Throughout the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there have been wild stories about the Kremlin’s complete and utter ineptitude and the sinking morale that it has caused.
We’ve heard about Russian soldiers attempting to forge fake weddings to get out of the war, and we’ve seen reports of troops shooting themselves in the leg with absconded Ukrainian ammunition in order to go home.
Now, in yet another sign of the times, it appears as though at least one Russian commander has been selling his troop’s locations to the enemy…and for a pretty penny.
A Russian colonel was accused of selling information on the whereabouts of his own men to foreign intelligence agencies by concerned Russians, according to Ukrainian authorities.
An audio recording of what the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate says is an intercepted phone call appears to suggest the colonel was not the first who was accused of selling out his own troops. The call, released Monday, includes a conversation between a man identified as a Russian soldier and a female acquaintance. No details were provided on where the soldier was based in Ukraine, but he can be heard in the recording complaining of constant shelling.
The story is certainly a wild one.
The conversation then takes an interesting turn when the unnamed woman notes that a squadron of the “31st Brigade” was given up by their own Russian colonel, apparently referring to the 31st Guards Air Assault Brigade.
“The airborne troops taken captive?” the man asks.
“Yes, yes, 76 people were taken,” she says, adding that “they were sold out by their own” and naming a “Colonel Matkovsky” for the betrayal.
“There have already been many such instances,” the man responds, noting that “they leak information” about the troops.
The info did not come cheap, either.
“It’s true, it’s true. I later spoke with a FSBishnik [an agent of Russia’s Federal Security Service] … and he said yes, it’s all true. They found 17 million in his account,” she said.
Russia originally believed that their “elite” fighting force would be able to take Kyiv within 72 hours of the start of the invasion, but the Russian army has been floundering and bumbling their way around Ukraine for well over 100 days at this point.
This latest report merely reiterates the reality of Russia’s continued military failures.
