2024-09-22T17:29:00+03:00 War 2024-09-24T04:00:01+03:00

Ukrainian news

Russian authorities detain commander of assault squad who participated in occupation of Avdiyivka and Krasnoho

Russian authorities detain commander of assault squad who participated in occupation of Avdiyivka and Krasnohorivka - ISW

The russian authorities detained the commander of the assault squad of the 110th motorized rifle brigade, Vladimir Novikov. Russian officials have not publicly acknowledged Novikov's arrest.

The reasons for the arrest and the details of the event were reported at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Thus, the russian actress Yana Poplovskaya, numerous russian military bloggers, the russian neo-nationalist publication "Tsargrad" reported on September 13 that the russian authorities detained the commander of the assault squad of the 110th motorized rifle brigade (51st combined arms army, former 1st army corps of the "DPR") Vladimir Novikov, also known under the pseudonym "Bely” [White].

Poplovskaya also published an appeal to the Minister of Defense of the aggressor state of russia Andrey Belousov with a request to return Novikov to the front, claiming that Novikov played a key role in the capture of Avdiyivka and Krasnohorivka by the russians, has three state orders for courage and received many letters from his subordinates demanding his release. Some of Novikov's subordinates and several military bloggers also reportedly said they joined the squad solely because he inspired them.

Poplovska and a Russian media blogger who claims to have worked with Novikov said Novikov was detained after he tried to stop Chechens supplying drugs to their soldiers. Poplovska said that the Chechens filed a false complaint against Novikov in revenge.

Meanwhile, a military blogger linked to Novikov suggested that the russian military command may have disapproved of Novikov's efforts to train russian servicemen and Storm-Z convicts to neutralize Ukrainian drone threats, as the military command seeks to advance its own career ambitions.

Military blogger stated that he and Novikov allegedly independently developed a counter-drone system called "small sky capture" to train russian counter-drone specialists, and that this initiative was against staff protocol. Russian officials have not publicly acknowledged Novikov's arrest, and Belousov has not yet responded to any appeals.

"The russian military leadership and the government continue to reduce the class of partially independent russian military innovators, specialists and commanders in order to achieve the centralization of forces, support the pace of the offensive in the Donetsk Region and compensate for the personnel deficit," the analysts summarized.