FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The public prosecution in North Macedonia is investigating two Macedonian citizens who participated in the war in Ukraine and are said to have fought for Russian paramilitary groups against Ukraine, one of whom was a member of Wagner's private army.
Prosecutors are prosecuting Macedonian nationals suspected of taking part in the war in Ukraine.
Participation in foreign conflicts constitutes a criminal offense in North Macedonia.
"As for the punishment provided for the criminal offense of 'participation in a foreign army', it can go up to four years", says the response of the Public Prosecutor's Office to Radio Free Europe.
Until now, the Prosecutor's Office and the police do not provide details on how many people from the country have gone to fight in Ukraine, nor if there are organizers who recruit fighters from North Macedonia.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) in less than a month, has published notices about two people who participated on the Russian side in the war in Ukraine, and in them it is also mentioned that a Macedonian citizen has died in the fighting.
The latest is from December 23, where it is said that the police are prosecuting Macedonian citizens for participating in the Russian army in the military conflict in Ukraine.
It is about a 37-year-old man from Skopje (Lj.B.), who together with the deceased (T.Sh.), through the "Telegram" application, had applied for service in the Russian army.
According to the MIA, the suspects traveled to Russia in September of this year, where they signed an agreement with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Donetsk People's Republic, [which Russia considers part of it, but which is not recognized by any other country in the world], and had joined their military and paramilitary formations.
MIA: Recruiter via the Internet
After checking the house of the suspect (Lj.B.), the police found documents, tactical clothing and other items that, according to the MIA, confirm his involvement in the conflict. Two suspects have been placed under house arrest.
In the first case, published on November 30, it is said that a 28-year-old man (JK) traveled to Moscow in October in order to join the Russian army for a reward of 3,000 euros. Upon his return to the country, the Macedonian authorities arrested and indicted him.
According to the investigation (JK) had contacted a recruiter through the Internet and upon arrival in Russia he was asked to hand over his passport, after which he had to sign an agreement and be sent for training to fight in Ukraine.
The institutions have no answer whether these are isolated cases or it is about organized recruitment of fighters from the country to participate in the war in Ukraine.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs recently responded to Radio Free Europe that, together with the Prosecutor's Office and other security and intelligence services, they are undertaking actions to verify information on all persons who are suspected of being part of the paramilitary forces.
The National Coordinator for the Prevention of Violent Extremism and the Fight against Terrorism, Pavle Trajanov, refused to comment on the cases, who said that at present, even he does not have direct information from the Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding the number of people from the country participating. in the war in Ukraine.
In past years there have been cases of participation in foreign armies, including the war in Syria, for which the National Committee for Countering Violent Extremism and Terrorism has reported that over 140 North Macedonian citizens [excluding children] have traveled or attempted to travel to Syria or Iraq to join terrorist groups.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine began over a decade ago, beginning with Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and escalating into a full-scale Russian invasion when tens of thousands of Russian soldiers crossed the Ukrainian border in February 2022.
Until now, no information has been published by the security services of North Macedonia about the participation of its citizens in this war. More cases have been recorded in countries such as Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
Some of the returnees from these countries testified that they had fought for units with different names, including units such as the Volk, the Sudoplatov battalion, but also for the Russian private military group Wagner, which emerged from the shadows after Russian state media began praising it daily for its successes. its mercenaries in the invasion of Ukraine.
wagner and the Balkans
wagner is a private mercenary army founded in 2014 by Russian national Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was close to the Kremlin and died in August 2023 in an air crash with a private jet that crashed exactly two months after the unit his organized an uprising against the authorities in Moscow. Prigozhin was previously called "Putin's chef" because of the many contracts in that sector that his company had with the state.
The media in Serbia have written about Wagner's connections with right-wing groups in the country that supported the Kremlin's policies. Murals were also painted in Belgrade in support of this group.
After the start of Russia's war in Ukraine, in February 2022, the Russian medium Russia Today Balkan published an announcement of Wagner recruiting potential volunteers, but at that time there was no confirmed information whether Wagner had recruited new fighters from Serbia.
Authorities in Serbia said they were investigating the cases, while concerns about Wagner's efforts to recruit soldiers in Serbia and other countries were also expressed by the US State Department.
Lidhje kanë ekzistuar edhe në të kaluarën. Në marsin e vitit 2017 një shtetas serb u dënua me një vit burgim me kusht për pjesëmarrje në konflikt në Ukrainë, në anën e grupit ëagner. Ky ishte një ndër 32 vendimet që Serbia mori kundër luftëtarëve që luftuan në pjesët e pushtuara të Ukrainës.
Njësia ëagner përballet me akuza të mundshme për krime lufte në Ukrainë, Siri dhe shtete të tjera afrikane, dhe është nën sanksione të Bashkimit Evropian (BE) që nga dhjetori i vitit 2021 për shkelje të të drejtave të njeriut në konflikte të armatosura në mbarë botën. Ajo gjithashtu është në listën e zezë të SHBA-së që nga qershori 2017 për shkak të përfshirjes në konflikte, në lindje të Ukrainës.
