The 88th Reconnaissance and Sabotage Brigade Espanola
Russian Volunteer Nationalist Brigade meets a predictable fate
For the past few weeks Russian Nationalist/Patriots have been dooming over the news that the infamous/heroic depending on your political leanings (heroic imo) 88th Volunteer Brigade known as “Espanola” after the nickname/call sign of their commander has been disbanded. Espanola has been at the sharp end of the Russian efforts in the ongoing SMO since the beginning and their popularity amongst Russian Nationalist is on par with Rusich. Espanola participated in storming Mariupol, Ugledar, Avdeevka, and they played the starring role in taking Chasov Yar. A few days ago, the bad news about the Brigades Disbandment was exacerbated when it’s Telegram Channel announced that their Popular and sincerely loved by the Troops Commander Stanislav Orlov aka “Spainard” was killed under clear as mud circumstances. The Ukrainians are claiming he was killed in Crimea by the Police and Russian Officials aren’t offering any details whatsoever, not the place, not the perpetrators. Once we get into who Stanislav was and where the Espanola Brigade came from it’s unfortunately likely that the Ukrainian version which is the only one we have has some truth to it, albeit in a distorted fashion. Given that the Espanola Brigade was the “88th”, a number that the men picked themselves my readers should already know at the very least that this formation was made up of people not beloved by Official Moscow and being a popular, charismatic, Ethnic Russian Nationalist with many battle-hardened men loyal to you is a dangerous role to be in.
A hostile pro hohol project describes Orlovs early life and activities with the following:
Stanislav Orlov was born on February 21, 1981 in Moscow and calls himself a Muscovite of the third generation. Since 1995 he has been a member of the CSKA football club and is a member of the famous ultras group Red and Blue Warriors. He claims to have several higher educations and speak five languages.
It’s rumored that he worked in the Moscow hotel “National”. Orlov was drafted into the army in 1999 and served in the Airborne Forces. He claims that he took part in the second Chechen campaign, and then “went through many hot spots.”
In 2014, Orlov and a group of ultras came to Horlivka in Donbass, to fight for the separatists. He explained his decision by the fact that his relative died there due to shelling by the Ukrainian army.
He fought as a volunteer in the “brigade” of Igor Bezler (call sign “Bes”), serving as his assistant. Thanks to his knowledge of languages, Orlov coordinated foreign mercenaries, which is why he received the call sign “Spaniard”. Then he created the reconnaissance company “Skull and Bones” and became its commander. This unit “distinguished itself” during the battles for Gorlovka and Debaltseve.
In the fall of 2015, he left the front and joined the Union of Donbass Volunteers (UDV). This organization was created by the then assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Vladislav Surkov. It included “veterans” of Russia’s war against Ukraine under the leadership of Oleksandr Khodakovsky, commander of the Vostok battalion. The UDV was considered as an alternative to the National Guard and was supposed to become Surkov’s personal PMC.
https://evocation.info/stanislav-orlov/
People that knew Orlov confirm he at least spoke fluent Spanish and could get by in a few more languages and he really did take part in the 2nd Chechen Campaighn. Regardless of the hostile tone the above is a fair characterization of Orlovs early activities and his association with Khodakovsky and Surkov automatically raise concerns if you are pro Russian in the Russian Nationalist Sense. Surkov was the Kremlins man tasked with keeping the Russian Springe from getting out of hand and Strelkov famously called him the “Grave Digger of Donbass”. Khodakovsky is former SBU and likely an ethnic adult film producer who led a famous botched attempt to take the Donetsk airport which cost many Militia Volunteers their lives due to friendly fire. Neither is Russian and Surkov is credited with creating “Putinism” as we know it today and that is an important point to keep in mind. Surkov created the “Patriots are in control” narrative surrounding Putin and while there are some people like Strelkov, Alexi Mozgovoi and Pavel Dremov that never cooperated with him there are others he managed to get to play ball. Take Alexander Zarachenko for example, the second DNR Head of State after Alexander Borodai. Zarachenko tried to toe the line between cooperating with Surkov/Moscow and doing the right the thing for Donbass and lost. It would be totally unfair to call him a “shill” or accuse him of being a fed or something, especially since he was murdered by unknown people just like Orlov and Moscow deserves to be the 1st suspect. This is the proper context for understanding Orlovs association with Surkov and Khodakovsky. Surkov is a very, very competent villain and part of the Putinism Project was convincing the public, including Patriotic Soccer Hooligans that Moscow supported them and Orlov was exactly that, a patriotic soccer hooligan. Back in 2014 I thought Putin was our guy, so did Rurik and so did many of us in general. In short Orlovs early association with these people doesn’t mean he was a villain any more than Zarachenko or Borodai was, it just means that he wasn’t as perceptive as Strelkov, Mozgovoi and Dremov and given how many of us were fooled until fairly recently about the nature of the Kremlin it would be peak hypocrisy to just write off Orlov as a shill/fed/etc and move on.
