Española’s patrons revealed Russian battalion of far-right soccer fans reportedly funded by railway official with ties to billionaire Rotenberg brothers — Meduza

Alongside its regular army units, mobilized units, and prisoners’ units waging war in Ukraine, Russia has dozens of pseudo-mercenary groups that receive financing from large companies and state agencies. The Uran battalion, for example, is funded by Russian state space corporation Roscosmos; the Soyuz unit, which consists of martial artists, is supported by state-owned companies Sberbank and Rosatom; and before his death, Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin spoke of private military companies linked to energy giant Gazprom. According to journalists at independent outlet iStories, the oligarch brothers Boris and Arkady Rotenberg decided to get in on the trend by taking control of the Española battalion, a paramilitary group of far-right football fans. Meduza retells their reporting in English.