Inside Putin’s ‘Rusich’ neo-Nazi mercenaries, who gather adversaries’ EARS before unleashing horror in Ukraine

According to reports, Russian mercenaries who collect their opponents’ ears as trophies are being sent to Ukraine.

The Neo-Nazi Rusich band was seen near the Russian-Ukrainian border, in a location where Vladimir Putin’s soldiers are anticipated to launch an onslaught in the coming days.

The squad, also known as Task Force Rusich, is linked to the Kremlin-backed Wagner mercenary force, which has lately been spotted within Ukraine.

Rusich was formed in 2014 in St. Petersburg by Aleksei Milchakov, 30, who trained as a paratrooper in the Russian army, and Yan Petrovsky, 33.

It originally gained prominence when it was deployed to eastern Ukraine in 2014 during combat between Russian rebels and the Ukrainian troops.

Milchakov tweeted images of himself removing the ears of dead Ukrainian troops on the Russian social networking site Vkontakte, according to The Times.

There are also photos showing him carving the kolovrat, a swastika used on the extreme right side of Slavic foreheads, which he boasted about in a 2020 interview.

Milchakov also openly acknowledged to being a neo-Nazi, saying he “got high off the scent of burning human flesh.”

When he was a teenager, he had a photo on his Vkontakte profile depicting himself chopping the head off a dog.

Milchakov and Petrovsky met at a Russian Imperial Movement (a white nationalist organisation) event.

It has called for the takeover of Novorossiya, the designation given to southern and eastern Ukraine by Russian ultranationalists.

The organisation is thought to be made up of a few hundred mercenaries who wear the valknut, an old Norse emblem stolen by white nationalists.

Its name alludes to a legendary stronghold in ancient Russia.

Rusich recently released a bizarre cartoon depicting a Russian soldier returning home with bleeding plundered gifts for his wife and kids.

“Join our ranks if you are a true guy and a Russian.” “read the caption

You will shed litres of blood from disgusting Russophobes in order to become wealthy and cool.”

They were spotted in Z-marked cars crossing into the area near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second biggest city, on Wednesday.

Ukrainian defence authorities anticipate a further attack by Russian soldiers in the region in the coming days as they attempt to retake the initiative in the Ukraine conflict.

Some Wagner warriors have also served with Rusich, and the outfit has ties to far-right extremist ideologies.

Dmitri Utkin, a former special forces officer, is the Wagner Group’s military leader.

A photograph of a guy thought to be Utkin shows him with Nazi SS lightning bolts tattooed on his neck.

Rusich fled Ukraine in 2015, and Milchakov was sanctioned by the EU for suspected war crimes committed there.

Rusich has now been dispatched to Syria to fight with Wagner on the side of the country’s dictator Bashar al-army.