Putin's party ‘united russia’ intensifying recruitment into its own private army - Defense Intelligence

The ‘united russia’ party of the president of the aggressor country of russia, vladimir putin, is intensifying recruitment into its own private army.

This was announced by the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense in the Telegram channel, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"The Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine informs that putin's united russia party has acquired its own private army - the so-called Espaniola PMC," the message reads.

The Defense Intelligence notes that the specified terrorist formation was previously part of the so-called Vostok battalion as a volunteer unit of russian football hooligans.

From 2023, Espaniola was taken over by putin's party members - the terrorist unit declared the status of a so-called private military company, and active recruiting began and continues with the party's money.

Intelligence reports that so-called football "ultras", russian radicals of all stripes, in particular sympathizers of Nazi ideology, as well as ordinary civilians from the impoverished "subjects" of the russian federation and the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine are recruited into the Espaniola PMC - the latter are used in "cannon fodder" assaults to create the status of a "combat unit".

At Espaniola recruiting centers operating in the occupied Ukrainian territories, volunteers are promised RUB 220,000 per month for direct participation in hostilities against Ukraine, the contract is for at least six months.

"Insurance payments" are also lure to die for moscow:

RUB 1 million - minor injury;

RUB 2 million - injuries of medium severity;

RUB 3 million - serious injury;

RUB 5 million - death.

The Defense Intelligence notes that financial motivation serves only as a wrapper, for most recruits the first battle is a one-way ticket. The russians do not take the killed and seriously wounded from among the recruited "cannon fodder" from the battlefield, they are registered as "missing persons" in order not to pay the relatives rubles for the breadwinner sent by moscow to the death.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, according to The New York Times citing officials familiar with the assessment of Western intelligence, the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense (known as the GRU) are competing for the assets of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the deceased founder of the Wagner PMC.