Thread by @MuKappa

DShRG Rusich - ДШРГ Русич

A brief overview of the Russian neo-Nazi group Rusich. DShRG is an abbreviation for reconnaissance, sabotage, and assault group. The thread is mostly comprised of translated Telegram posts from their official channel: https://t.co/FmXuomgyiat.me/rusichdshrg

The channel was created on June 14, 2022. The very first post claims that the channel was set up by the group's command. t.me/rusichdshrg/5

While it is somewhat common to consider Rusich to be a part of the infamous PMG Wagner, their self-reported early history is quite distinct. t.me/rusichdshrg/44

"The idea to create a militarized group of nationalists ready to take part in military conflicts dates to 2009. It became apparent that the then-existing right-wing nationalist movement (already fractured at the time) offered no further opportunities for ethnic Russian...

nationalists. No one from the right-wing aspired to join law enforcement or government, owned almost no weapons and possessed no skills to use them.
In 2009 a small-in-number group of associates, seeking to gain knowledge and skill in the military arts, split from the...

currently banned nationalist organization (the basis of that group still takes part in the fighting as part of the Rusich group) and became a precursor to the DShRG Rusich.
An Armed Forces of the Russian Federation officer, fired for his participation in the right-wing...

nationalist movement, organized training; the materiel supply necessary for the exercises was scant. The group possessed civilian hunting arms and dummy assault rifles; the entire St. Petersburg oblast served as a range.
The personnel primarily underwent live fire and tactical...

training, there were many field exercises for survival skills development. Chechen war veterans and servicemen sharing the group’s views were invited as instructors.
There was no persecution by law enforcement for two reasons: 1. The group looked for radicals and there was no...

time for those who “played games,” 2. The events were unmarked [by symbols] and thus garnered no interest.
Over time, as the knowledge and materiel base grew, exercises became larger in scale.

Cooperation with military-patriotic clubs started, and the study of new disciplines started, such as topography, field medical care, and EOD.
Participation in the life of the nationalist movement stopped completely.
Airsoft and paintball games, hunting expeditions,...

firing range attendance were a part of the training.
By 2012 a core of the group was formed, that knew what to aspire to. The next personnel development stage of the future DShRG Rusich’s fighter was military service with the VDV and RFAF SOF units."

As far I can tell the group first took part in combat in 2014 in eastern Ukraine. A comprehensive overview of the group was published by New America: newamerica.org/future-frontli…

The report finds: "...one of the group’s founding members, Alexey Milchakov, also served in the Airborne Troops (VDV), a key feeder for Wagner Group fighters, many of whom, in the first wave of deployments in the early 2000s, fought with the special operations forces..."

The group is part of Russia's military network: "...an analysis by New America found extensive overlap between Rusich’s online circles and those of both VDV airborne paratrooper units of the Russian military and the Russian Imperial Movement..."

Following (and during) their "adventures" in the Donbas in 2014 and 2015 the group received positive coverage by the Russian press. For example, here is an interview of the group's fighter with Topwar(.)ru, a Russian MOD-affiliated outlet: topwar.ru/59219-boec-drg…

Rusich took part in the Second Battle for Donetsk Airport (source: t.me/rusichdshrg/11):

The declared leader of the group, Alexei Milchakov, was interviewed by the Russian state TV channels:

And Russian bloggers/YouTubers:

Alexei Milchakov was profiled by the RFE/RL and is accused of heinous crimes both in Ukraine and Syria: rus.azattyq.org/a/31873520.html

Rusich members were first spotted in Syria in 2017, however, it is possible they were deployed there earlier. Rusich fighters in Syria with a Valknut, source: t.me/rusichdshrg/53. They also posted a self-incriminating graphic photo evidence of torture: t.me/rusichdshrg/80

The group is involved in the fighting right now in Ukraine again. The earliest reports of their activities in the latest phase of the Russian invasion in Ukraine date to early April 2022: thetimes.co.uk/article/rusich…

