Captured Russians identified as former Donbass defenders - one reported executed by ISIS

Inessa Sinchougova
Fort Russ / RBC
Wed, 04 Oct 2017 20:37 UTC

The identity of one of the two captured Russians in Syria has been confirmed by a friend. According to him, Roman Zabolotny, who was previously recognized as such, is a member of the Cossack society, from Rostov-on-Don.

The friend of Roman Zabolotniy recognized him in the video published by ISIS militants. According to him, Zabolotny was sent to Syria with a private military company, Wagner.

"The last time we spoke was just before he left for Syria. He came from Rostov-on-Don to Wagner PMC in Molkino on July 3, on his birthday. From there he called me and invited me to celebrate. I arrived, and then he told me that he was in fact on his way to Syria," Zabolotnyi's friend said, who wished to remain anonymous.

"Roman mentioned that the job pays 300 thousand rubles a month ($5200 USD) - and he's a chef by profession - you won't get that much anywhere for such work. He called me and our mutual friends, but no one wanted him to go," the source said.
Wagner private military company is officially sanctioned by the US.

Earlier Zabolotny also traveled to the Donbass through Wagner. "I know that he served as a contractor with Russians," confirmed the prisoner's friend.

The second captive Russian, Grigory Turcanu, was identified by his brother Roman. According to Roman Turcanu, the video distributed by the militants is not staged. He also said that his brother, taken prisoner, went to Syria in May of this year through Wagner PMC, and was not officially employed as a Russian soldier by the Ministry of Defense.

Turcanu, as Zabolotny, also served in the Donbass. He was there twice, the first time in 2014.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, commenting on the situation of Russians in captivity of ISIS militants, said that the work is complicated by the fact that the terrorist group "did not make any demands for the release of hostages". There is little progress on their release.

As a reminder, on October 3, a video recording appeared , in which two men speak in Russian, saying that they have been captured in Syria. This occurred during the counteroffensive of ISIS near the settlement of Ash-Shulaa. Their current fate is unknown.

Comment: Rostov-on-Don city duma deputy Anatoly Kotlyarov has announced that Roman Zabolotny has been killed by his captors:

"This is a source from the volunteer movement, directly connected with the Vjun (Zabolotniy's call sign), the movement is monitoring information on all volunteers from Russia on the territory of Syria and Donbass ... I wish they were wrong, but so far the worst fears regarding his fate are confirmed," he said.

This comes after an elite unit of the Syrian Army - ISIS Hunters - offered ISIS $1 million for each Russian prisoner they release. Otherwise, "we will kill 100 IS-affiliated for each one of them".

RFE/RL reports that Roman Tsurkanu's family told RFE/RL they were told by the FSB "not to make a fuss" about their captivity by talking to journalists. They explain:

The claim threatens to draw attention to a potentially awkward development for the Kremlin, which has publicly limited Russia's military campaign there to air strikes but has been dogged by reports that it is secretly waging war on the ground through mercenaries working for a company called Vagner.

Working as a mercenary is illegal under Russian law.

But the brother of one of the apparent captives told RFE/RL that his brother had been fighting for Vagner, saying, "They send them to slaughter -- lure them with money and then abandon them -- because professional soldiers can't fight like they do."

On October 3, the IS propaganda arm Amaq published a video purporting to show two Russian soldiers captured in Syria. Both men appeared in grubby gray overalls with bruising on their face, one with a heavily swollen eye.
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'Sent To Slaughter Without Respect'

In comments to RFE/RL's Russian Service on October 4, Roman Tsurkanu said the man in the video is his brother, Grigory. He said his brother had traveled to the Middle East in May and was fighting for the private military contractor Vagner.

Tsurkanu said he believed his brother had joined Vagner to earn money to support his two children. He described a highly secretive arrangement in which fighters are required to keep their employment secret.

"If there even is a contract, then no one sees it, no one knows where it is kept. They sign a nondisclosure document. The only thing I know is that they describe everything beforehand: that [in the case of death] medals and money will be returned to relatives."

Roman Tsurkanu complained that his brother had superior combat skills but was used as cannon fodder. "I just don't understand why we keep contractors there, why we can't make our own elite troops from them,...why they use them like meat, and why it's those who have combat qualities, who are real fighters. What's more, it's illegal, they're sent to slaughter without respect."

Mercenaries are illegal in Russia, and rumors of the existence of Vagner have repeatedly been denied. In August, an image was posted on social media showing Putin meeting Dmitry Utkin, who has been identified in multiple reports as the founder of an unregistered private military-contracting agency called Vagner. Putin spokesman Peskov confirmed the authenticity of the photograph, which was reportedly taken at a Kremlin reception in December.