How to de-occupy the unoccupied? The Russian side declares the de-occupation of 2 villages which the Ukrainian forces did not even occupy

The Kursk region of the Russian Federation, which borders Ukraine, continues to be attacked by the Ukrainian armed forces, and for about 20 days, fierce battles and intense bombing of each other’s territories have been continuing in different settlements of the region. In particular, in the last few days, Ukrainian forces have carried out several precise strikes on strategic objects on the territory of Russia.

Alexander Sirsky, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, declared the other day that as of August 27, Ukraine controls an area of ​​1,294 square meters or 100 settlements in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, including the center of Sudzha.

In official Russian sources, there is almost no mention of specific operations in the Kursk region. Russian information sources report only that the Russian armed forces are “crushing the armed units of the enemy that tried to establish themselves in our territories.”

De-occupy the unoccupied

Along with the battles on the territories of Russia and Ukraine, the media field is also heated. Russian Telegram Z-channels  (1, 2) pro-government Z-bloggers reported that the Ukrainian armed forces cleared and de-occupied Nechyaev and Nizhnyaya Parovaya settlements in the Kursk region.

On August 22, on his channel, the famous Z blogger Simeon Pegov/Wargonzo wrote about “liberating” Nechayev. He published a video in which several representatives of the “Arbat” unit of the “Akhmat” special forces unit sent a video message holding the Russian flag from the supposedly recaptured Nechayev settlement.

By the way, the “Arbat” unit has Armenian roots and was created during the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2022. Its founder is Arman Sargsyan, who is wanted by the Ukrainian authorities. In June 2023, this unit signed an agreement with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, before which the “birth” of this unit solemnly took place in the territory of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Moscow. “Arbat” received the blessing of Archbishop Ezras, leader of the Russian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The latter is notably the brother of Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II.

On August 27, the official sources of the Russian Ministry of Defense started talking about the de-occupation of the villages.

“The Russian armed forces ultimately cleared Nizhnyaya Parovaya and Nechayev villages of the Kursk region from the Ukrainian armed forces,” the commander of the “Akhmat” special forces unit, Major General of the Russian Defense Ministry, Apti Alaudinov, announced on August 27.

Ruslan Leviyev, the founder of “Conflict Intelligence Team,” expressed his confusion in his Telegram channel. “I don’t understand, is this a joke or what?” At first, they “liberated” the village of Nechayev, which no one had ever occupied and declared about it. Now they are declaring about the “liberation” of the neighboring village of Nizhnyaya Parovaya, which was also not occupied and declared about by anyone.” 

By the way, in an interview to journalist Kirill Nabutov, while talking about the situation in the Kursk region, Leviyev presented an episode related to the commander of the “Akhmat” special forces unit, Apti Alaudinov: “He declares that the settlement of Sudzha in the Kursk region is under the control of the Russian armed forces, but a few hours later a report from inside Suja is broadcast on Ukrainian media. It was ridiculous.”

Although Russian propaganda sources report the de-occupation of the two occupied villages, the Institute for the study of war has published a map of the territories occupied by the Ukrainian armed forces. The names of the villages of Nechayev and Nizhnyaya Parovaya are not among the occupied settlements, that is, the Ukrainian forces have not yet reached those villages.

Thus, since August 22, first, Russian propagandists, propaganda channels, and then official circles have been declaring about the de-occupation of the villages of Nechayev and Nizhnyaya Parovnya of the Kursk region from the Ukrainian armed forces when the Ukrainians did not occupy them and did not even reach those villages.

Hasmik Hambardzumyan