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‘It’s clear the system doesn’t need smart people’. Russian paramilitary group of soccer fans announces disbandment, angering some right-wing observers
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A Russian paramilitary group made up of far-right soccer fans that was active in Ukraine is disbanding, according to its Telegram channel. The Española battalion — which was reportedly overseen by a protege of Putin’s favorite oligarch brothers, Boris and Arkady Rotenberg — will be restructured into new units. Here’s what we know about the group’s dissolution and the possible reasons behind it.
The Española battalion, a far-right Russian paramilitary group made up of soccer fans, announced its disbandment on Telegram last week. “The core group, some of whom have served under Spaniard [the call sign of the group’s commander] since 2014, is forming new units within Russia’s defense and security structures,” the statement reads.
According to the post, the brigade’s members will form new radio-electronic warfare and assault units, while its naval detachment and reconnaissance center will continue operating independently.
The group did not give any official reason for its decision, but political analyst Vadim Trukhachyov suggested in an article for the pro-government newspaper Vzglyad that the group had become inconvenient for more liberal “ideologues.”
“It was undermining two myths at once: that Russian nationalists are dangerous and that soccer hooligans are just thugs,” Trukhachyov wrote.
Komsolmolskaya Pravda correspondent Dmitry Steshin, who’s known for his ties to the late-2000s neo-Nazi group BORN, also weighed in:
It’s clear that the system doesn’t need smart, proactive people — it needs loyal ones. And even smart, proactive loyalists aren’t welcome. Because the last two qualities are redundant. Did Russia gain anything by losing Española? What do you think? But hey, at least we’ve got an Islamic soccer league now.
“Spaniard,” or Stanislav Orlov, founded the Española battalion in 2022. A CSKA Moscow fan, Orlov first went to fight in Donbas in 2014. As Novaya Gazeta Europe has reported, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, he decided to form an armed unit made up of soccer fans, though far fewer fan groups and club affiliates supported him than he’s publicly claimed.
Española members participated in Russia’s siege of Mariupol’s Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in 2022, among other operations in Ukraine.
Española and the Rotenbergs
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