A smaller-scale replica of Wagner, the Convoy militia has set itself the task of defending the Crimea annexed by Moscow in 2014. Their commander is the former right-hand man of Wagner’s leader.
It is the symbol of a certain privatization of the war in Ukraine. Convoy (Конвойin Russian) is a new Russian paramilitary company (SMP) created at the end of 2022. Its mission: to allow Moscow to keep control of the Crimean peninsula and stop the future counteroffensive of the Ukrainian army.
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Ihe British Ministry of Defense confirmed on 4 April in its daily newsletter about the war in Ukraine, the birth of a new paramilitary organization, “sponsored and developed by Russia”. According to this memo, “Moscow is likely toe finance the development of new paramilitary companies with the aim of reducing the importance of the Wagner group in the invasion of Ukraine“.
Men “capable of anything”
“SMP Convoy is recruiting, join the volunteer regiment.” Two visuals resembling a recruitment campaign appeared mi-November on a Russian Telegram channel called Convoy. The conditions: be a man, be under 60 and have Russian nationality. The company brews wide. No specific military experience is required. “If you have no military training, we will inform you”, explains a poster.
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Its founder, Sergei Axionov, head of the annexed Republic of Crimea, is close to Vladimir Putin. This militia is his solution to guarantee the integrity of occupied Crimea. Its members are also nicknamed the “Axionovtsy”THE “Axionov’s men”.
The former businessman, suspected of links with organized crime, officially announced the creation in mid-March, on the set of Russian television Crimea 24. Asked about the ability of the Russian regular army to defend Crimea after its rout by Ukrainian forces in Kherson in November 2022, Sergei Axionov responds: “We have formed a professional reconnaissance and assault unit [Convoy] exclusively made up of volunteers. All have experience in war zones. When you see them, you know they are capable of anything.”
A premium militia
As revealed by a former member of this unit interviewed at the end of March by the Russian investigation site Important Stories, the members of Convoy would receive between 200,000 and 300,000 rubles per month, or between 2,200 and 3,300 euros. The remuneration of these mercenaries, hired for a period of three to six months, is guaranteed by the signing of a double contract: one with the company Convoy, based in Saint Petersburg, the other with the Ministry of Defense Russian.
Other advantages are promised to them: health insurance, life insurance, the title of war veteran. For any fighter who served for a year in the PMC, land in Crimea or Abkhazia, a region east of the Black Sea that declared independence from Georgia in 1992. Generous treatment that contrasts with that of the men in the group Wagnerwho regularly complained on social networks about the lack of resources and the non-payment of their bonus.
Conditions are said to be comfortable on the ground too, according to numerous communication clips posted on the group’s YouTube and Telegram channels. In one of them, a mercenary testifies: “We have everything we need to accomplish our mission. And that is provided by Sergei Axionov.”
A “reserve army”
The two groups must now coexist, but there is, a priori, no rivalry between the two organizations. Convoy establishes itself in the regions of Kherson and Zaporijjia. Wagner fights at Bakhmout. Moreover, the commander of Convoy, Konstantin Pikalov, is close toYevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner’s boss. Presented under his military pseudonym – Mazai – in a reporting of Russian propagandist Olga Kurlaeva, he is actually Prigozhin’s former right-hand man in Africa. As a joint Bellingcat, The Insider and Der SpiegelKonstantin Pikalov notably supervised, between 2018 and 2020, the establishment of Wagner in Madagascar and the Central African Republic.
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Officially, Convoy is “BARS-30”, the 30th reserve battalion of the Russian army. While the training center of this new militia is based in Pereval’ne, in southern Crimea, its “area of responsibility” extends to the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhya. If the information is still missing to date, the presence of Convoy on the ground is already attested.
The acting governor of Zaporizhia, Yevgeny Balitsky, affirmed from January to the Russian media that the Livadia battalion “created on the initiative of the head of the Republic of Crimea, Sergei Axionov” was already present “in the first line“. He then specified that the mercenaries “were not yet directly involved” in the fights. In Kherson, the presence of Convoy was confirmed by an information poster published Friday, April 21 on the group’s Telegram channel.
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In a red box titled “News from the Front”the sign describes the coordinated action of Convoy and the Russian army to “stop any attempt by the Ukrainian armed forces to reach the left bank of the Dnieper”. “Our drones destroyed Ukrainian army forces trying to set foot on the islands south of the Dnieper”. But no image allows to date to certify this intervention.
Vladimir Putin did not react publicly to the creation of this militia. But international experts and analysts agree on Convoy’s interest in the head of the Kremlin. This paramilitary company may appear as a powerful strategic alternative for Moscow, while Prigozhin and the paramilitary group Wagner have a tense relationship with Sergei Shoigu, the Russian Defense Minister.