Russian troops ill-prepared for war, says ex-mercenary

RUSSIA was not ready to fight an army when it began its invasion of Ukraine, according to a former Kremlin mercenary who refused to fight again for the Wagner Group, the secretive Russian private military company.

The Russian military’s failure to seize the Ukrainian capital was inevitable, according to Marat Gabidullin, because in the preceding years they had never directly faced a powerful enemy.

Mr Gabidullin, 55, took part in Wagner Group missions on the Kremlin’s behalf in Syria and in a previous conflict in Ukraine, before quitting in 2019 and going public with his experiences inside the mercenary group.

Several months before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, a recruiter invited him to fight as a mercenary in Ukraine. He refused, he said, in part because he knew Russian forces were not up to the job, even though they trumpeted their arsenal of new weapons and success in Syria, where they helped President Bashar alassad defeat an armed rebellion.

“They were caught completely by surprise that the Ukrainian army resisted so fiercely and that they faced the actual army,” Mr Gabidullin said about Russia’s setbacks in Ukraine.

Those he spoke to on the Russian side told him they had expected to face ragtag militias, not well-drilled troops. “I told them: ‘Guys, that’s a mistake’,” said Mr Gabidullin, now based in France, where he is publishing a book about his experiences with the Wagner Group.

Wagner Group fighters have been accused by of committing war crimes in Syria and eastern Ukraine from 2014 onwards. Gabidullin said he had never been involved in such abuses

Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said he did not know who Mr Gabidullin was and whether he has ever been a member of private military companies. The Russian defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.