Separatist Troops and Mercenary Forces in Donbas and Crimea After 2014 and Dominance Over the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation – a Case Study

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of actions by forces dependent on the Russian Federation in Ukraine after 2014. The aim of this article is to illuminate the context and highlight the factual connections between the Russian government and events in Crimea and Donbas. The author examines these events in the context of the so-called ‘Maskirovka’ or Gerasimov Doctrine, additionally enriching these considerations with a broader background of civil-military relations in Russia. Therefore, an equally important point of consideration in this article is the Wagner Group, a significant element of Russian actions both before and after the initiation of the ‘Special Military Operation’ by the Russian Federation. The primary research question is: to what extent and through what catalog of entities did the Russian Federation influence the situation in eastern Ukraine since 2014?