How Russia’s Salary Woes Helped Ukraine Strike the Black Sea Fleet HQ

According to Ukrainian partisans, recruiting Russian officers to help plan the devastating missile attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was made easier by the fact many hadn’t been paid by the Kremlin.

September 25, 2023

This handout satellite image released on September 23, 2023 by Planet Labs PBC shows an aerial view of the city of Sevastopol after a missile attack struck the headquarters of Moscow’s Black Sea fleet in annexed Crimea on September 22, 2023. PHOTO: AFP/Planet Labs PBC

Moscow’s inability to pay salaries on time to its naval servicemen played a key role in last week’s devastating missile strike on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, according to Ukrainian partisans who helped plan the attack.

Speaking exclusively to Kyiv Post, the partisan movement of Ukrainians and Tatars in Crimea (ATESH) said it obtained key information about the location and activities of high-ranking Russian commanders from cash-strapped officers in exchange for financial rewards.

“Delays in payments alone do not force the military armed forces of the Russian Federation to go against the Russian authorities,” a spokesperson for the group said, adding that those who help them also believe their country is “waging a criminal war and that it needs to stop.”

“But the financial reward only helps them to decide on cooperation with the ATESH movement, it serves as an additional incentive,” the spokesman said.

ATESH did not say how much money changed hands but did say it was enough to cover the risks for the officers and their families.

ATESH also did not provide details of which Russian officers assisted them but did say they have access to the “general activities of the [Black Sea Fleet] command.”

Last week’s Ukrainian missile strike was a devastating blow for Russia, both symbolically and – if confirmed – in terms of losses, physically.

Over the weekend, Kyrylo Budanov, chief of Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR), said nine people had been killed in the attack and many others severely injured, including Aleksandr Romanchuk the commander of the Russian forces on the Zaporizhzhia front and Lieutenant General Oleg Tsekov, the commander of the 200th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade of the Coastal Forces of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy.

The ATESH spokesperson told Kyiv Post the information gathered by its informants is quickly transferred to various state structures, such as the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) or HUR.

“We are liaising with various representatives of the specialist agencies, and all are equally getting the information they need that we are able to provide them.”

Andriy Yusov, a representative of HUR, last week confirmed to Kyiv Post that it was working with partisans and that they have played a crucial role in the ongoing Ukrainian strikes on Russian targets in occupied Crimea.

He described the current mood on the peninsula as “explosive.”

ATESH has previously detailed how its partisans recruited a Russian serviceman who helped plan the Ukrainian strikes earlier this month that rocked the Sevastopol Shipyard in Russian Crimea, severely damaging the “Rostov-on-Don” submarine and the “Minsk” Large Landing Ship.

Yet despite the successes, the situation for partisans in the occupied territories remains highly risky.

“The Russian military is well aware of the existence of the partisan movement and throw all their forces and means to suppress it and identify our agents,” the ATESH spokesperson said, adding: “The growing resistance among the Crimeans confuses them very much.”

But ATESH remains confident in its ability to carry out subversive acts against Russian occupation forces.

“We have ears and eyes both inside and outside, so we are the first to hear and see what is happening there,” the ATESH spokesperson said.

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/21971

8 comments

  1. “The growing resistance among the Crimeans confuses them very much.”

    No surprises there. It doesn’t take much to confuse a cockroach.

    “We have ears and eyes both inside and outside, so we are the first to hear and see what is happening there,”

    That’s good to know. We can expect more spectacular strikes against the mafia military in Crimea.

    “…recruiting Russian officers to help plan the devastating missile attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was made easier by the fact many hadn’t been paid by the Kremlin.”

    So, money issues are what helped to kill their top navy commander in Crimea and scores of other mafia officers. Go figure! And the little blood-drinking clown, putler, insists the mafia economy is doing great.

    • Is it really money? I can’t imagine the hundreds of years of indoctrination that the hoarde cares about the absence of money which drives them. I wonder if it’s arrogance where they feel that they’re so great that they can’t imagine being defeated combined with pure stupidity and ignorance arising from their arrogance.

      • Sir Cap, ask yourself what the driving force is of the entire leadership in mafia land. It’s money. That’s why it’s mafia land. Starting with putler, who is said to have stolen 200 billion dollars (some claim much more) and everyone else below him, steal. Look at their top “priest” Kyrill, who wears Rolex, owns mansions, yachts, private airplanes. The generals and admirals are no different. They all steal from the country like there’s no tomorrow. Corruption and fear are the foundations of putlerism.
        Only the little guys are expected to die for free.

    • Could be that some were bribed, but then only if they knew they would not be in the building and had a damn good reason not to be.
      I don’t doubt they have not been paid by the kremlin, historically this has been common for state employees to not be paid on time!

      This could either sow seeds of mistrust within the ranks, increasing the insecurities of the whole Staff, or it could persuade others to seek alternative income.

      The midget paedo must be getting nervous.

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