2023-07-06 11:15:16
War in Ukraine
A Russian combat unit made up of hooligans
The ultras of different football clubs buried their rivalry to form a troop of volunteers to go and fight in Ukraine.
UpdatedJuly 6, 2023, 1:15 PM
Pitbull, a volunteer from the Espanola group.
AFP
The stadium in Mariupol, a city conquered by Russia, now displays the Espanola unity flag.
AFP
Even their vehicles carry unit plates.
AFP
In front of the old acronyms of Ukrainian clubs in Mariupol, the Russian flag.
AFP
Chernika (known as Blueberry), is one of the two women in the troupe.
AFP
The unit trains on a beach by the Sea of Azov.
AFP
On the shaved head of Mikhaïl, alias “Pitbull”, a tattoo: “Espanola”, the name of a fighting unit made up of radical Russian football fans who, putting aside their rivalries, took up arms to face the forces of Kiev.
That day, members of Espanola exercise on a wild beach by the Sea of Azov, a few kilometers from Mariupol, a port city in southeastern Ukraine conquered by Moscow in the spring of 2022 at the cost immense destruction and thousands of civilian casualties.
“We stick together”
“Pitbull” is an absolute fan of Zenit St. Petersburg. But he now shares his military life with supporters of other Russian clubs that he has viscerally hated for years. “In civilian life, we fought,” notes “Pitbull”, the head of an assault section of the Espanola group. “But in the trenches, we stick together,” notes this man sporting an Iroquois crest and imposing tanned and bodybuilt arms.
His soldiers strike a pose, each holding a submachine gun pointed skyward. “One for all, all for one, all for one! Not a single step back, we don’t surrender! Spanish! Spanish! Spanish!” yells the little gang. Then they all shoot in the air, squirting dozens of casings on the sand, in a deafening crash.
These football fans converted into soldiers are part of the constellation of groups of volunteers who fight in Ukraine alongside the Russian regular forces, as did the mercenaries of the Wagner group or other paramilitary organizations.
If the military contribution of these neo-combatants who go to the front for profit or ideology remains debatable, the presence of a group like Espanola, experienced in the use of social networks, makes it possible to propagate an attractive vision of the conflict to the among part of the Russian population.
A group of 600 fighters
At Mariupol’s main football stadium, still standing, only slightly damaged during the battle, a large “Glory to Russia” banner now adorns the stands. After the capture of the city, which has become a symbol of the unprecedented violence of the Russian attack in Ukraine, Russian football fans came there to form the Espanola group, which now claims 600 fighters.
These far-right football fans have long had strained, even hostile, relations with the Kremlin, which has moved to weaken them to reduce violence in and around stadiums and channel their ultra-nationalist rhetoric. The members of Espanola interviewed by AFP specify that they are not fighting for the Russian authorities, but for their country.
“Some values go far beyond the state and the politicians leading this process. For me, there is honor, bravery, friends, homeland and my family, ”explains Vyacheslav, a CSKA Moscow fan and head of Espanola’s reconnaissance units.
Others joined Ukraine
Other Russian ultras and hooligans conversely joined the Ukrainian troops, for various reasons. Some believe that the Russian Federation gives too much space to ethnic minorities and that they must defend their Ukrainian Slavic brothers.
This division among Russian supporters began in 2014, following the pro-democracy Maidan revolution in kyiv and the start of a war between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists backed by Moscow. With the Russian offensive in Ukraine in 2022, this division “has become more radical”, observes Andreï, a supporter of Spartak Moscow, also a member of the Espanola group. He says he hopes to rub shoulders directly, on the battlefield, with Russian supporters fighting for kyiv.
The Espanola unit claims to be able to carry out offensive and defensive operations, as well as sabotage missions, and indicates that some of its members have already fought on the fronts in eastern and southern Ukraine. That day, on the beach, his fighters, including two women, practice shooting and combat maneuvers. One of them, Yevgeni, from eastern Ukraine, assures that the Russian regular army has recognized their efforts.
Sporty and sober
“The last weapons that our detachment received came from the Russian Ministry of Defense, because we have proven ourselves very well,” said the 38-year-old sniper. According to him, his comrades in arms are “all athletic” and “do not drink alcohol”.
He himself, before 2014, was a fan of FC Shakhtar Donetsk, a famous Ukrainian club that moved to western Ukraine when the fighting started. Since then, Evguéni, originally from the Donetsk region, is no longer for them.
(AFP)
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