In addition to regular Russian soldiers, thousands of so-called mercenaries are participating in the Kremlin’s full-scale war on Ukraine. A purported private military company called Redut is the most prominent of such groups after Wagner, the mercenary organization that was run by Yevgeny Prigozhin before his death.

Reporters with Schemes, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian investigative unit, obtained exclusive documents, interviews and mobile phone data related to Redut fighters in Ukraine, several of which have been convicted of torture and other abuses in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region.

The investigation by Schemes, together with RFE/RL’s Russian investigative unit, Systema, reveals the inner workings of Redut, which contrary to analyst and media assumptions is not, in reality, a private military company at all. It is, in fact, a secretive recruiting system operated by Russian military intelligence, better known as the GRU.

Authors: Valeriya Iegoshyna, Kira Tolstiakova ("Schemes") | Elizaveta Surnachyova, Danylo Belovodiev ("Systema")
Contributors: Olga Ivleva ("Schemes") | Kyrylo Kruglikov, Dmytro Sukharev ("Systema")
Editors: Kira Tolstiakova ("Schemes") | Andrei Soshnikov ("Systema")| Carl Schreck (RFE/RL)
Chief editor: Natalka Sedletska

00:00 What is the investigation about?
02:40 The storming of the Kyiv region
04:55 How much are the so-called "mercenaries" paid
07:26 Video from Russian fighters’ phones and the Kyiv region
09:38 Testimony of residents of the Kyiv region about Redut fighters
11:45 Identifying a Russian commander
13:00 The retreat of Redut fighters from the Kyiv region
15:15 Why Redut is not a private military company – and what the GRU has to do with it
17:27 Redut fighters admit they are part of a Russian intelligence project
18:00 What recruiters told fighters about Redut
22:26 Redut’s Kharkiv campaign
26:35 Interviews with prisoners
29:15 The story of a man tortured by Redut forces
30:45 Prisoners discuss their GRU handler and torture of prisoners
32:46 Video from a Redut fighter’s phone shot during a captive’s transfer
33:35 Capture by Ukrainian forces
37:20 Who is fighting in Redut?
38:36 Redut commanders identified
44:45 Redut handlers from Russian intelligence
48:00 Why the Redut is a fictitious “private military company”
51:50 Where is Redut fighting now? A report from near Bakhmut

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