Recently Rusich provided their reasons for the war. And of course, it is not denazification, but russophobia (t.me/rusichdshrg/42):

"One of the main objectives of the Special Military Operation is the so-called denazification of Ukraine. Unfortunately, the lowly propagandists (even worse than the Ukrainian ones) preach this topic as a sermon. We, on the other hand, do not believe the propaganda,...

and using our own experience and known facts can say for certain that the UAF is not fully comprised of Ukrainian Nazis or nationalists, no matter what we’ve been told (we doubt that such people of the declared beliefs take up more than 10%).

However, it does not mean that those who are fighting against us should not be eliminated.
In Ukraine over the 31-year period, when the kholops [derogatory for the Ukrainians] were left to their own devices to do whatever they please, an ideology was conceived and promoted...

(especially over the past 8 years) that is a lot worse than the imaginary Nazism – Russophobia.
We fought that exact plague in 2014 and 2015, until the active phase was over, and we are back in 2022 to fight it again.

By itself, Nazism requires the existence of a nation, which could not spring into existence over the past 30 years in Ukraine (archetypally ethnic Russian lands). Localized “village racism” against ethnic Russians from those who imagined themselves to be a separate nation is...

laughable; the attempts of ethnic Russian mixes with lyakhs [derogatory for Polish], Romanians, Tatars, and Jews are also laughable.
Such “ethnic Russians with pigtails,” who have taken symbols of the Russian state (such as the coat of arms depicting a diving Rurik falcon) and...

elements of the Old Slavonic language, mixed with the neighboring languages and rural dialects (characteristic to many remote places in Russia), cannot be a and are not a nation that could be denazified.

For us, it is more about decommunization, because Ukraine as an independent state owes its existence only to Lenin, whose project we aim to destroy. Yes, and the so-called “Nazis” fought against their brothers in the first and second Chechen campaigns, and in Georgia...

on the side of inorodtsy and infidels, in 2014 on Maidan they used flags of Ichkeria, and of course, we remember all this and understand that if the mad kholop is not pacified, he won’t pacify himself.

To the question of “how can you, Russian nationalists, fight the Ukrainians ones, you share the same views?” we simply answer: “We can, with pleasure.”"

They also explain their treatment of the prisoners of war. It lines up with their prior behavior in Ukraine 2014/15 and Syria. Those who followed them or Wagner would not be surprised, but it still shocking nonetheless: t.me/rusichdshrg/99

"Regarding the captives.
No one can be taken alive, and if they are taken alive after interrogation – death, and if there is no time, a quick one, and if there is time… Death must be a relief to the enemy, not a punishment.

You might say that “you can’t do that as our soldiers are going to be brutally tortured.”
And we’d say that we can, and we must as:
- We saw who gets to come back from captivity, and in essence, in most cases, they are no longer human, but a broken creature and a cripple...

(official media won’t tell you about that and the people themselves would be too ashamed to admit it)
- Our fighters, knowing what awaits them, won’t surrender in unacceptable numbers and will fight till the end (Rusich fighters know what awaits them in captivity and that’s...

why they prefer death). There were almost no cases of surrender into captivity to ISIS, why would the khokhlopigs [derogatory to the Ukrainians] be any better?
- The POWs will be exchanged at their discretion, and you won’t be consulted, and then they’ll just rejoin the ranks...

This must be prevented.
By the way, there is no point in simply returning the bodies of the khokhols (if there is no exchange for the bodies of our own).

Let their relatives buy them out, and the money raised would be used to buy equipment, thermal vision, UAVs, support for the wounded, etc.
All the talks of “honor” and “we are not like that” are easy while sitting on a sofa."

There are no reliable estimates of the size of the group. However, judging from the articles that reported on their actions during 2014/15, at the time they unlikely had more than two companies. Currently, it is hard to tell.
asd.news/articles/voyna…
bykvu.com/ua/mysli/4216-…

End of this thread for now. I will add to it as new information comes out.

