The United States urges to ask Ukraine about it.
According to Russia, US mercenaries are supporting the Ukrainian army in the Kursk offensive.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has not directly said which group it is. Media close to the Kremlin point to the Forward Observations Group (FOG).
For example, controlled by the state RIA Novosti news agency has posted a photo circulating on Instagram showing three soldiers in front of a vehicle.
The picture is published by “forwardobservations2.0”. The Instagram account allegedly belongs to the FOG company.
The picture has a caption: “The boys in Kursk”, or “Pojat Kurskissa” in Finnish.
The background of the picture does not show where it was taken. It is also not possible to tell from the men what country they are from or what positions they hold.
However, one of the men in the picture has the Forward Observations Group emblem, a canoe and a skull pierced by a knife on his clothes.
“A representative of the military lifestyle”
Very little is known about Forward Observations Group, like many other military subcontracting companies. The company itself says it is a “representative of the military lifestyle”.
The company has an online sales page, which, however, has almost nothing for sale now.
FOG was founded by a former US Army soldier Derrick Bales. He has sold military supplies through his company, he said Foreign Policy magazine in 2022.
The article about Bales was published in March 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion began. According to the newspaper’s information, FOG soldiers had come to fight alongside the Ukrainian forces. However, Foreign Policy reported that the DOG men were volunteers, not mercenaries.
In January 2022, that is, even before the attack, the Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu accused FOG soldiers of chemical warfare. FOG allegedly supplied the Ukrainians with a toxic substance in barrels in the direction of Avdijivka, said A Vice publication. The claim has not been confirmed.
In Ukraine, Bales was in contact with the Ukrainian paramilitary Azov battalion, which, especially at the beginning of the war, was accused of being made up of neo-Nazis. According to Vice, Bales rejected the Nazi accusations, after all, he himself is black.
Qatar based Doha News news site says that FOG soldiers were supporting the Israeli army during its occupation of the Gaza Strip at the end of last year.
“Ask Ukraine”
On Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry invited a representative of the US State Department for an interview. The Ministry presented case manager To Stephanie Holmes strongly disapproves not only of the activities of mercenaries in Russian territory, but also of the unauthorized movement of American journalists in Russian territory.
At least journalists from The Washington Post and CNN news channel have come across the Russian border to report on the activities of the Ukrainian forces. The same disapproval has also been expressed to Italy after a journalist from the broadcasting company Rai visited the Russian side.
The US mission responded to Russia, saying that independent media make their own decisions about their activities. The US State Department does not interfere in their work. According to the ministry’s instructions, travel to Russia should be avoided.
of The Washington Post according to the US Embassy did not directly deny the claim that mercenaries had come to Russia.
– We have in no way participated in the planning or preparation of this operation. We urge you to ask the Ukrainians about their own military operations, was the response of the US Embassy.