"Almost silently they move through the Crimean forests," "every step along a mountain path can cost them their lives," "they bring death to diversionists in the adits," "the same militia that defended the Crimean spring. "Their work is hidden from prying eyes, but they are the first to perceive a threat", "the unknown shield of the peninsula" - Russian propagandists are using pathetic clichés to praise the Crimean military formation "Bars Crimea". It is quite easy for them to find words for new stories about the "heroic guys": just look at their old reports about Kadyrov's “Akhmat” battalion. It was this battalion that apparently served as a model for Sergei Aksyonov when he decided to create a pocket army for himself.

"Combat Army Reserves of the Country" - the decoding of the acronym was obviously invented after the name of the group was invented. Its members have been Aksyonov's associates and bodyguards since 2014. At first they called themselves the "Crimean militia," then the "Crimean self-defense." Almost every member had criminal experience, and later the militants were trained in assassinations in Donbas. In 2021, the group received official status: The Kremlin began legalizing regional paramilitary groups through Rosgvardia. On the one hand, this made them controlled, and on the other hand, it allowed them to form a considerable mobilization reserve. "The "hybridity" that Putin loves so much is obvious: none of the Bars fighters are military personnel, the structure is financed from the local budget and extra-budgetary sources, which, however, does not prevent it from being part of the Russian Ministry of Defense project.

Witnesses say that Aksyonov was as happy as a child about the Kremlin's idea: legalization allowed him not only to bring his bandits out of the shadows, but also to spend money stolen from the Crimean budget on them with a clear conscience. In 2023, after the failure of the Russian military blitzkrieg in Ukraine, the Gauleiter increased his investments and formed an entire army of several battalions under the guise of Bars. Since then, Aksyonov has publicly boasted about it, calling it "the most successful territorial defense unit in Russia" and "a model for other border regions." The Goblin (Aksyonov's criminal nickname - Ed.) prefers to keep silent about the model he himself aspired to, but the similarities are obvious. Ramzan Kadyrov sought to show Putin the same thing - loyalty and efficiency - when he created his Akhmat battalion in 2009. Before it was disgraced in Ukraine and given the offensive name of "tik-tok army," Kadyrov's army helped its master to "hold Chechnya" on the one hand, and to demonstrate its loyalty and indispensability to the Kremlin on the other. Aksyonov also seeks both full control over the peninsula and political capital as "the main defender of Russian Crimea."

Judging by the enthusiasm with which propaganda TV channels talk about Bars Crimea, so far everything is going according to his plan. To get into news stories, both officials (head of the occupation Yalta administration Yanina Pavlenko) and forgotten Russian stars (singer Danko) boast of joining the group. The real Bars fighters prefer to stay behind the scenes, and this is understandable: many of them met Goblin when they were involved in racketeering and contract killings as part of the Saylem criminal group. The main public figure among the Bars command is Serhiy Zdrylyuk, nicknamed Abver.

He is a former counterintelligence officer of the Crimean SBU. He was dismissed from there in the early 2000s on suspicion of collaboration with Russian intelligence. Zdrylyuk went to work for the tax police, but he couldn't stay there either, this time because of corruption charges. The information about Zdryliuk's possible recruitment by Russian special services is key to understanding his next steps. Abver’s participation in the "Crimean militia" and cooperation with Igor Girkin were most likely the result of long-term agent activity, not a spontaneous change of heart. According to many accounts, back in 2014, Zdrylyuk personally executed Ukrainian prisoners of war. Then he joined the Wagner PMC and fought in Syria. When he returned, he received a deputy mandate in the Simferopol City Council. Kadyrov has also integrated his henchmen into the power structures - but the similarities do not end there.

Just like Kadyrov's "tik-tok warriors," the Crimean Bars fighters on TV and social media storm mountain peaks, fight their way through forest thickets, and run along the coast looking for saboteurs. And in real life, they rattle their weapons at checkpoints set up by them, so that Crimeans do not forget for a minute that they live in an occupied territory, and the war is always near.

However, Aksyonov is in no hurry to send his troops into real combat. In the more than three years of the Russian-Ukrainian war and the four years of Bars' existence, only a few of its fighters have seen action at the frontlines. The Goblin needs a well-trained and well-armed pocket army by his side.