Donbass rebels civil war within a civil war continues
2015-05-10
Posted by: badanov
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
On Saturday throughout Russia and rebel occupied regions on southeastern Ukraine, the 70th anniversary of "The Great Victory" over Nazi Germany was marked with parades and gatherings of veterans of WWII and other conflicts since then.
But the expressions of patriotic pride in loud, public displays could not mask the deep divisions between the political leaderships of both Lugansk and Donetsk, their Russian benefactors and several formation commanders, mainly Cossacks, but including a few Russian commanders.
One of the most popular rebel formation commanders in either republic announced to some Russian language press outlets his view of the Lugansk political leadership, mainly in the form of Lugansk president Igor Plotnitsky as "thieves", "more bloodthirsty" than the oligarchs whose rule were ended by the civil war.
The remarks were published after Alexei Mozgovoy, commander of the Ghost Brigade, was warned to cancel Victory Day celebrations or face arrest or death at the hands of Plotnitsky. The reason for the cancellation were not made clear, but it is likely that the antagonistic relationship between Mozgovoy and Plotnitsky played a large part in this latest confrontation.
The celebrations in Alchevsk were held despite the warning from Lugansk, but it is unclear what will happen next.
Mozgovoy's remarks are unusually candid, especially in comparison with several other top military commanders who have gone to some length of toe the political line.
This, despite a low intensity war being waged by the political leadership of both republics against commanders who have apparently had the wrong idea about their roles in the civil war in southeastern Ukraine.
Mozgovoy was the first top rebel formation commander to reveal the bloody losses suffered by the rebels in the Debaltsevo operation last February, which he characterized as "colossal". Mozgovoy failed to mention the prominent role actual Russian troops inside of Ukraine had played in the operations that turned the Debaltsevo salient into a pocket at Logvinovo.
But Cossack commander Colonel Pavel Dremov, quoted in Latvian news outlet Spektor, late last month confirmed that indeed Russian troops had played a role in at least the initial operation at Debaltsevo.
In his remarks, Dremov said that the Russians maintained a united command structure for the operation, and despite being outnumbered by at least a factor of two toward the end of the operation, and despite repeated objections by rebel commanders against pressing objectives, rebel forces managed to finally liquidate the pocket.
Mozgovoy said in his remarks just after the conclusion of the Debaltsevo operation that losses suffered by rebel forces were huge, but Dremov said his losses were less than five percent of his forces. It should be noted that Dremov and another Cossack military commander, Ataman Kozitsyn had joined the liquidation operations late, and were apparently not part of the bloody pinning operations that took place just before the battle of Logvinovo.
Like Mozgovoy, Dremov had words about Plotnitsky.
The interviewers asked Dremov if he had forgotten about the conflict with the Lugansk authorities.
His reply was: "I do not see them as people. Now, if I had seen in them the desire to change people's lives for the better, I would have reasoned differently."
Dremov went on: " Every morning I ask myself the question - Why are you doing this? Just turn around and go away .... "
"... But I just know that if you leave, then it would be even worse. Many of those who now stand next to me, too, turn around and leave. And the future has to hold on to such as these - that is not for himself but for them."
Dremov's countryman, Ataman Kozitsyn is said to either be in Russia under arrest or dead, detained and possibly executed by the "Green Men", as Russian special forces are colloquially known in southeastern Ukraine.
Kozitsyn himself had disappeared, during last fall, but events intervened which apparently caused Cossack leaders to become openly critical, especially after the assassination of Aleksandr Bednov last December 31st at the hands of Plotinitsly's interior ministry troops in Grigorievka, just south of Lugansk city.
Several more assassination attempts and killings took place since that time, five in all including one attempt on Mozgovoy, incidents which have been carefully hidden from the official narrative rebel commanders want to maintain.
News in mid April was that Dremov himself appeared to have been bought off with a regimental battle flag and an honorific: 6th Cossack Motorized Cavalry Regiment "Matvei Platov" , named after a noted Cossack commander who fought during the Napoleonic wars in the 19th century.
With the new regimental battle flag came inclusion into a unified logistical structure with the Lugansk ministry of defense. Mozgovoy's Ghost Brigade has not been as lucky, being forced to rely on non official channels for some classes of supplies.
The latest indications in the Russian language press are that the civil war continues, becoming quiet in Lugansk but loud in Donetsk.
On April 28th, elements of the Donetsk "Vostok" Battalion surrounded and attacked an unidentified Cossack unit in Donetsk. The fate of that unit is unknown. The report said that intense gunfire was heard for about 30 minutes, then silence.
On May 6th in Donetsk an unidentified rebel unit attacked a Cossack unit which had barricaded itself in the Hotel Prague. Several rebel armored vehicles, including tanks and self-propelled guns, rebel snipers and other forces deployed against those forces. The report said that Cossack units had booby trapped the positions.
As with the April 28th incident, the fate and identity of the Cossack unit remain a mystery. The issue that started the battle was an attempt to disarm the Cossack unit.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
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