The most detailed version of the events surrounding Orlovs murder I can find come from the quasi opposition/shitlib project Astra:
In Moscow, at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, on December 22, a farewell ceremony is being held for the ex-leader of the far-right Espanola brigade Stanislav Orlov ("Spaniard"), who is already being compared to Prigozhin, Motorola and other famous commanders who took part in the war with Ukraine. He was 44 years old.
Until now, it has not been reliably known how he died, where and under what circumstances. Since December 10, there have been only unconfirmed rumors about the disappearance of the "Spaniard" in the Z-community, and the cause of death has not yet been named even in Hispaniola itself.
ASTRA found out that the brigade, created from football fans, had set up a "base" in a small village in annexed Sevastopol, buying up several plots there. It was on one of them that Stanislav Orlov's "dacha" stood. On December 4, 2025, armed men in camouflage with machine guns broke into the house of the "Spaniard" and shot him. Eyewitnesses interviewed by ASTRA claim that the ex-commander did not even shoot back. We have obtained video from the cameras that captured the killers.
https://astra.press/russian/2025/12/22/11358/
If you click on the above link, you can watch the video showing a few vehicles showing up to Orlovs Dacha from which guys in camo carrying rifles exit and presumably murder him. The article says that witnesses claim Orlov didn’t fire back but how anyone that wasn’t a direct witness would know this is unclear. If this video footage is authentic and it appears to be, at least nobody is denying that so far then it raises questions about how the Astra shitlib/opposition outfit obtained it in the first place. When it comes to leaks regarding sensitive matters in Russia its typically the shitlibs that are the most in the know because they occupy the highest levels of influence in the country. Accordingly, Astra might know that Orlov didn’t shoot back because their anonymous witnesses are the people that killed him.
The article claims that the pretext for Orlovs murder had something to do with an arms trafficking operation that the Brigade was running and this is where the familiar shitlib cognitive dissonance is on display. It’s theoretically possible that Higher Placed Espanola Personal where indeed engaged in that activity and I personally wouldn’t care if they were. But obviously the Kremlin moved in fast and decisively crushed this operation if it was indeed going on which Astra ought to applaud since they noted at the beginning of their expose that Espanola was a “far right” organization. As per the neoliberal, pro-western worldview it’s bad of course that Espanola existed at all, but they ought to be conceding that Moscow did the right thing by cutting ties with and extra judicially killing a nazi arms trafficker. As is often the case this is all speculation about the trafficking and I don’t have a strong opinion about whether it was happening or not other than if it was, I don’t care. It’s also entirely possible that there was no arms trafficking and Moscow just decided that they didn’t want a new Utkin/Mozgovoi figure on their hands, so they murdered him.
In support of the trafficking thesis Astra offers us the following:
According to the same articles on arms trafficking and organized criminal groups, as ASTRA found out, a few weeks before, another well-known member of the unit, the ex-commander of the Espanola Naval Detachment with the call sign "Altai" Ruslan Kazantsev, was detained. He is currently under arrest. The beloved hero of Komsomolskaya Pravda, RTVI and other propagandists founded a naval group, which was even called the first Russian "marine PMC". It was engaged in defending the coast of annexed Crimea, in particular, the protection of gas production platforms.
After Altai was detained, security forces, according to ASTRA sources, searched the Avtolyubitel-2 garage cooperative on Astrakhan Street in Sevastopol and found the place where Kazantsev kept weapons. The Espanola fighters brought weapons here from their base in Chernomorskoye (a seaside village in the west of Crimea).
A few days before his death, the "Spaniard" told his comrades about the detention of Altai, but reassured them, claiming that it was Kazantsev who was selling weapons, and he himself was "not involved", and he had nothing to fear, the ex-fighters of the brigade tell ASTRA.
