Drones over Europe again. The owner of the market for bookings in pre-trial detention centers. The Russian Army disbands the Nazi brigade

In Europe there is a hybrid war with Russia, they say in Denmark. Unidentified UAVs are flying over the EU from Scandinavia to Belgium, and the US is already getting involved in the situation

On the night of October 3, 15 drones flew over the Elsenborn military base in eastern Belgium and then flew to Germany. There they were seen in the city of Duren. At least five drones were spotted Thursday evening over a Bundeswehr air base in the Bavarian city of Erding, where the German army is testing drones.

Later, Munich Airport suspended operations due to UAV overflights. 17 flights were unable to take off, that is, about 3 thousand passengers. Another 15 arriving flights were redirected to alternate airfields.

Last Thursday evening, several drones were also spotted over military bases in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. German authorities believe they were conducting reconnaissance, Spiegel magazine wrote, citing an internal memo.

Where does this lead?

Since last week, drones have been increasingly flying over airports and military installations in European countries. Previously, UAVs were spotted in Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Norway, and now Belgium has been added to these countries.

So far, none of the leaders of NATO countries has openly said who they consider responsible for the launch of the UAV. Moreover, during one of the incidents with drones near the territorial waters of Denmark, a landing ship of the Russian Navy stood motionless. Another tanker of the shadow fleet, Boracay, from which journalists assumed could launch drones, was detained in France. Today he was released after a check.

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In light of this, the head of Danish intelligence, Thomas Ahrenkil, said that Russia is waging a hybrid war against Denmark. Russian warships were on collision course with Danish ships several times and pointed their weapons at Danish warships, he added.

White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said the Donald Trump administration takes potential incidents between the Russian and Danish fleets “very seriously” and that the US National Security Council and Trump himself are “in constant contact with NATO allies.”

Yesterday, Vladimir Putin devoted a significant part of his speech at Valdai to a possible war with Europe. He accused NATO of militarizing the country and threatened to respond if Russia was “provoked.”

One of the most influential people in the air transportation market was sent to a pre-trial detention center. The one who allegedly testified against him suddenly “died” immediately after being detained by security forces

The Basmanny Court of Moscow sent billionaire Ibragim Suleymanov to a pre-trial detention center on charges of two contract killings and one attempted murder. For this he faces life imprisonment, writes Kommersant, citing sources.

The court also arrested Mukhamed Darbishev, the nephew of Abakar Darbishev, who was suspected of carrying out contract killings. All three are considered members of the Dagestan organized crime group.

According to the anonymous project “VChK-OGPU” and the Kommersant publication, Suleymanov is suspected of two counts: organizing the murder of the chairman of the trade union of Vnukovo Airlines employees, Gennady Borisov, and the murder of the head of the Federal Service for Financial Recovery and Bankruptcy, Georgy Tal.

Gennady Borisov was attacked at the entrance of his house with a knife in 1999, Georgy Tal was shot dead in the center of Moscow in 2004. The investigation is also checking Suleymanov’s involvement in the attempted murder of a lawyer, sources told Kommersant.

The Cheka-OGPU wrote that two days ago the security forces detained the perpetrator of Tal’s murder, and he testified against Suleymanov. Kommersant's sources confirmed that on October 1, security forces detained the alleged perpetrator Abakar Darbishev, but denied that he testified against the billionaire. Darbishev himself died under unclear circumstances immediately after his arrest. The Cheka-OGPU writes that he died in the operatives’ car immediately after he gave his testimony.

In 2007, Suleymanov was tried on charges of fraud and money laundering. He was sentenced to 10 years and 8 months in prison. After his release, he continued to do business.

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Why is Suleymanov so important?

Ibragim Suleymanov is considered one of the most non-public billionaires in Russia and the owner of the air ticket booking market.

At least until 2024, Ibrahim and his relative Rasul Suleymanov were beneficiaries of the Sirena Travel IT company. This firm controls 80% of tickets sold in Russia, according to market estimates. Just yesterday, Kommersant wrote that online travel agencies complained about Sirena Travel to the FAS. The company planned to transfer contracts with intermediaries to a subsidiary, which could cause ticket prices to increase by 10%.

“Sirena-Travel” occupies a unique dominant position in the market, since tickets for flights of many airlines cannot be issued through other systems, Dmitry Krivosheev, general director of the platform for organizing business trips “Raketa,” told the publication. In particular, since 2022, foreign global distribution systems, with the help of which travel agencies could find flights of major airlines (for example, Aeroflot or S7), have been unavailable in Russia.

Sirena Travel's revenue in 2024 amounted to 6.83 billion rubles, an increase of 16% year-on-year. Net profit increased by 20%, to 2.9 billion rubles.