Volk dhe rrjeti Redut
Në Serbi ka pasur raste ku serbët kanë luftuar për grupe të tjera ruse, siç ndodhi në qershor të vitit 2023, kur disa prej tyre u kthyen nga lufta në Ukrainë, pasi kishin luftuar për njësinë ruse Volk. Para kësaj, ata kishin qenë në trajnime të shkurtra në poligonet pranë Moskës.
Siç shkruante shërbimi i Ballkanit i Radios Evropa e Lirë, rasti i këtij grupi është dëshmi e ekzistencës së një sistemi të fshehtë nëntokësor që siguron mbulesë ndërkombëtare për angazhimet nga Ballkani në front, dhe pjesëmarrjen në luftën e Rusisë kundër Ukrainës.
Radio Evropa e Lirë pati arritur të intervistojë një nga luftëtarët nga Serbia, i cili ishte angazhuar si mercenar, pasi iu garantua anonimiteti. Dëshmia e tij dha një përshkrim të detajuar të përvojës së tij tetë-mujore gjatë viteve 2022-2023.
Dragani – identitet i njohur për REL-in - kaloi dy muaj në trajnim dhe gjashtë muaj të tjerë nën kontratë për të marrë pjesë në luftën në Ukrainë, dhe ju dha gazetarëve të REL-it dokumente dhe fotografi që mundësuan konfirmimin e historisë së tij.
Ai ishte me rekrutë të tjerë serbë për dy muaj trajnim në poligonin ushtarak Alabino, në perëndim të Moskës, ku komandonte një person që prezantohej si Dima dhe një tjetër, oficer i supozuar i GRU-së, që prezantohej si Oleg.
Dragani tha se kishte marrë 110.000 rubla (rreth 1.215 dollarë) në dorë për secilin nga dy muajt e trajnimit dhe rreth dyfishin e kësaj shume për secilin nga gjashtë muajt e luftës në Ukrainë.
Dragani vlerësonte se gjatë qëndrimit të tij në Alabino kanë qenë rreth rreth 25 serbë, dhe se supozohej të kishte serbë nga Serbia, por edhe nga Republika Sërpska e Bosnje-Hercegovinës, Mali i Zi, Maqedonia e Veriut, madje edhe një serb nga Franca. Radio Evropa e Lirë atëherë nuk mundi ta konfirmonte këtë informacion në mënyrë të pavarur.
Dragani tha se "kishte nënshkruar një kontratë gjashtëmujore me një kompani private ushtarake në tendën e Dimës dhe Olegut", megjithëse për Radion Evropa e Lirë nuk ofroi kopje të kontratës apo fotografi.
"Në kontratë mund të shihej se nuk kishte asnjë lidhje me Ministrinë e Mbrojtjes së Rusisë, por se ishte kompania private ushtarake 000 Redut", deklaroi ai për Radion Evropa e Lirë.
Radio Free Europe's investigative departments, Systema and Schemes, previously confirmed that Russia at the time was using a company called PMC Redut to recruit and send fighters to Ukraine.
Towards war after a short training
As revealed by Radio Free Europe, in October 2023 the Volk unit was one of 20 formations fighting in Ukraine under the designation Redut.
Dragan claimed that he had no objections to the two-month combat training process, which he said took place from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., six days a week, and that after two months in Alabino, he was involved in the war in Ukraine in January 2023.
He fought in the battles near Lisichansk in the Luhansk region and near Avdivka in the Donetsk region.
Dragani also said that during his eight-month experience he counted about 70 other Serbs, and added that many of them were sent into battle with very little training and completely unprepared for war.
After six months in Ukraine, in June 2023, he said, he was disappointed by what he had seen in the Russian army.
"From my point of view, 'business and corruption flourish' and 'Russians, as we Serbs imagine and consider them, exist in a very small percentage,'" he said.
Before returning to Serbia, Dragani obtained a false certificate claiming to have worked in construction. He was given a document saying he worked for a construction company in Moscow to protect himself in case Serbian border authorities became suspicious.
Sudoplatov battalion and Sova unit
Fighters from Serbia have joined Russian forces in Ukraine through the Sudoplatov battalion.
Radio Free Europe (REL) revealed details of two fighters with the code names "Sava" and "Dunav" who claim to have been part of this group and to have joined Russian forces in Ukraine.
The Sudoplatov Battalion was established in September 2022 as a pro-Russian volunteer unit operating in the south of Ukraine, in the territory of Zaporizhia, which is currently under Russian occupation.
The battalion's name comes from Pavel Sudoplatov, a former member of the intelligence services of the Soviet Union (USSR) during Stalin's rule, who participated in the liquidation of Ukrainian nationalists in the late 1930s.
Among the cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina that the media reported on was the Sova unit - this unit was fighting on the Russian side against Ukrainian forces in the east of the country.
The unit claimed to have been founded by Aleksandar Velimirovic from Banja Luka, formerly known as Ljubisha Božić. He wrote at the end of 2023 that the unit already had a hundred trained soldiers./ REL
Lini një Përgjigje