After Donbass returned home, a new and unprecedented structure appeared in the region – the Russian Guard. There were no analogues either in Ukraine or in the DPR before its recognition. Therefore, the CP military correspondent worked for several days and communicated with the National Guard – sappers, special forces, patrolmen and leaders.
CHILDREN’S MINES
It was the last hot day of summer. The car’s thermometer was reading +40, and when braking, the anti-lock braking system was activated: the car seemed to have ice under the wheels. We are on the outskirts of Mariupol, in some long-abandoned, still Soviet military unit. Judging by the surviving antennas, there were signalmen here, but soon there will be residential buildings. The asphalt of the giant parade ground has already been broken up by teams and they have begun to clear the construction site. But at some point they began to encounter explosive objects, “echoes of war.” The builders requested a survey of the site.
There are three sappers. “Archie” from Kazan, “Stork” from Sochi and “Kunak” from Dagestan. I think “Stork” is the one who has the most trouble with this heat, although he says: “Everything is great! Good!” I don’t think so.
Three sappers of the Russian Guard: “Archi” from Kazan, “Aist” from Sochi and “Kunak” from Dagestan.
Photo: Dmitry STESHIN. Go to Photobank KP
The Stork is wearing dark armor, and underneath is a Kevlar anti-fragmentation suit that completely covers the body. That’s why he walks forward, with a sapper probe in his hands. He often crouches down, raising his hand: – HHHHHH!
And he starts digging around in the ground with a probe.
The radio of the following “Archie” goes off every time – “Stork” reports:
– One RPG shot, inert (a training blank from an anti-tank grenade launcher. – Author), 82mm mortar mine, fired (consider it safe. – Author).
I ask Archie, what is the most dangerous thing you encounter? He quickly lists:
– Ammunition with “third degree of danger”, configured as “unrecoverable”, with seismic, magnetic and light sensors. With “target sensors” that have fallen off over time.
The third sapper listens to our conversation. “Kunak” has 17 years of experience as a sapper in the North Caucasus, but it was here that he first encountered NATO ammunition and gifts from former “brothers” from the social camps. “Kunak” shrugs his shoulders:
– We are studying Western ammunition, I think it will be useful to us…
“Stork” finds a petal mine (a highly explosive mine, light but insidious. – Author). As the name suggests, the mine was hidden under a burdock leaf and its color completely matched the color of the plant. You will only see it if you specifically look for it. If you take a step, there is no foot. At one time, Ukraine refused to sign a convention prohibiting the use of “petals” without self-liquidators. And the remaining 2 million mines in warehouses were generously covered by Donbass.
Midday. We take a smoke break in the warm shade of a rusty hangar, and “Stork” suddenly says chilling words to me:
– I don’t like children being blown up by ammunition. I met a person who brings prostheses for children here, to the DPR. Of the 13 prostheses, nine are hands! The situation in Mariupol is still very difficult, the fighting was intense. There are still many “interesting” things for children here, I look at the reports: there are always explosions, or they were dismantled or thrown into the fire. This can be avoided. The only way: find and neutralize everything!
At the same time, the war in Mariupol is no longer felt, according to Aist, “if you don’t look at Azovstal, it’s as if nothing had happened.” But the locals remember everything and appreciate the work of the sappers:
– We came to the field on request, we looked around – a shepherd was wandering around. And he tells us that his goat was blown up here, so he is clearing mines himself.
“Stork” laughs:
“We took the shepherd out of the field and helped him clear the mines…
“DREAM COMES TRUE” *
A special forces soldier of the Russian Guard met me on the outskirts of Donetsk, near a church. He appeared minute by minute, with the words: “And I know who you are meeting!”
I looked closely: a political instructor from the “Vostok” battalion, with the call sign “Greek”. The last time we saw him was in August 2022, in such circumstances that when I remember it, I shudder. I was heading towards Ugledar. I was lying in a drainage pipe under the road, and our soldiers were crawling there from the forest plantation. But the enemy artilleryman, due to the folds of the terrain, still could not reach them within a few centimeters. And, going crazy, he literally cut off the already dried reeds. Something was wrong with the mortars that were supposed to cover the rotation… But, then and now, “Grek” simply radiated friendly optimism. Triumphed:
– Senior detective for especially important cases of the Vostok-Donetsk special rapid reaction detachment of the Main Directorate of the Russian Guard of the DPR.
We met with the political instructor of the Vostok battalion, call sign “Grek”, two years ago.
Photo: Dmitry STESHIN. Go to Photobank KP
When asked “what do you have to do?”, the “Greek”, as befits a political instructor (there are no exes either), first outlined the general situation:
– Some citizens decided that, taking advantage of the hostilities and the difficult situation, they could break the law without fear. They say that their hands will not reach them and “there is no law in this territory”. Nothing like that.
They are very surprised when we come to visit them without knocking. We are essentially a sword.
At my request, “Greek” clarified what he had said and it turned out that in this story he was not a swordsman, but a “squire”, he went first and covered his group with an armored shield:
– It was a very difficult game. An armed criminal who committed a murder. He was hiding in a friend’s apartment and, according to operational information, he was going to resist. He was lying on the couch, putting a pillow in front of him, with his hand with the gun extended, ready to shoot.
