Unit Consisting of Soldiers from Various Non-Russian Republics Formed to Fight Russian Invaders in Ukraine

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Feb. 7 – Since Putin began his expanded invasion of Ukraine in 2022, representatives of various non-Russian nations from the Russian Federation have formed independent units of their own to fight alongside the Ukrainian army against the Russian invaders.
    But an important breakthrough has happened: a unit not consisting of soldiers from just a single nationality from the Russian Federation but one including representatives of a variety of indigenous nations has appeared in Ukraine (vot-tak.tv/84797809/nomad-interview reposted and translated at abn.org.ua/en/interviews/a-unit-consisting-of-representatives-of-indigenous-nations-of-russia-has-appeared-in-ukraine/).
    Formed earlier this winter, the unit called Nomad includes men from Kalmykia, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Sakha. It is led by a Kalmyk but explicitly defines itself as a multi-national force and says it will welcome representatives from other non-Russian nationalities into its ranks.
    Three things make this development important. First, it gives new content to the multi-nationalism of the opposition to Putin’s war and the movements to decolonize Russia. Second, it will make it more difficult for Moscow to play one nationality off against another, the favored tactic of Kremlin leaders.
    And third – and arguably the most important – it represents the triumph of Prometheanism as the core of Kyiv’s strategy, one adopted from the pre-war Polish movement of that name. (On that movement and its adoption by Kyiv, see my article at saratoga-foundation.org/p/prometheanism-becomes-the-centerpiece.) 

NB: Vadim Shtepa of Region.Expert reminds that the Siberian Battalion, which was founded earlier, was also multi-national. (On that unit, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/08/siberian-battalion-commander-in-ukraine.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/09/siberian-battalion-seeks-victory-for.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/03/in-war-for-consciousness-of-russias.html. But that unit was and remains regionalist in its focus. The new Nomad Unit is explicitly about cooperation among non-Russians -- and that is the point I wanted to make however clumsily and incompletely here.