In the face of waning recruitment levels for the military as casualties mounted, the Russian government increasingly turned to a variety of mercenaries, militias, paramilitaries, and mobilized convicts.

The basis of these formations is that the higher pay and more stringent recruitment methods will garner more interest and volunteers from civilians, mainly veterans, who have not already joined the war effort.

[20][21][22][23] Created as a more "specialized" alternative to Wagner, Patriot has modeled itself after the American Blackwater PMC by hiring only young ex-military paid $2,500.

Founded and led by former Colonel General Leonid Ivashov who also leads the Honor and Motherland patriotic organization and is a chairman of the All-Russian Officers' Assembly.

[42] Sever-Akhmat (North-Akhmat) is one of the four volunteer "elite special forces" Akhmat units raised by Ramzan Kadyrov on June 26 that has seen combat in Ukraine.

[45][46] Russian state news agency TASS reported that the unit captured the village of Novomikhailovsky in the Donetsk Oblast on January 26, 2023.

[47] In late May 2023, it was reported that Sever-Akhmat soldiers were involved in a prisoner exchange with Ukraine for members of the Azov Brigade captured at the Azovstal.

[57] Kadyrov also claimed that the unit might be sent to defend the southern border of Chechnya, in an interview where he was questioned for ordering the installation of air defense in the region.

[59] On 15 August it was reported that the unit is subordinate to the 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division and has been sent to Southern Ukraine as part of the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive to defend Russian positions south of Orikhiv.

The unit was subjected to lectures by a political officer, who was compared to a soviet era politruk, and were transferred to the Kherson front and later sent to Crimea.

There they were housed in a 25-square-meter garage alongside arrested servicemen who were caught being drunk on the job or breaking curfew, the unit submitted an appeal to Alik Kamaletdinov, the aide in Bashkortostan's government in charge of the mobilization, but he did not respond.

[63] The Institute for the Study of War reported that the unit was deployed to the front from August 25 to 27, and on the 26 received blessings from members of the Russian Orthodox Church.

[68] The Frontier Post characterized the foundation of the new Odessa Brigade alongside other declarations at the time as an attempt by Russian propaganda to distract the public from successful Ukrainian counter-attacks in the region.

[67] Ukrainian journalist Lilia Ragutskaya agreed with this assessment, disparagingly calling the unit the "Markov brigade" and its fighters "cannon fodder" for the Russian military.

However, she also stated that the unit was better equipped than the militias of the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics, suggesting that it had been directly armed by the Russian Ministry of Defence.

[68] The leader of the 2022 Odessa Brigade, Ihor Markov,[66][69] had been a long-time pro-Russian figure in Odesa and had been suspected of being funded by the Russian government as early as 2009.

[70] In the founding video of the 2022 unit, he made statements in line with the Russian narrative that Ukraine is governed by a Nazi regime.

[66] Beside his role in the new unit, Markov also repeatedly appeared in Russian propaganda, at one point proposing to make Odesa the new capital of Ukraine.

[72] In May 2023, Ukraine charged Ihor Markov with high treason for his role in setting up the second "Odessa Brigade", spreading pro-Russian propaganda, and recognizing the Russian invasion as being legitimate.

[16] The "Arbat" Separate Guards Special Purpose Battalion is a unit of Armenian volunteers that is part of the Russian Armed Forces.

He said that this detachment "sends drone operators, electronic warfare (EW) specialists, and other fighters to other units in different frontline sectors as needed".

[82] The formation's alleged commander Andrii Tyshchenko told Russian state media that the battalion has "recruited" roughly 70 Ukrainian POWs in February alone.

Students asked questions with implications of criticizing the war and pointing out similarities between the skull-and-crossbones patches on the uniforms of the fighters and the Totenkopf of the Nazi German SS.

The Alga Battalion saw combat in Bakhmut, Pisky and Vuhledar, before being reportedly sent back to Tatarstan due to high casualties in late July/early August 2023.

Volunteers are paid $5,150 monthly and promised government housing, education grants, and social welfare upon the completion of their service.

[2] The Primorsky Krai formed the Tigr Battalion: attached to the 155th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade, the unit was raised in a recruitment drive and is affiliated to the governor Oleg Kozhemyako.

[3] In 2021, during the build-up towards the invasion of Ukraine a massive recruitment drive for BARS was undertaken in hopes of having the organization reach 80,000 to 100,000 members.

[94] The Rosgvardiya, formally known as the National Guard of the Russian Federation, was established in 2016 via a Presidential Decree (Executive Order) by President Putin.

[95] Early in January and February 2022, there were reports of Rosgvardiya detachments moving to the Russia–Ukraine border and Belarus, joining the supposed "training exercise", going during the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis.

[96][97] When Russian forces invaded Ukraine, Rosgvardiya troops started to move into Ukrainian territory, establishing themselves in occupied cities and towns, reportedly for suppressing local hostile population.