I don’t have any idea what Astra is talking about in regard to Kazantsev being a hero of Komsomolskaya Pravda. Pravda ran a story about the exploits of a Russian Marine with that same name on the 16th of May 2025 but this Marine is obviously not the same person who commanded Espanola’s Naval Special Forces in Crimea. Let’s compare photographs of the 2 Kazantsevs in question.
Here is Pravda article about Russian Marine Ruslan Kazantsev that Astra was seething about if anyone is interested.
https://www.kp.ru/daily/27699/5088501/
Just by comparing the eyes and brows we can see that these are not the same people. The reason I am showing this is to emphasize that while shitlibs have the most insider info due to having tons of very highly placed sympathizers amongst the authorities that does not even remotely imply that they are good journalist and above heinously sloppy work. We need to sift through the insider stuff they present without accepting their speculations at face value. Astra provided us with what appears to be genuine footage from Orlovs Dacha right before the murder and possible confirmation from a participant that the killing was extra judicial. All the rest of this stuff about arms trafficking is unconfirmed and backed up by nothing more than “some anonymous guys say Espanola was doing xyz and Orlov said xyz according to some guy”. The now detained Ruslan Kazantsevs Espanola Maritime Troops probably are the key to why the whole organization is being liquidated and what Orlov’s murder is all about, but not exactly because of something as banal as arms trafficking. If Espanola was guilty of no more than that all they would have had to do was bribe the right people to look the other way. From an article about Espanola’s Maritime Troops:
In early June [2025], the Espanola naval detachment, with the support of the Black Sea Fleet, conducted a daring and unique operation: volunteers went to sea on boats, and having approached a sufficient distance attacked a satellite communications center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the help of Ovod drones. The blow took the enemy by surprise. Through this satellite guidance system, the Ukrainian army coordinated its strikes on Crimea. Analysts note that while the explosion of the node, will not completely protect the peninsula from Ukrainian UAVs it will at least reduce the number of attacks for some time. And the naval detachment recorded another successful operation.
"Hispaniola" acquired its own naval special forces about a year ago, when a solid composition of volunteers, at the request of the head of the Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, was transferred to the peninsula to strengthen the local garrison. Such detachments, notes the head of the military organization "Espanola" Stanislav Orlov, aka Spaniard, are not yet found anywhere else.
That name, Sergei Aksyonov is very important. Askyonov unlike Surkov and Khodakovsky is actually somewhat on the “good guy” spectrum. When I get around to posting part 2 of 85 Days in Slavyansk we will see that he as the Head of Crimea was part of the relatively influential group providing Igor Strelkov with a “krisha”in 2014 and he helped facilitate Strelkov’s entrance into Donbass. Askyonov is something along the lines of an Oleg Tsarev tier Russian Patriot, not overly edgy but he is typically sincerely on the correct side of existential issues for Russia. The quoted article notes that in May a bill was proposed to the Duma which would allow the creation of Maritime PMCs in an official capacity. Let’s put 2 and 2 together here Respected Readers. Not long ago there was another famous Russian PMC led by Charismatic People and filled to the brim with Russian Nationalist whose leaders died coinvent deaths. Another Quote from the article:
According to the deputy political officer of the Espanola Naval Detachment, Alexei Zhivov, the idea of creating a PMC to work at sea is relevant as never before. If such a PMC appears, it can be brought out tomorrow to protect the shadow fleet, so as not to occupy the resources of the fleets of the Russian Federation, Zhivov believes. According to the interlocutor of RTVI, this will be a good impetus for the development of technologies and military organizations working abroad.
https://rtvi.com/stories/kto-vladeet-morem-tot-vladeet-planetoj-kak-morskoj-otryad-espanoly-oboronyaet-krym/
The head of Crimea who is one of the only politicians in the RF that Nationalist can somewhat tolerate personally requests for Espanola to protect the peninsula. Apparently, they do an adequate job and even give the Ukrainians a headache or 2 in partnership with the Navy. Then a bill is submitted to the Duma about creating Maritime PMCs, and about six months later the Leader of Espanola’s Maritime troops is arrested and the Head of the Organization as a whole is extra judicially killed. This sounds to me like powerful people in Russia wanted to eliminate Espanola as perspective business rivals in the PMC world and getting the greenlight from Moscow was very easy. The Oligarchs in question who want to corner the Maritime PMC market just had to be like “Hey these Espanola guys are all Nationalist, and we remember how that ended last time”. Whatever sins Espanola committed as far as arms trafficking or corruption will be committed 100 fold by whatever Oligarchs get Maritime PMC contracts and unlike Espanola the PMC itself probably won’t be overly competent. In short Moscow needs some kind of Maritime PMC to protect its “shadow fleet” and due to Espanola’s experience and relative success in Crimea they were positioned to be ideal candidates. This cost the organization everything. Orlov apparently thought he could turn Espanola into a Maritime Wagner and Moscow just said NEVERAGAIN11111.
