The sons of Russian deputies are “mobilized into buddy units far from the front lines so they can serve in Ukraine without dying.”
- Kremlin politicians are accused of having set up a “cronies” military unit in Ukraine
- The Cascade unit was founded in October by United Russia MP Dmitry Sablin
- The unit, heavily focused on drones, is said to be located 50 miles from the front line
Kremlin politicians are accused of having set up a military unit called “cronies” in Ukraine, far from the battle fronts, so that they and their sons could serve without risk of being killed.
Russian lawmakers were ordered to support the invasion in order to gain public respect and to garner financial support from Putin’s United Russia party.
Since then, a number of politicians and their sons have volunteered to serve in the mysterious Cascade unit for a brief stint of around a month, reports The Telegraph.
The unit guarantees them the opportunity to pose in military uniform and, in some cases, even receive a medal for bravery.
Influential Russian blog channel VKCh-OGPU, which insists it has close ties with the country’s defense ministry, published a list of United Russia deputies who served with the cascade unit in the Donetsk region.
A damaged building can be seen in this aerial view of Bakhmut, the scene of fierce fighting with Russian troops in the Donetsk region
A damaged building can be seen in this aerial view of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region
The channel explained: “This is a ‘cronies department’, which includes MPs and their children who want to label themselves as combatants but have no desire to go to the front.
“The most convenient location for ‘passage duty’ is in the Drone Section in Cascade, as it allows you to maintain a safe distance from the battle line.”
Politician Dmitri Sablin founded the unit and served in it along with his son and other members of United Russia.
Cascade was formed in October, a month after Putin’s soldiers began mobilizing along the border with Ukraine.
Pictures of the unit show soldiers preparing drones and staring at computers, seemingly far removed from the carnage of the trenches.
Ukrainian soldiers fire an SPG-9 anti-tank grenade launcher during a military exercise
Cascade markets itself as a secret reconnaissance unit, allowing it to protect its location from scrutiny. Despite this, Mr. Sablin said in a telegram that his soldiers were working at Rubizhne, some 50 miles from the fighting.
Despite its lack of activity, Cascade is considered the best-connected military unit and receives visits from high-profile figures including Sergey Kiriyenko, who has served three times as deputy head of Russia’s presidential administration.
Sablin has written how he “secures his staff” as well as an introduction he made between Mr Kiriyenko and a soldier from the pro-Russian unit of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR).
He added, “These heroic guys are bearing the brunt of the struggles to free DNR.”