In 2023, Sirena Travel was hacked by hackers and obtained data about airline passengers and their insurance. The resulting databases contained almost 3.5 billion records of passengers’ phone numbers and 664.6 million records of passengers’ personal data, flight numbers, routes, fares, ticket cost data, and so on. The data covered the period from 2007 to 2023.

The command of the Russian Armed Forces decided to disband the 88th Espanyol brigade

The Espanyola volunteer brigade of football fans and neo-Nazis, fighting on the side of the Russian Armed Forces, announced its disbandment. Recruitment there was suspended until the end of October.

The commander of Espanyol and CSKA football ultras Stanislav Orlov said that the unit would have “new leadership, new people” and called what was happening a “reboot.”

The Hispaniola motorized squad and reconnaissance center will be separated into separate structures, and electronic and assault squads will be created on the basis of the brigade itself.

“Well, the main staff, part of which started together with the Spaniard (Stanislav Orlov’s nickname - Ed.) since 2014 under his direct command, is creating new structures within the defense system and power structures of the Russian Federation,” the brigade said.

Is the army trying to cleanse itself of open Nazis?

It is unclear why the football department made this decision. Some Z-bloggers claim that this was allegedly “facilitated from above.”

“Thanks to [Kremlin-appointed head of Crimea Sergei] Aksenov, the security of Crimea is more important to him. Why and to whom and why - we will not find out soon. After. After SVO. For me personally, this is unpleasant news,” writes Dmitry Steshin, military correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda and an associate of the neo-Nazi group BORN , whose members killed journalist Anastasia Baburova, human rights activist and lawyer Stas Markelov, judge Eduard Chuvashov, anti-fascists Fyodor Filatov, Ilya Japaridze and Ivan Khutorskoy, as well as several people based on nationality.

Referring to Aksenov, Steshin probably meant that in May, Espanyol fighters were transferred to serve in Crimea to defend the peninsula, but now people from the neo-Nazi environment are not needed there.

Espanyola is a volunteer group of Russian football fans fighting in Ukraine. The unit chose the formal name and numbering of the 88th Reconnaissance and Sabotage Brigade, where 88 is a reference to a code popular among the Nazis: two eighths of the Latin alphabet, that is, HH (Heil Hitler).

The brigade was sponsored by the head of the security service of the Russian Russian Railways, Viktor Shendrik, wrote “Important Stories”. Shendrik is a protégé of Vladimir Putin’s friends, the Rotenberg brothers.

The creator of “Espaniola” Stanislav (Spaniard) Orlov previously worked in the organization “Union of Volunteers of Donbass”, which was created by former assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Vladislav Surkov and United Russia deputy Nikolai Khanin, the publication “Devil” wrote .

The head of Espanyola's intelligence service, Vyacheslav Subbotin, was also an experienced fighter in the neo-Nazi group of Zarya-18 fans (18 here is a code for the name of Adolf Hitler). He wore tattoos in the form of stylized swastikas, and in an interview with Cherta he talked about his calm attitude towards them. On March 5, 2023, he died, according to his colleagues - “with weapons in his hands” , according to Ukrainian telegram channels - in a drunken traffic accident .

The brigade's anti-aircraft unit was headed by Mikhail Pitbull Turkanov, who was imprisoned for extortion and was fined in 2019 for publicly displaying Nazi symbols. He also openly wears tattoos of a swastika, a Celtic cross, 88, a Kolovrat and the number 14 (14 words from American neo-Nazi David Lane - “We must protect the very existence of our people and the future for white children”). On February 1, 2023, the military-patriotic community of Cossacks “North Slavic Community” awarded him the Order of Courage. Turkanov himself said that the swastika “means nothing.”

The disbandment of the Espanyol PMC is likely happening as a continuation of the campaign to integrate volunteer units into the structures of the Ministry of Defense after the unsuccessful rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin in June 2023.

At the same time, within the Russian forces in Ukraine there still exists a unit once associated with Prigozhin, but now a separate unit of the DSRG “Rusich”. It is commanded by an open neo-Nazi Alexey Milchakov with the call signs Fritz and Serb, who first became famous for killing a puppy in 2011, cutting off its head, eating it and taking a picture in front of a flag with a swastika. Milchakov and his comrade-in-arms, co-founder of “Rusich” Yan Petrovsky called for executions and rape of Ukrainians. Petrovsky himself flew to Finland in 2023, where he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes in Ukraine.

At the same time, “Rusich” still exists separately from the regular army of the Russian Federation and uses Nazi symbols, but lately it has published posts promoting Nazi views on social networks much less often. Rusich’s public activity decreased after Milchakov recorded a joint video with the commander of the Chechen Akhmat unit, Apti Alaudinov.