My Respected Readers who follow Ruriks Much Celebrated Slavland Chronicles might recall that me and him did a review of a book called “SMO Clausewitz and the Void” by a disgruntled FSB Reserve Colonel named Andrei Pinchuk.
This book in my opinion is the best examination of the dumpster fire that characterized the early months of the SMO and I occasionally share posts from Pinchucks Telegram on my own humble blog here. Here are some of his thoughts about Orlov whom he personally knew fairly well:
Stas, undoubtedly, had leadership qualities. Around the "Spaniard" there was a small company of extreme sports enthusiasts like himself. He was a kind of ringleader, a dreamer. But he transported these fantasies into concrete processes,
Charismatic and respected by people into extreme sports and also someone who thought big and was inclined to act on his dreams and visions. Not an exclusively online revolutionary in other words.
When Orlov first moved to Crimea, he wanted to open up a business involved in exploring shipwrecks around the Peninsula, but he did not have a suitable boat nor the money to buy a new one. He found out about a yacht that the State had confiscated and set about acquiring it for himself. Pinchuk recalls:
He loved and knew how to bluff. He just came to this or that official or businessman and lied very brazenly, selflessly and beautifully. And often this lie worked. In the civil service in operational units, this is called operational ingenuity. But since he did not serve in the special services, he was, of course, pure Ostap Bender
Through outright bull shittery, bluffing and making himself useful to the right people Orlov acquired the yacht. Ostap Bender is a fictional Russian Conman from the Soviet era Novels the “The 12 Chairs” and the “Golden Calf”. Pinchuk is not giving Orlov an unqualified ethical endorsement but there is something very “Prigozhin” about that particular side of Orlovs character. Like Prigozhin Orlov had a will of his own and was not a pure complier, this would heavily count against him if Moscow was deciding his fate. This might seem counterintuitive at first since Moscow prefers working with criminally minded people but there is no contradiction at all actually. Pinchuk again:
Stas knew the boundaries between personal affairs and state interest. He was, of course, a pure adventurer. But he loved Russia.
Loving Russia is what made Orlov “other” to the people running the country. Once more the way Pinchuk is describing him is exactly how many, many people describe Prigozhin. I am not at all an unqualified Prigozhin fan but when it comes to Russian Oligarchs, he was the least terrible by far. Orlovs love for Russia was likely more genuine then Prigozhin’s and even worse he was an Ethnic Russian. Orlov’s criminality was not nihilistic Tony Montana tier; he just didn’t respect the system in general and didn’t play by its rules when it didn’t suit him. From the same article:
"Spaniard" had many different contacts, one of whom was involved in importing potent substances from Latin America. The commander of Espanola immediately notified law enforcement agencies about this, and the supply channel was eliminated. The media reported on the detention and seizure of hundreds of kilograms of drugs in the port of St. Petersburg.
So, if Orlov wanted a yacht, he would fight the system and other times he would help the system out like uncovering drug smuggling operations presumably overseen by churkas and gypsies. Of course, by uncovering a drug operation he makes himself useful and this earned him favors in the future if he wanted a yacht. Pinchuk about him one more time:
Stas had no political views at all, except for love of Russia. In this sense, he was not rightwing at all. In general, the attempt to indiscriminately call football fans right-wing or right-wing radicals is rather an invention of the media. But a significant part of these fans are simply not political activists
https://t.me/Klauz_i_Pustota/2891
I would qualify what Pinchuk is saying there by pointing out that while these Russian Football Hooligans are not rightwing/political per se what makes them such a priori is their disdain for the current system which is flooding the country with immigrants that hate Russia, the Russia they themselves love. Without the immigrant flood these hooligans would not be overtly political. Patriotic does mean political necessarily and in that sense, Pinchuk is correct, but Espanola gained its huge following by vocally opposing the migrant flood.
During a speech at Orlovs Funeral Evgeni Dolganov, Lead Singer of the 88r Metal Band Русский Cтяг which means something like Russian Banner said during a speech:
"An organization like Espanola could only be created by a man who despised everything personal, mercantile, and put his interests lower than the interests of society, the Motherland, and the people. That’s the only reason he succeeded."
