"Analysts say at least five pilots, spotters and counter-surveillance teams were probably involved, meaning it would have taken time and extensive resources to organise both on land and at sea."

"The immediate suspicion is focusing on a cargo vessel in the Irish Sea at relevant times that was previously detained for alleged involvement in sabotage attacks on subsea cables in the Baltics."

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/o...

And this is the point: a state preparing children for war isn’t seeking peace. Moscow is grooming its next waves of fighters because it expects — and wants — more war. You don’t build cadet corps and trench camps for a ceasefire.

By February 2025 he was dead at 19. His story shows how Russia’s Cossack revival isn’t about folklore — it’s an alternative mobilisation system. The Kremlin is doubling funding and expanding it into occupied Ukrainian regions. “Everything through youth” is literal.

Oleg Monin’s path: school militarisation in Saratov → Berkut training → trench drills with Cossack and Akhmat veterans → live-fire training on a Samara military range used by BARS recruits → enlistment in BARS-15 in late 2024, a Cossack battalion under the 15th Guards Brigade.

New Cossack "Hosts" have been established in occupied territories (Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk) to co-opt and erase Ukrainian national identity.

Even outside formal Cossack schools, kids get pulled in through “military-patriotic” clubs, Zarnitsa games, Yunarmiya and university groups like Berkut. These groups drill with returned fighters, run oath ceremonies and bridge the gap to real weapons.

Since 2018, the Kremlin has unified “registered” Cossacks under a national Ataman appointed by Putin. Their strategy is openly youth-focused: Cossack kindergartens, schools, cadet corps and university clubs now reach hundreds of thousands.

The story of 19-year-old invader Oleg Monin shows how it works: from Airsoft at uni to BARS-15 in Ukraine to a grave four months after deployment. Should have stayed at home.

Yeah, it's not a surprise to me. This is the man who's used a Kremlin translator before and refuses to use secure comms. Paper trails make it harder to deny what he promised, implied, or messed up. Thank goodness his treachery is being made public. I wonder what isn't being made public, though!

I agree, it's despicable. These clowns only care about money. They couldn't give two shits about justice, international law, and sovereignty.

“He’s slowly figuring things out. Before, he didn’t understand anything. Now, he understands more.” Added the source, “Now his list reflects 90 percent of Putin’s wishlist, so that means he’s finally understood something.”

Agree. And they are often really inconsistent in their view - often making excuses for or supporting russia. It's infuriating.