Redut

Redut ( ), also known as Redoubt, Redut-Antiterror, Redut Security or Centre R, formerly known as "Shield", is a registered Russian Private Military Company (PMC) that is a part of the "Antiterror-family", a group of PMCs that protect commercial operations of Russian companies. It is currently deployed by Russia in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to an RFE/RL investigation, concurrent "Redut" is controlled by the GRU and acts as a proxy umbrella organization for mercenaries, managing finances, recruitment and logistical supply of various formations. It was established in 2008¹, as a merger of several minor veteran groupings of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Russian Air Force and units of the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD), who had obtained combat experience in military and peacekeeping missions. Members of the group have been convicted of committing war crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Redut ( ), also known as Redoubt, Redut-Antiterror, Redut Security or Centre R, formerly known as "Shield", is a registered Russian Private Military Company (PMC) that is a part of the "Antiterror-family", a group of PMCs that protect commercial operations of Russian companies. It is currently deployed by Russia in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to an RFE/RL investigation, concurrent "Redut" is controlled by the GRU and acts as a proxy umbrella organization for mercenaries, managing finances, recruitment and logistical supply of various formations. It was established in 2008, as a merger of several minor veteran groupings of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Russian Air Force and units of the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD), who had obtained combat experience in military and peacekeeping missions. Members of the group have been convicted of committing war crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. ===Nationalization of Redut=== After this event, remaining Redut contractors were invited to their base in Kubinka and were offered contracts by the Russian MoD, to serve officially in the Russian Armed Forces. As claimed by one of Redut's former commanders, that is why Redut is completely controlled and effectively reformed by the Russian MoD. Despite the heavy casualties, Redut PMC grew sharply to around 7,000 soldiers in 2023, in part due to recruitment of prisoners and labor migrants from e.g. CIS states. At this time, Redut became one of the MoD's main recruiting projects for mercenary formations. In early 2023, Redut and the UDV held a congress in Russian-occupied Mariupol, where more than 450 fighters and officers announced that all Russian "volunteer" militias were going to be merged into a so-called "Russian Volunteer Corps", for which Redut serves as the parent company. The document establishing the corps was signed by retired GRU Colonel Aleksei Kondratyev. ==== Wolves Battalion==== The reconnaissance and sabotage detachment "Wolves Battalion" is a Russian mercenary formation that is subordinate to Redut and overseen by the 16th Guards Spetsnaz Brigade. In the early days of the invasion, the formation numbered 400 fighters. The salary for fighters ranges between $1800 and $2200 and is paid in cash. Contracts are offered for a length of three or six months. Requirements for application are full name and date of birth, a drivers license, background on military and civilian skills, and the criminal and health record. In early 2022, the Wolves were ordered to aid the Kyiv offensive and participated in the occupation of villages and battles in the Borodianka Raion. When the advance on Kyiv failed, they were tasked with covering the withdrawal of Russian troops from the area. Later, their battalion was ordered to retreat to Belarus and then to a base in Valuyki, near the Ukrainian border in western Russia. After they regrouped, the battalion was deployed to Kharkiv Oblast in September to resist Ukraine's liberation efforts there, taking heavy casualties. They were stationed near the stronghold Balakliia and ordered to set up positions at the town's entrance. That night, Ukrainian forces entered Balakliia, leading to the retreat of Russian troops. A group, cut off and stranded, hid in the town for nearly three weeks before being captured. Notably, these four Redut fighters were discovered in their hideout and arrested, and later all convicted for the war crime of torture in a Ukrainian court. The drone operator Cpt.-Lt. Matlaev Artem was killed in combat. ==External links== Putin's Invisible Army, Grzegorz Kuczyński, Warsaw Institute, 30 March 2018. Analysis: Russian PMCs in the Middle East and Africa, Felix Riefer, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 8 February 2021, accessed 18 September 2022

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