If you guys read my review of the Living and the Dead you might recall that Papyrus mentioned that Русский Cтяг was very popular amongst Wagner Troops. To give an idea of the kind of music Русский Стиг is known for here are the lyrics to a song of theirs called Solar Cross:
On our battle banners
Heroes' blood.
The sun is red there
Spread the rays.
Where justice is trampled by the enemy,
It's becoming more common there
It can be seen above the people
A symbol of the coming war,
A symbol of the greatness of our country,
The symbol of the triumph of our ideas is the well-
being of white people.
The sun of victory will rise,
Everyone will get his own.
The gospel is in our hands-
the Solar Cross! Solar cross!
It is not easy to carry our cross,
And the path is treacherous.
But we made an oath.
To return the sun to the people.
And the wind is right in your face,
And it's hard to make a move,
But the harder it blows,
The better you can see our flag.
We will never change
Our ideals.
Let's forget about ourselves
And that's the only way we'll win.
Dispel the darkness
Fires of our hearts.
And our honor is loyalty.
To the Aryan destiny.
Here is the song itself set to videos of Rusich Troops Training with subtitles in Polish I think:
Русский Стяг also made a song especially for Espanola:
Footage from Orlovs funeral, the voice leading the chant belongs to an Espanola Platoon Leader named Mikhail Turkanov…aka Pitbull.
All for one and one for all! Never surrender, never retreat, Spainard forward! We are with you! Espanola!
The MMA Fighter/Soldier Pitbull whose voice we heard leading the chant in the funeral footage above is probably the unit’s most famous face. He got into an internet spat with the Azeri Diaspora in St Petersburg in early 2023 while he was at the front which greatly enhanced the Brigades Popularity and Visibility. Pitbull comments on the incident:
"We have a hard time with the Internet here, so the news arrives late. Then I saw the news that underage Azerbaijanis are lawless in St. Petersburg: people are beaten and constantly harassed. I reacted by posting a video message to them on my channel. They did not like it very much, including their elders. I received threats: on the phone, on the Internet, they began to write that they would deal with me - that's it. I answered: "Well, come on, I'm near Bakhmut, hero, lets go." In response, they write to me: "Well, since you are there, then we will come to your relatives, they are here," the MMA fighter said.
https://78.ru/news/2023-10-23/boica-pitbulya-podderzhali-posle-ugroz-ot-azerbaidzhanskoi-mafii-priedem-vsem-otryadom
A Soldier in the Regular Russian Army would never get away with posting a video threating to beat down Azeris which is what Pitbulls Video Message amounted to. He told the churkas they would receive “pizda” when the guys return from the front which essentially means that the returning vets were going to just start fucking them up. Espanola being a Volunteer Brigade had different rules, and being made up of damn near exclusively Football Ultras, Extreme Sports fans and Nazbols nobody in the organization was going to object to Pitbull getting into a spat with the Azeris. Following the threats against Pitbulls family Serb from Rusich reposted a video of St Petersburg Soccer Hooligans promising to protect them and added
And we will add from ourselves [Rusich]:
Whoever touches Mikhail's [Pitbull] family will pay with the blood of their families, regardless of gender or age.
https://t.me/dshrg2/1340
That post got over 13k likes so it’s maybe the most popular one Serb has ever made on Telegram. Azeris threating to kill a Soldier on the Front and his family looked so bad that the police actually “launched an investigation” but naturally no Azeris were ever seriously prosecuted to my knowledge. But neither Serb or Pitbull got in trouble either because doing anything to them at the time would have just caused too much drama amongst the volunteer units who rightfully and righteously hate Azeris. It looks like the cops told both sides to cool it but incidents like this would definitely be considered when Moscow finally decided to disband the unit. In the scheme of things, the Azeri Mafia are much more respectable as far as the Kremlin is concerned than guys like Pitbull. The following is a video appeal he made to petty officials who cover for migrant crime:
I’m seeing more and more chaos from the migrants and more and more people defending them amongst officials at different levels and I get all that. They make money from it, for some its the Motherland for some its just business. But they don't get where this is all going? It starts as a slow boil but eventually it won't be you in control of the temperature but them, and they are already starting to do that. Our security services won't be able to stop them. I wonder what they [the officials covering for migrants] are thinking? Anything at all? The judicial system is part of the scheme, that’s been understood for a while already. But I want to ask, you don't think this will ever touch you? You think because you live in a gated community that they won't ever come from you? You think the guards will stop them? Have you forgotten that recently a crowd of them beat down a local Interior Ministry Chief? Has something changed since then? We have gypsies attacking Interior Ministry Employees and you don't see where this is going? You think you will be able to escape somewhere? No, they will find you, even on airplanes. Ladies and Gentlemen I know you don't want to think about your Motherland but think about your family. Its going to touch them. There can't be any talk of incitement here when the migrants are already out of control. A crowd of them attacks a single person and the authorities will charge the person they attacked. I understand we are a Multi National Country but maybe it's time to reconsider your convictions? Maybe it’s time run things with justice in mind..even if strictly within the confines of the law?