It came to attention that the earliest report of Rusich's involvement in the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine dates to the very first day of Feb. 24, 2022. Source: t.me/wagner_group_p…

Rusich fighters in Izyum, Ukraine, summer 2022. Source: t.me/rusichdshrg/350

Rusich reported their first combat loss in Ukraine since 2015. Andrei, a combat medic, was killed in action. He "fell with honor - in combat on his own land, with a weapon in his hands." Note, the "own land" remark and the runes on the sling. Source: t.me/rusichdshrg/355

Rusich posted archival photos of their involvement in Ukraine from 2014. Photo on the left: Lutuhyne, not from Luhansk. Photo on the right: location unspecified.
Sources: t.me/rusichdshrg/361 t.me/rusichdshrg/372

Rusich in what is most likely Syria, date unspecified. Note the kolovrat patch on the chest. Source: t.me/rusichdshrg/373

A Rusich fighter in Ukraine, July 2022. Source: t.me/rusichdshrg/392

Rusich in Libya, 2020, deployed there as part of the Wagner Group. Note the kolovrat patch on the shoulder. Source: t.me/grey_zone/14685

Rusich continues training potentially new recruits. The first two photos are from July, 2022. The last two are archival. Sources: t.me/rusichdshrg/412 t.me/rusichdshrg/409

Rusich denies that a large number of their fighters were recently killed. The Ukrainians provided a stack of Rusich patches as proof. However, Rusich claims that those were fake and their real patches are “specially made and hard to copy.” t.me/rusichdshrg/415

More photos from Rusich training exercises, August 2022. Source: t.me/rusichdshrg/417

Rusich on TG: "Arts and crafts time. We are making presents for the Ukrainian children by turning them into orphans." My guess, pictured are consumer drone droppable munitions. Source: t.me/rusichdshrg/424

Aleksei Milchakov, Rusich commander, was spotted on the frontlines. Sladkov+ TG channel published the video without acknowledging with whom Sladkov was speaking. Source: t.me/Sladkov_plus/6… Official Rusich TG hints that it is indeed Milchakov: t.me/rusichdshrg/434

Rusich calls for “carpet bombings of residential areas of Kyiv, Lviv, Vinnitsa, Lutsk (instead of the pathetic singular strikes).” “Only radical measures. And full destruction,” they add. Recall that Rusich is de facto part of the Russian MOD. t.me/rusichdshrg/510

The old Rusich Telegram channel closed in early September. The new one (t.me/dshrg2) was started on September 23.

On October 25 Rusich posted their desires of the measures to be taken in Ukraine (t.me/dshrg2/241):

"In general, we believe that everyone, primarily the non-white population of Ukraine (females older than 10 years, and males 5) should be physically destroyed...

"...(part through scientific experiments). The remaining boys should be raised as Janissaries in the military service of russia, and the girls, after completing the courses for diligent wives and with passports of non-citizens of the russian federation (no civil rights,...

"...except that one cannot torture, kill, and sell them, while their children should be fully fledged citizens) - will be given to ethnic russian soldiers 2-3 pieces per person. The bl*ckies can be distributed to ethnic non-russians, but only those who fought for russia...

"And that's how the demographic problem is resolved.

All the property of former Ukraine must also be divided among the soldiers.
The soldiers must be compensated for their risks in the war, and the measly 200k per month (not much can be bought) is not very motivating."

support to Wagner during and after the mutiny (, https://t.co/pY6ay9FP2E)
2. The formation still continues training new/existing personnel (https://t.co/3pXf5WU6Pn, https://t.co/yKGVmGFkmw)
3. They have a new patch variation (valknut behind the kolvrat). https://t.co/8cwhV16AN5t.me/dshrg2/1037
t.me/dshrg2/1039
t.me/dshrg2/1049
t.me/dshrg2/1071