved in war crimes in Ukraine," summarized Polozhai.

• On August 30, the French newspaper Le Monde reported that the Russian Medvedi private military company, allegedly linked to the Russian Defense Ministry, was leaving Burkina Faso because of the Ukrainian army's offensive in the Kursk region.