Ukraine claims Putin’s party forms own private army ‘Hispaniola’

The Ukrainian Defence Ministry’s intelligence service (GUR) claimed on Wednesday that ‘United Russia’, Vladimir Putin’s party, was forming its own ‘private army’, the ‘Hispaniola’ mercenary company.

Many of those in its ranks belong to the Russian militant group Vostok Battalion, a regiment that is part of the pro-Russian forces in Donbas and operates mainly in the partially occupied Ukrainian region of Donetsk.

‘Hispaniola’ was previously part of the battalion as a volunteer unit of Russian football hooligans.

The GUR reports that since 2023, United Russia has taken control of ‘Hispaniola’, declared it to have the status of a private military company, and begun active recruitment using the party’s own funds.

It also says that the mercenary group is made up of football ultras, radicals and neo-Nazi sympathisers. They are also recruiting people in poor regions of Russia.

In their statement, the GUR confirms that the main places of recruitment are in the Ukrainian territories that have been partially occupied by Russia since the invasion began on 24 February. 

Volunteers will be paid 220,000 roubles (€2,200) a month for at least six months at the front. Recruits are promised 1-3 million rubles (up to €30,000) as insurance in case of injury and 5 million rubles (over €50,000) in case of death.

“But the financial motivation is only a cover. For most recruits, it’s a one-way ticket. The Russians do not take the dead or seriously wounded from the battlefield, they register them as ‘missing’ so that they do not have to pay the relatives,” says the GUR.

What is ‘Hispaniola’?

A glance at ‘Hispaniola’s’ Telegram channel reveals that it is a group of ultras from Russian football camps who are fighting in Ukraine.

Its leader, Stanislav Orlov, is known as “The Spaniard”.

“It is not clear why he chose this name, as he is not known to have any links with Spain,” a researcher from the Antifascist Europe network, which specialises in the far right, told the Spanish daily Ara.

Orlov is said to be a “dangerous ultra linked to the CSKA Moscow football team” who has been leading the group in the Donetsk region for at least eight years.

The pro-Russian gang is made up of the most violent fans taken from Russian football grounds.

Orlov has claimed in interviews that he joined the Russian army in 1999 and fought in the Second Chechen War.

According to his account, he moved to Ukraine in 2014 with a group of ultras to support the Donbas uprising.

After the invasion of Ukraine began, Orlov created and organised a unit of Shakhtar Donetsk ultras to fight alongside the Donbas rebels, as well as hooligans from CSKA, Spartak, Lokomotiv and Zenit St Petersburg.

But ‘Hispaniola’ is only one of many groups. 

Moscow continues to rely on irregular mercenaries, despite the brief uprising of the Wagner Group last year, and many of Russia’s rich and powerful own private military companies.