Russian defence ministry establishes Volunteer Corps Report by UK’s Defence Intelligence

The Russian Ministry of Defence (MOD) has increasingly centralised their command and control of pro-Russian irregular forces, highly likely to facilitate their use in offensive operations in Ukraine.

In February 2023, the Russian MOD established their Volunteer Corps, uniting over 20,000 volunteers, reservists, mercenaries and ex-convicts, who serve in numerous irregular units, under a single command and control framework, Caliber.Az reports citing the message of the UK’s Defence Ministry on X.

Since the formation of the Volunteer Corps, the Russian MOD has increasingly employed irregular forces in offensive operations, to which they are ill-suited.

Russia's irregular formations are mainly light infantry units which lack integrated artillery or air support making them more brittle than Russian regular formations.

Consequently, during the last nine months, Russian irregular units have likely sustained proportionally higher casualty rates than Russian regular units.