Black Men ("Il Giornale", Italy)
The core of the civil war in Ukraine, which is becoming more bloody with each passing day, is considered to be a dedicated unit to Kiev, which accepts volunteers from Italy, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic countries, and France. The 250 fighters of the Azov battalion, famous for its Nazi sentiment, are fighting pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. A dozen foreign volunteers who swear that no one pays them a penny, have already taken the oath. Another 24 fighter should arrive soon, and a Croatian war veteran in Kiev, Frenchman Gaston Besson, in a post published on Facebook, urged the rest to follow their example. For several days, we watched the Azov battalion, taken under control by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, from Berdyansk, a small town in the east of the country.
Among European volunteers is Italian Francesco F. (Francesco F.), who left his quiet life as a manager and went to fight alongside Ukrainians against the pro-Russian rebels. Swedish sniper Mikael Skillt (Mikael Skillt) - one of those few who dare not hide his face and for whose head the separatists have appointed a monetary reward. Among the volunteers there is also a Russian, who dreams of overthrowing the Kremlin government. Because of the color of their form and connection with the ultra-right organizations of Ukraine and Europe, they are called "black men."
Italian volunteer
A sturdy man in a bulletproof vest, a black cap comforter on his face and dark sunglasses gets down on one knee with a Kalashnikov assault rifle in his hands, carefully takes aim and pulls the trigger. Then he gets up and changes the clip to continue shooting. 53-year-old Francesco is an Italian of the Azov battalion, whom everyone here simply calls “don” or “uncle”.
“I happened to be among the barricades of Maidan. The people's revolution fascinated me, - says a volunteer in a black beret. - How hundreds of young activists of the Right Sector with medieval shields in their hands were fascinated, and grandmothers who brought them tea in 17-degree frost, and girls pouring gasoline into empty bottles to make Molotov cocktails out of them.
In 70 in Pisa, he served first in the National Avant-garde (Italian neo-fascist organization - approx. Lane), and then in the Youth Front, the youth organization of the Italian Social Movement. A lawyer by training, before the Kiev events blinded him, Francesco worked as a manager.
After the annexation of the Crimea to Russia and the pro-Kremlin uprising in the east of Ukraine, he decided to join the recruits and fight on the side of the nascent International Legion. “When I felt the danger, something clicked in my head,” he explains. - As they say in Italy, “finita la comedy”. What was going on went beyond any game. And what could I do? Back home and throw fellow barricades Maidan? "
His baptism of fire took place on June 13, when the battle for Mariupol, a city on the shores of the Sea of Azov, was in the hands of the rebels: “We were moving forward. We managed to capture anti-aircraft artillery and crush the barricades of pro-Russian activists. ” One of his Ukrainian friends, known as the Legionnaire, was wounded. Young Ukrainian divisions and some ultra-right fans of Dynamo Kiev compare what is happening with the events of the Roman Empire and Europe during the era of the Crusades. On the chest and shoulders of "black men" you can often see tattoos in the form of runic and Celtic symbols. Only sometimes they leave their base to go, but they never do it alone: only in pairs and always with weaponswhich is carried in sports bags.
“We are volunteers. We do not even pay with cigarettes, - emphasizes the Italian on the eastern front. - I dreamed of a similar experience all my life. We want to see a united Ukraine, but at the same time independent, free from the influence of both Russia and NATO or the false values of the European Union. ”
Recruiter
“I am not a mercenary, and certainly not a secret agent. I am not hiding. I call myself a revolutionary, an idealist, who went through two wars and three uprisings in Croatia, Bosnia, Burma, Laos, Suriname. " These are the words of 46-year-old Gaston Besson, a veteran of advanced fronts. Green eyes, gray hair: it can be found on the Maidan among the remnants of the barricades. He was born in Mexico, his parents are French, when he was a teenager, he left school and went to Colombia in search of gold. His mother, engaged in the production of wine in Burgundy, put him before a choice: either he takes part in the family business, or goes into the army. Besson preferred to spend five years in the landing troops and special forces. Then the French government unofficially sent him to Southeast Asia, where his baptism of fire took place. In Croatia, during the war against the Serbs, he was wounded three times. Although Besson himself does not like this definition, he is still a recruiter for European volunteers who wish to fight against supporters of federalization.
“Many come from the Nordic countries, such as Sweden, Finland, Norway. There are plenty of people willing from Italy too, admits the Frenchman. “And also Croats who want to follow in the footsteps of their fathers who fought in the 90.”
On the basis of the Azov battalion in Berdyansk, everyone knows the Incredible Mike - a man with a beard and blond hair, like a Viking. Former shooter of the Swedish army, he decided to come to Ukraine as a sniper after seeing the bloody bouts of Maidan in the photos. Russophiles assigned him a reward of 5 thousand euros, and this is a very impressive amount in these parts. But he himself only apathetically shrugs his shoulders: “I am not afraid of them. If they need my head so much, let them come and take it. ”
Muran, a young Russian who would like to overthrow the Moscow regime, is also fighting in the International Legion. “They won't take me alive, I'd rather blow myself up,” the masked young man swears from the Urals.
French veteran Besson says: “Every day I get dozens of emails from those who want to join the fighting, but I refuse 75% of them. Anyone who wants to join our ranks will have to pay for a plane ticket himself. And then go through a short training course in Kiev before they are sent to the line of fire. We do not need fanatics, people eager to kill, drug addicts or alcoholics. We need idealists who fight for the idea, not mercenaries, for whom it all comes down to money. ”
In Croatia in the era of the war of independence 1991, he led five hundred soldiers who came from France, England, Germany, Ireland, Italy. During the bloody battles in the vicinity of Vukovar, Croatian Stalingrad, he received an order to evacuate the civilians of a small village that was threatened by an attack of the Serbs. When his people were leaving, Besson suddenly heard the cry of a little girl. “I was desperate to find her, while my soldiers were shouting that it was time to leave,” recalls the Frenchman. - In the end, I still managed to find her, she was hiding, because she was very scared. I took her to a safe place. ” That girl was just 6 years old. In 2007, Besson returned to Croatia, to the places where he had once fought. In one bar, he met a girl named Ivan, who was much younger than him. She subsequently became his wife. Her parents told her that a foreigner had saved her during the war. “Only after a while we understood,” says Besson, “that Ivana is the same girl who wept among the ruins near Vukovar.”
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