Russian Defense Ministry can’t take control of PMCs close to authorities - ISW

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) notes that the Ministry of Defense of Russia cannot fully take control of some Russian private military companies (PMCs).

This is stated in the ISW report, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

ISW analysts suggest that the Russian authorities cannot take control of some Russian PMCs that are connected to or receive sponsorship from Russian officials and businessmen.

Russian occupiers' publication Dossier reported on August 14 that Russian President Vladimir Putin's long-time ally Arkady Rotenberg and Russia's state-owned bank VTB have provided more than RUB 300 million (USD 3.04 million) to Convoy PMC since late 2022.

According to this publication, the Russian energy companies Promresurs and Ugol Trading also gave PMC Convoy RUB 109.5 million (USD 1.11 million), although the profit of neither of them corresponds to the volume of donations.

In addition, the occupying so-called "head" of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, politically supports Convoy PMC, which began official recruitment "for work in Ukraine" in November 2022, and Convoy employees signed contracts either directly with Convoy PMC, or with the Russian 150th motorized rifle division (8th Combined Arms Army, Southern Military District).

At the same time, Convoy is not subordinate to the 150th motorized rifle division and has its own area of responsibility in Ukraine and command structure.

The Convoy PMC is allegedly based in occupied Perevalny, Crimea, and is currently operating in the Kherson direction after initially defending Russian logistics lines on the Melitopol-Dzhankoi route.

According to reports, as of the summer of 2023, Convoy PMC had 400 employees, who received a salary of RUB 200,000-300,000 (USD 2,030-3,045) per month.

According to ISW, the continued private financial and political support of the Convoy PMC and its further activities in Ukraine separately from the command structure of the Russian Ministry of Defense indicate that the Russian Defense Ministry is unable to fully integrate irregular formations into the regular Russian armed forces, despite the announced intend to do so.

Analysts of the Institute for the Study of War note that the founder of the Convoy PMC, Konstantin Pikalov, was previously associated with the Wagner Group and, according to reports, has ties to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff.

He is also alleged to be a co-founder of the St. Petersburg Cossack society Convoy and tried to break into the field of military services starting in 2014, but did not have much success until he joined the Wagner PMC in the Central African Republic in 2018.

It is reported that after 2018, there are no records of Pikalov's interaction with structures related to Prigozhin, and in 2019 the Convoy PMC continued its work on international security.

It is noted that Pikalov had little military experience before his participation in the Wagner PMC and that he is the opposite of Prigozhin: "handy and safe for the authorities."

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the FSB of the Russian Federation created its own PMC to oust the Wagner mercenaries from the information space.

The Wagner PMC no longer participates in battles in Ukraine.