His point about the browns finding them even on airplanes was a reference to when Dagestanis swarmed an airliner that had just landed because there was a rumor jewish refugees were onboard fleeing Isreal after Oct 7. Needless to say, other than a few slaps on the wrists the Dagestanis were not prosecuted despite this being a serious felony. That is one of Pitbulls tamest videos by far, in others he threatens to cut the ears off chinovniks who support migration and often openly talks about solving the migrant problem by force after the SMO. Sure, he looks like a straight up stereotypical thug and actually he is. He did time for working as muscle for an extortionist in St Petersburg and if your daughter brought him home, you could be justifiably concerned. On the other hand, Pitbull is one of the bikers in the video below.
Congrats on not having a mohawk and tons of tattoos. Congrats on not having been imprisoned for extortion and kidnapping. Not even being sarcastic, I’m against tattoos and petty crime. I don’t like the term Wignat generally, but it fits Pittsbulls early life. But then have you ever done straight Mad Max/Lord Humongous tier motorcycle raids on the outskirts of Chasov Yar with hohol drones impacting right next to you? Pitbull has also saved lives, have you?
Turkanov was twice awarded the Order of Courage. He received the second award after carrying a wounded Spartak fan from the battlefield near Artemovsk (Bakhmut). “We had to pull him out on ourselves because there are enemy birds constantly circling in the sky, [vehicles couldn’t come for him]” Pit Bull said. I considered all the options and found the most realistic — it’s easiest to carry him out. The road there winds like crazy. You can’t walk through the field because there are mines and the grass is high. We walked for several kilometers, periodically lying down in the grass by the road. He survived; they managed to evacuate him and patch him up.”
https://www.fontanka.ru/2023/10/18/72823736/
To each his own and everyone will get their due one day. While I don’t have Pitbulls criminal past and as many cringe tats I also can’t say I’ve realistically done as much for my own either. He also been wounded twice in battle btw.
Another well-known veteran of Espanola is Evgeni Rasskazov who goes by Topaz and like Pitbull a large part of his popularity is due to his frequent criticisms of how the country is being run, especially in regard to the migrants. For example:
Spoilers for the next drama. Are you laughing at the Western Europeans who are being cut down and raped with impunity on the streets by feral representatives of all sorts of peaceful nations and religions? Why aren’t you laughing now? It’s not funny anymore?
The main thing is to defeat all the fascists [in Russia] by the time all these comrades arrive! It’s terrifying to imagine what would happen if these respected guests saw an Orthodox cross somewhere or encountered a Russian girl’s reluctance to have sex in a dark alley. We’d all be embarrassed in front of the whole of New Europe
https://t.me/Love_Russia_Beauty/22032
Topaz posted that around the time it was announced that Moscow intends on importing hordes of Afghans. He is criticizing both the idiots in Russia that laugh at Europe while the situation in their own country is rapidly deteriorating and how it appears that the Authorities primary objective during war time is jihad against the Native Population. Just like in Europe. Topaz himself used to be pro Putin not long ago but changed his outlook soon after his last re-election. He explains:
Putin presented Ramzan Kadyrov with the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, second class.
I apologize to every Russian person for voting for Vladimir Putin in the last election. In my defense, I will say that the voting system was designed so that there was no choice to vote for anyone else, being sure that he would not lose an external war, and we have no right to lose external wars, just as we have no right to lose internal wars.
I am with the Russian people until my last breath, Putin's curtsy to Kadyrov is a spit on the law of Russia and a spit in the face of every person, regardless of their nationality, who stands on the side of the law and the state.
