The “campaign” of the Wagnerites forced the Russian command to weaken the capabilities of the grouping of troops in the South
In order to ensure the implementation of the measures of the “martial law” regime in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the military and political leadership of the Russian Federation deployed the so-called “united grouping of troops (forces) of the federal service of the Russian National Guard” (yes, this is what is called “Rosgvardiya”, or to put it simply the old way – internal troops + some from the police).
Unlike the army’s “United Group of Mines in the South-Western Theater of Military Operations”, this “Rosguard” group does not have multi-disciplinary groups of troops, but rather performs tasks in the so-called designated areas of responsibility, according to the territorial principle, although officially these areas are called ” grouping of troops”.
It is also worth noting a number of peculiarities regarding the operation of forces and means from the federal service of the National Guard troops “Rosgvardiya”.
– “Rosgvardiya” units are operationally subordinated to the Russian army command exclusively in the tactical zone (somewhere it is 10-15 km, and somewhere up to 25-30, and in some places even up to 40 km). In the rest of the occupied territories, they perform their own, specific tasks specific to them (starting with the control, protection and defense of important infrastructural and administrative facilities, ending with the provision of a control-passage regime or “fighting against nationalist underground gangs”) independently, or in interaction with the forces and means of other law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation. For example, from the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
– The forces and means of the “Rosgvardiya” group include certain unified police units formed on the basis of “OMON” and “SOBR” of this department. In particular, up to 76 units (usually up to 1-2 platoons each) of the OMON type and up to 35 of the “SOBR” type (up to 2-3 platoons each) operate in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
– In general, the of the Federal Service of the National Guard of the Russian Federation deployed in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine currently has up to 24,500 personnel (grouped into 5 battalion tactical groups and 40 tactical groups formed on the basis of operational brigades and brigades and regiments of the National Guard troops, separate battalions and company).
– In addition to light and heavy infantry weapons, this group is armed with armored fighting vehicles, aviation and artillery systems. Therefore, in a certain sense, it is quite capable of conducting (participating) in battles and operations of a combined military nature as either attached forces or reinforcement forces, or conducting them independently.
– It is also worth noting that in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, aviation formations of the national guard troops (designated forces and equipment of aviation regiments and separate squadrons) and special forces (special forces centers and separate special forces) operate in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
Today, the structure of this group is as follows:
– command of the troops of the Federal Service of the National Guard of the Russian Federation “East” personnel – 7,093, armored combat vehicles – 170, artillery systems – 33, aviation (helicopters) – 6 units)
– command of the troops of the federal service of the National Guard of the Russian Federation “West” personnel – 6,925, armored combat vehicles – 142, artillery systems – 33, aviation (helicopters) – 6 units)
– command of the troops of the federal service of the National Guard of the Russian Federation “South” personnel – 10,149, combat armored vehicles – 221, artillery systems – 78, aviation (helicopters) – 10 units).
The management of this group is carried out from the central command post of the National Guard of the Russian Federation through temporarily deployed control points of the management of the troops in the respective areas of responsibility.
In the course of implementing measures to counter the operation of the Wagner group regarding the advance of part of the determined forces and means towards Moscow (from 1.5 to 3 thousand “collaborators”), the military and political leadership of the Russian Federation engaged the following troops (forces) and carried out the following measures:
– In the course of the establishment by the units of the Wagner Group of control over key objects in the city of Rostov-on-Don, including the headquarters of the Southern Military District, where the joint command post of the “Unified Group of the Soviet Union of the South-Western Theater of Military Operations” was deployed actions”, there was no opposition.
– During the operation, the units of the Wagner group managed to take control (block) the following air bases in the Rostov region – the Zernograd air base in the Voronezh region. – Buturlynovka and Baltimore air bases. There was no countermeasure.
– During the movement of forces and means of the Wagner group in the Belgorod and Voronezh regions of the Russian Federation, the Russian military command tried to launch airstrikes against them using army helicopters, as well as block their communication capabilities with the help of electronic warfare, as a result of which the mercenaries were shot down – 1 air point control/repeater Il-22 aircraft and at least 6 helicopters (Ka-52, Mi-35 and 4 Mi-8, of which at least 1 was a specialized electronic warfare helicopter).
– During the operation of the Wagner group, the military and political leadership of the Russian Federation successively introduced (on the territory of the Rostov, Belgorod and Moscow regions) the regime of a counter-terrorist operation.
– As part of the counter-terrorist operation, the military command of the USSR carried out the following measures – 2 companies of the 76th Airborne Assault Division from the operational group “Kursk” were moved by military transport aircraft to the city of Moscow, to the 2nd battalions of the 78th Motorized Rifles regiment from the 42nd Motorized Rifle Division of the 58th Combined Arms Army were marched to the city of Rostov-on-Don, in the same direction, from the Line Communications Battalion (Avdiivka district) the special purpose operational unit “Akhmat” left, in turn – the 8th Il-76 military transport aircraft from the Belbek air base, the Russian command began to transfer units of the 56th of the airborne assault regiment of the 7th airborne assault division in the direction of Moscow.
– In connection with the emergence of a real threat of capture by the units of the Private Military Company of Wagner Air Force Base Baltimore (which happened in reality), the Russian military command was forced to disperse weapons and military equipment (combat aircraft of the 47th Bomber Aviation Regiment) 105- of the mixed aviation division of the 6th Army of the Air Force and Air Defense Forces to other base airfields, in particular, 11 units of aviation equipment (front bombers of the Su-34 type) were redeployed – 4 at the Kursk air base and 7 at the Diaghilev air base.
Thus, it is worth noting that as a result of the short-term operation of the Wagner group, and with rather limited forces and means, the Russian military command was forced, in turn, to implement a number of measures that objectively in a certain way weakened, for the time being, operational capabilities of the Russian military command in the Southern and Eastern operational zones.