CHACRDIGEST
MAY 31st, 2023
#19
The views expressed in this Digest are not those of the British Army or UK Government. This document cannot be reproduced or used in part or whole without the permission of the CHACR. www.chacr.org.uk
LITTLE GREEN MEN INSIDE RUSSIA? In a remarkable incident of strategic trolling, two hitherto unknown forces calling themselves the Free Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps infiltrated Russian sovereign territory inside the Belgorod Oblast. Although Ukraine officially denies having anything to do with the raid, tongue-in-cheek remarks from a Ukrainian presidential adviser implied that Ukraine may have been giving Russia a taste of its own hybrid warfare tactics. Russia has understandably not seen the funny side of this incursion and serious questions have arisen about the nature of its border security. This colour piece from CNN gives a good first-hand account of the mission as it crossed the border. And for those who read the Economist, this is a good analysis of the militias, describing their links to the Ukrainian government and other political groups.
DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPERSONIC HYPE Picture: Mil.ru, CC BY 4.0
On 4th May 2023, Ukraine used a US-supplied Patriot battery to down a Russian Kinzhal missile, a weapon Vladimir Putin described in 2018 as “hypersonic” and capable of overcoming all existing air defence systems. Patriot systems have since downed multiple of these hypersonic weapons. It seems that there are some myths around the system, no doubt enhanced by the Russian PR machine, which has sought to display that the balance of offensive hypersonic capabilities is tilting in Moscow’s favour. In this punchy piece from the Brookings Institute, Alexander H. Montgomery and Amy J. Nelson take five misconceptions about Russian hypersonic capabilities and analyse them in detail. Their conclusions point to a hypersonic threat from Russia that is, at best, over-hyped, with the US in a better position in the hypersonic race than the media would have you believe.
The Wagner Group and its boisterous leader Yevgeny Prigozhin have been all over the headlines since the beginning of Russia’s re-invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, the group’s geographical reach and agenda goes far beyond Ukraine. It is particularly active in Africa – from Libya and Mali to Sudan and Burkina Faso. In fact, while many observers had expected that the Ukraine war would divert the Wagner Group’s attention away from the African continent, this is not the case, and the mercenary outfit continues to look to expand its foothold there. Alia Brahimi’s Atlantic Council podcast series Guns for Hire looks at the Wagner Group and the wider subject of mercenaries from a number of different angles. Brahimi talks to historians, ethicists and former mercenary fighters to understand the Wagner Group and explore different ways to counter it.
1 // WAR IN UKRAINE // CHACR DIGEST
Picture: Alexander Davronov, CC BY-SA 4.0
GUNS FOR HIRE