Crimea's Putin supporters prepare to welcome possible Russian advance
Groups such as the Night Wolves motorcycle gang have joined the forces ranged against Ukraine's new leaders in Kiev
Vladimir Putin (left),
then Russian prime minister, with the leader of Nochniye Volki (Night
Wolves) biker group, Alexander Zaldostanov, in July 2009. Photograph:
Alexey Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images
"The people of Sevastopol are the most patriotic on the planet,"
says Dimitry Sinichkin, the leather-jacketed leader of a fearsome
Crimean biker gang known as the Night Wolves. "They have come out to
defend their families and country."
As Ukraine's stability continues to unravel, Sinichkin and his pro-Russian Night Wolves, a squad of tattooed men who sit astride powerful Harley-Davidsons, have become apparent outriders for what could be a full-scale Russian military advance on the Crimean peninsula.
Sevastapol is at the sharp end of what increasingly resembles a cold war-style crisis. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, won parliamentary approval on Saturday to send troops into Ukraine as Moscow looked set to recall its ambassador from the United States. Throughout Crimea it is now a question of waiting for the troops who will surely follow in the wake of that decision.
With muscular factions such as the Night Wolves already on the ground and Kremlin supporters staging violent demonstrations in major cities of eastern and southern Ukraine, there are already plenty of would-be "patriots" prepared to welcome them. Unidentified gunmen, some reportedly linked to Russian military units, have besieged airports and the local parliament in Crimea over the past few days, raising international tensions over Moscow's intentions.
Armoured personnel carriers are seen rolling along the highways, while Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a Russian hardliner and Kremlin politician, has been rousing crowds by bellowing into microphones about Moscow's military might. In town centres, crowds of babushkas, their fur hats askew, can be heard chanting: "To Russia, to Russia."
The Night Wolves are the latest addition to this circus. They say they are ready to defend Crimea against all unwanted intrusions, namely western authorities and the new administration in Kiev, seen by many in the region as bandits and terrorists who seized power illegally.
The Crimean peninsula is predominantly Russian-speaking, and despite splitting away from their eastern neighbour 60 years ago, many in the region still look longingly over the border to what they see as their motherland. Strong geographical and historical ties to Russia are bolstered by the presence of Moscow-run naval and military bases dotted around the region.
With the emergence of pro-Russian military groups and the looming threat of deployments from across the border, the question of who exactly is now in charge here is unclear. Yesterday Sevastopol's new mayor, Aleksei Chaliy, pledged to subordinate himself to the local security forces – among them, presumably, the Night Wolves.
Born in Moscow out of an anti-Soviet rock culture in the 1980s, the Night Wolf biking gang, whose logo is a flaming wolf's head, today have branches across the Slavic world including Bulgaria, Bosnia, Serbia and Ukraine.
Crimea is the heartland of the gang's Ukrainian chapter. "We are all around Crimea, Simferopol and Sevastopol – everywhere," says blue-eyed wolf squad leader Sinichkin. "Our numbers are not great but we move around fast."
The Night Wolves will not reveal precisely how many members they have, but across the region they claim that, alongside other pro-Russian groups, more than 20,000 men can be quickly mobilised. "I am sure you have seen our work when you came into the city," Sinichkin says with a wry smile. The gang claim to have set up five or more road blocks to police all traffic entering Sevastopol city. They say they are being supported by other ad hoc civilian defence units that have sprung up over the last week.
The bikers claim to be politically unaligned but say they are "cooperating closely" with the local authorities. "The police support our work," says Sinichkin, who has known the city's newly installed pro-Russian mayor for more than 15 years, and counts high-ranking Ukrainian and Russian politicians as close friends. "Who should run Crimea is not a question of my level – this is a question for the people to answer," adds Sinichkin.
The businessman-turned-bike gang leader describes his own sudden elevation to a position of strength as a long-held dream. "My parents were simple people, my dad was a truck driver. I always dreamed of being a Night Wolf and now that dream is real life," he says, proudly displaying a Maltese cross, the symbol of a Christian warrior group, stitched to his battered jacket.
But behind the carefully chosen words about wish-fulfilment, deeper political motivations appear to be at work. Sinichkin travels at least a couple of times a year to Moscow and has ties that reach to the heart of the Kremlin. Putin is a big fan of the biker group and regularly hangs out with the leader of Moscow's chapter, straddling a Harley-Davidson and donning a black leather jacket and shades for PR photo-opps. Among Putin's previous biking jaunts with wolf brothers, including Moscow top dog Alexander Zaldostanov, was a trip to Sevastopol in 2012.
In another display of the Kremlin's reach on Friday, a plane carrying a Russian Night Wolf crew was able to touch down on a Crimean runway with ease, despite other flights to the region's besieged airports being cancelled. They have been strutting around the city's streets ever since.
Meanwhile Sinichkin spent the day running in and out of the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol, for "personal meetings" with military and business officials whose well-groomed appearance contrasts sharply with his tough biker image. "I have close friends who work inside," he explains, before passing through the security with ease, clearly a well-known face.