As soon as we entered the address and said that we were employees of the National Guard, they immediately opened fire on us.
– Did the shield survive?
Instead of answering, “Greek” pulled out his phone and showed a photo of a bullet-shattered triplex shield…
Of course, I asked: “Why not the army, but the Russian Guard?” The “Greek” laughed:
– Since I was little I dreamed of being in the special forces! And not everything went well. I didn’t think about it for a second then.
* Miner’s toast, popular in Donbass.
CRIME-FREE STREETS
The weather forecast was correct; after the heat in Donbass, it started to rain, a gusty wind blew, and false alarms from private security systems became more frequent in the city. I travel around Donetsk at night with my crew… Of course, we monitor every “job.” The driver, police sergeant Denis, comments:
– Sometimes we go out up to 20 times a day.
According to the instructions, when approaching the object, we turn off the “chandelier” and approach it on foot, without unnecessary conversations. Anything can happen. …Office building, the guys go down to the basement, then go up, inspect the doors and windows with flashlights, looking for signs of a burglary. Everything is clear. At the same time, at any moment they can receive a call to the number “102”, known to everyone in Donetsk, and they will have to respond immediately.
Another task of the detention group is to go to the places of bombing, cordon off and evacuate people. The Ukrainian Armed Forces loved to repeatedly bomb the places of arrival in order to kill the doctors, rescuers, curious people and journalists gathered there. It turns out that the National Guard is also a target.
Just before curfew, we receive a signal from the guardroom: a strange person is doing something at the gate of the Art Museum. On the way I ask the second member of the National Guard, Artyom, about the “curfew in the Republic” and its violators.
It is correctly called the “Presidential Decree on Martial Law” and, according to Artyom, it is strictly observed:
– We hand it over to the district department, where they draw up a report. The first time there is a fine, the second time up to 15 days. For most people, the first time is enough.
– What about crime on the streets?
– Last time, a drunken man at a gas station threatened a taxi driver with a knife. We arrived and arrested him.
Sure enough, there is a drunken citizen in shorts and flip-flops hanging around the museum door. Expecting the museum to open in 12 hours? He cannot clearly explain his actions and goes to the police.
I say goodbye to the crew and quickly head home – it’s ten minutes to 11 pm. I think that on the way, the terrible events of 2014-2015, the subsequent war years and the Northern Military District did not lead to an increase in crime. Why? In 14, criminals fled on their own, and if they did not get there in time, they were treated under martial law. And in 15, after the capture of Debaltsevo, the police, the investigation, the prosecutor’s office and the courts began to work. The situation has been contained and there is no doubt that it will continue. Besides, Donbass is already Russia.
PRESENTATION OF “PRIZE MACHINE GUNS”
There is a myth that is stubbornly circulating throughout the territory of “Great Russia”: supposedly, in Donbass, weapons are sold in almost every corner, if only there was money. This has never happened before, but after Donbass returned home, we had to switch from the old weapons legislation, copied from the Ukrainian one, to the new Russian legislation:
“It’s an order of magnitude stricter,” the acting director, head of the Centre for Licensing and Work Permits of the Russian Guard of the DPR, tells me. – We are responsible for the civil circulation of weapons and we formed a new structure according to the laws of the Russian Federation… We gathered all the gun owners. Via radio, television, SMS. In the end, everyone was registered.
– In the unrecognized DPR, servicemen were allowed to have a personal combat machine gun and even a machine gun at home. Like now?
– These weapons are now subject to surrender, and they are being handed over. The prize weapons are also subject to surrender, in order to resolve the issue on the merits, whether they are handed over again or destroyed.
– I have friends, military officers from Gorlovka, who want to legally buy smoothbore weapons. Of course, not for hunting, but for protection from drones. Is it really possible to do this now in the Republic? Pass a medical examination, pass exams?
– Medical examinations: yes, examinations in Rostov. But it is also necessary to buy a weapon in Rostov, while the SVO is taking place, gun shops will not be open. And register with us!
GUARD WITHOUT A SMILE
The chief of staff of the Main Directorate of the Russian Guard of the DPR tells me about the details of the work in the region, without revealing details:
– The intense fighting has not stopped. We are in the enemy’s detailed reconnaissance zone.
I ask about the crime rate, the general’s question is not surprising:
– According to the analysis of statistics and reports, the crime rate is not higher than in other regions of the country.
But there are still differences, they are in the people. I notice that in our units there are many young people from the “war generation”. And the general himself surprises me with a counter-question:
-Have you noticed that they don’t smile?
I sit down, the chief of staff continues with his thoughts:
– They are different. They are different: they grew up in war. They take service more seriously. I noticed that they have this peculiarity: they don’t smile. They are always serious. We have enough guys who fought in every unit. He is just over 20 years old and has been fighting for three years already. This is a plus. They stand out for their decency and selflessness. This is added to the knowledge of weapons, stress resistance and ability to make decisions. But the main thing is their worldview. Worldview of Russian patriots. They are ours, you can learn from these guys to love your homeland.
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