"Semi-secretive" Russian unit discovered; Shame on the Kremlin? PHOTO

"Semi-secretive" Russian unit discovered; Shame on the Kremlin? PHOTO

The goal, allegedly, is to respect the partial mobilization ordered by the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and to save "lives", reports the Jutarnji List writing of the British Telegraph.

VKCh-OGPU, an influential Russian blogging channel, reported that the Kremlin told politicians to support the invasion of Ukraine if they wanted to earn the respect of Russian citizens, after which Russian MPs signed up to serve in the Secretive Cascade unit.

Since then, Russian MPs have signed up to serve in the secretive Cascade unit, based somewhere in Donbas, for a month or so – guaranteeing useful photos of themselves in military uniform, and perhaps a medal.

VKCh-OGPU, an influential Russian blog channel that claims to have close ties to the country’s defense establishment, published lists of politicians from Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party who have served with Cascade.

“This is a ‘cronies detachment’ that includes deputies and their children who want to mark themselves down as having been in the war but don’t feel like going to the front line,” the channel reported on Telegram.

The son of Dmitri Sablin, the MP who founded the unit and currently leads it, has been pictured in Ukraine serving alongside its other members.

Cascade was set up in October, a month after Putin gave the mobilization order, but it is not clear how much fighting the unit actually does.

“The most comfortable place for ‘passing service’ is the drone detachment in Cascade, since it allows you to stay a safe distance from the line of combat,” said VKCh-OGPU.

Photos show soldiers from Cascade preparing drones and studying computer monitors in comfortable bunkers – scenes far removed from the blood and mud of the front line.

Even if it is not the most daring unit, Cascade may be the best connected and receives regular high-ranking visits. Sergey Kiriyenko, the first deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, has visited three times.

During Mr. Kiriyenko’s last visit on March 16, Mr. Sablin wrote on his Telegram feed that he had discussed how he keeps his “personnel safe”.