The war against Ukraine is not going according to plan for Russia. The energy company Gazprom is trying to strengthen the Russian troops with their own battalions.
It was an enigmatic WhatsApp message that lit up on her smartphone. In mid-August, security guards at a Gazprom branch in central Russia all received the same message: “Attention: there will be a meeting at 10 a.m. at the site of the pipeline operations center,” the manager wrote to them, citing the Financial Times reported to one of the employees. The message ended with the terse words: “Participation is mandatory.”
At the same time, the Gazprom security staff at the branch in Russian Siberia were also called to an emergency meeting. “They told them to leave their phones and go to the boss’s office in small groups,” the wife of an employee told the Financial Times.
The reason: the Russian energy company apparently wanted to hire its security staff for volunteer battalions. At least two from each group should report to go to war against Ukraine, site managers said. According to a former senior Russian official, creating these military units is a way for oligarchs and corporations to prove their allegiance to Putin and keep control over which of their workers are drafted into the war. Low-skilled workers are considered to be more expendable than higher-skilled workers.
“Heavenly conditions” for use at the front
Gazprom promised the volunteers support for their war effort: “They were promised heavenly conditions,” a woman told the Financial Times, whose husband refused to volunteer. Accordingly, the men should receive a total of more than one million rubles (about 11,416.89 euros) for their use, sufficient equipment and a contract with the Ministry of Defense. Gazprom has assured them that they are also allowed to keep their jobs. The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assumes similarly high salaries. Gazprom mercenaries could receive various bonuses of up to 7,500 euros a month. You can read more about the ISW report here.
The Gazprom battalions are financed by the company itself, which is apparently following an announcement by the Kremlin: As a former Russian official told the Financial Times, there is “the mandate to recruit volunteers in various ways, including through wealthy state and private individuals Structures that have enough money to just recruit people”. Gazprom apparently received special permission from the Kremlin in February, as BBC research shows.
And Gazprom is apparently receiving support for its shadow army in other ways too: The party Pravaya Rossija (Right-Wing Russia), an imperialist movement, describes itself as a prominent supporter of the “Fakel” battalion and provides equipment and volunteers from its own ranks, reports the ” Financial Times”. Their goal is to “restore the Russian Empire,” Georg Borovikov, a far-right nationalist and leader of the party, told the medium.
Gazprom is one of the largest state-owned companies in Russia. It mainly produces natural gas and had also supplied the raw material to Germany up until the Ukraine war. Gazprom’s CEO, oligarch Alexei Miller, is considered a good friend of dictator Vladimir Putin. Among others, former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder sat on the gas giant’s board of directors for some time.
Another Gazprom battalion in Ukraine?
Whether “Fakel” actually belongs to Gazprom has not been officially confirmed. Borovikov also kept a low profile: “It’s difficult to set up a battalion from scratch. You need a sponsor who might be a bit higher up,” he said. An ex-employee has already linked the battalion to the group, as the BBC reported.
According to the “Financial Times”, another battalion of the energy company is said to be the “Potok” battalion. Accordingly, at the request of the medium, security staff wrote that the existence of “Potok” was “secret”. Others asked “Why? Do you want to enroll?” – to finally deny the existence of the battalion altogether. On the other hand, at another location in the Urals region, employees confirmed the existence of the battalion in connection with Gazprom. However, it is said that only employees at their location were recruited.