My commander is Stas Orlov, his call sign is "Spaniard". I do not know any other "Sovereigns" or commanders. My Russia is the Russian people, and these people would never wipe their feet on the highest state awards, awarding them to bandits, Russophobes and separatists.
I live for the glory of Russia and its people. Putin's actions are aimed anywhere but for the glory of Russia and its people. I don't have and have never had any curators or patrons, I've never received good salaries and fees, and I'm telling you — a war is being prepared inside the country and I'll be on the side of the Russians in this war, because no other side is worthy of me being on it.
Topazes says he only voted for Putin because he appeared to be the least incompetent Wartime Presidential Candidate but after seeing his “curtsy” to Kadyrov he couldn’t deny anymore that the whole system is stacked against Russians. Notice to that he said his only sovereign and commander is Orlov. As we already noted talk like that probably played a much more decisive factor in deciding the fate of Espanola and Orlov than rumors about arms trafficking.
While Espanola’s history is shorter than say Azov’s they also managed to accumulate a more tangible record of accomplishments. If Azov is 90% PR and Marketing and 10% real fighting than Espanola much like Wagner struck a decent balance between battlefield activities and media outreach.
Why does the mention of Espanola immediately a smile on the faces of some people at headquarters? Probably because the “Spaniards” give results in some incomprehensible way, without clicking heels, exhausting assaults and heavy losses. Participation in the assault on Mariupol, holding the line in the Ugledar direction, stopping the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Kleshcheevka, the capture of Bogdanovka, the capture of Chasov Yar - this is their combat path. Of course, in tandem with the Regular Army but theirs all the same. For other formations taking one settlement was enough to grind them down to zero. There was a full-blooded regiment, and three weeks later it was dulled. In a regular regiment, there are two and a half thousand “bayonets” and several hundred in the Espanola.
They are also a “closed” Brigade. You can’t assign “your own” to them and you can’t remove them if you don’t like someone for something. They recruit volunteers for themselves. They train them themselves. They supply themselves with all sorts of military “swag” - from communications and drones to “quads” and motorcycles.
In general, some Military Top Brass don’t like Espanola. It is too incomprehensible, too independent.
At the same time, for its neighbors at the front, fighters and commanders fighting alongside them in a number of units, Espanola enjoys great respect and authority.
Подробнее:
https://ruskline.ru/opp/2025/03/26/boicy_espanoly_dayut_rezultat_maloponyatnym_sposobom__bez_iznuritelnyh_shturmov
The author of the above essay is incorrect about the size of Espanola; they had over a thousand men not hundreds. In general, he is right though, like Wagner Espanola achieved success by liquidating the suffocating Military Bureaucracy that contrary to uninformed cliches is actually worse in the Russian Army now then it was during the Soviet Period. Espanola’s irretrievable losses in maimed, killed and missing troops throughout its existence amounted to somewhere between 8-10% of its total personal. That is high AF by Western Standards but in SMO terms it is actually very, very low. I imagine that only Ukraine’s tik tok SS wannabes like Azov and Kraken and Akhmet on Russia end have a lower level of permanent losses. Unlike with Espanola though these low levels of permanent losses are achieved via not fighting where the fighting is heaviest. The author noted that Espanola took part in taking multiple fortress towns in Donbass without being “dulled”. For real, Espanola fought at Mariupol, Ugledar, Avdeevka, during the Ukrainian counter offensive in 2023 they were at the lesser discussed but no less bloody Northern Front around Kleshcheevka, and after defending Kleshceevka they played the main role in taking Chasov Yar. All that with less than 10% total losses is nothing to scoff at. Of course, the battle of Chasov Yar took the better part of a year, but as the author notes Espanola took the town without excessive losses. The long siege was balanced out by keeping the Brigade Combat ready as opposed to “dulling” it in high casualty meat assaults.
I’ll close this post out with one last recollection from Pinchuk who I already quoted above a few times about the sort of man Stanislav Orlov was.
I remember a rare case when he didn’t show up for a meeting and disappeared for about 5-6 days. Didn’t answer the phone. When he finally turned up, he arrived dehydrated and exhausted. He explained that while he was boating and diving, he was bitten by a sea dragon. He barely managed to crawl back onto the boat and just laid in the sun for a few days and fought for his life. That’s how he actually lived. Intensely, with his full adventurous enthusiasm. It was the Russian Francis Drake but adjusted for completely different circumstances. And in this sense, of course, the last Russian pirate is gone.