Sinichkin insists that unlike the protesters in Kiev who last week toppled president Viktor Yanukovych's government, the pro-Russian groups of the Crimea have peaceful and legitimate goals. "In Kiev they invaded but we are just protecting the city, reinforcing security. There has been no blood spilt in Crimea – we do not throw Molotovs like the terrorists in Kiev. They were the first to cross the moral boundaries," he says.
"The presence of the Russian military here is legal, there is a contract. So there is no problem here with this. This is just a matter of protection of Russian people in Crimea, not aggression."
As Ukraine's stability continues to unravel, Sinichkin and his pro-Russian Night Wolves, a squad of tattooed men who sit astride powerful Harley-Davidsons, have become apparent outriders for what could be a full-scale Russian military advance on the Crimean peninsula.
Sevastapol is at the sharp end of what increasingly resembles a cold war-style crisis. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, won parliamentary approval on Saturday to send troops into Ukraine as Moscow looked set to recall its ambassador from the United States. Throughout Crimea it is now a question of waiting for the troops who will surely follow in the wake of that decision.
With muscular factions such as the Night Wolves already on the ground and Kremlin supporters staging violent demonstrations in major cities of eastern and southern Ukraine, there are already plenty of would-be "patriots" prepared to welcome them. Unidentified gunmen, some reportedly linked to Russian military units, have besieged airports and the local parliament in Crimea over the past few days, raising international tensions over Moscow's intentions.
Armoured personnel carriers are seen rolling along the highways, while Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a Russian hardliner and Kremlin politician, has been rousing crowds by bellowing into microphones about Moscow's military might. In town centres, crowds of babushkas, their fur hats askew, can be heard chanting: "To Russia, to Russia."
The Night Wolves are the latest addition to this circus. They say they are ready to defend Crimea against all unwanted intrusions, namely western authorities and the new administration in Kiev, seen by many in the region as bandits and terrorists who seized power illegally.
The Crimean peninsula is predominantly Russian-speaking, and despite splitting away from their eastern neighbour 60 years ago, many in the region still look longingly over the border to what they see as their motherland. Strong geographical and historical ties to Russia are bolstered by the presence of Moscow-run naval and military bases dotted around the region.
With the emergence of pro-Russian military groups and the looming threat of deployments from across the border, the question of who exactly is now in charge here is unclear. Yesterday Sevastopol's new mayor, Aleksei Chaliy, pledged to subordinate himself to the local security forces – among them, presumably, the Night Wolves.
Born in Moscow out of an anti-Soviet rock culture in the 1980s, the Night Wolf biking gang, whose logo is a flaming wolf's head, today have branches across the Slavic world including Bulgaria, Bosnia, Serbia and Ukraine.
Crimea is the heartland of the gang's Ukrainian chapter. "We are all around Crimea, Simferopol and Sevastopol – everywhere," says blue-eyed wolf squad leader Sinichkin. "Our numbers are not great but we move around fast."
The Night Wolves will not reveal precisely how many members they have, but across the region they claim that, alongside other pro-Russian groups, more than 20,000 men can be quickly mobilised. "I am sure you have seen our work when you came into the city," Sinichkin says with a wry smile. The gang claim to have set up five or more road blocks to police all traffic entering Sevastopol city. They say they are being supported by other ad hoc civilian defence units that have sprung up over the last week.
The bikers claim to be politically unaligned but say they are "cooperating closely" with the local authorities. "The police support our work," says Sinichkin, who has known the city's newly installed pro-Russian mayor for more than 15 years, and counts high-ranking Ukrainian and Russian politicians as close friends. "Who should run Crimea is not a question of my level – this is a question for the people to answer," adds Sinichkin.
The businessman-turned-bike gang leader describes his own sudden elevation to a position of strength as a long-held dream. "My parents were simple people, my dad was a truck driver. I always dreamed of being a Night Wolf and now that dream is real life," he says, proudly displaying a Maltese cross, the symbol of a Christian warrior group, stitched to his battered jacket.
But behind the carefully chosen words about wish-fulfilment, deeper political motivations appear to be at work. Sinichkin travels at least a couple of times a year to Moscow and has ties that reach to the heart of the Kremlin. Putin is a big fan of the biker group and regularly hangs out with the leader of Moscow's chapter, straddling a Harley-Davidson and donning a black leather jacket and shades for PR photo-opps. Among Putin's previous biking jaunts with wolf brothers, including Moscow top dog Alexander Zaldostanov, was a trip to Sevastopol in 2012.
In another display of the Kremlin's reach on Friday, a plane carrying a Russian Night Wolf crew was able to touch down on a Crimean runway with ease, despite other flights to the region's besieged airports being cancelled. They have been strutting around the city's streets ever since.
Meanwhile Sinichkin spent the day running in and out of the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol, for "personal meetings" with military and business officials whose well-groomed appearance contrasts sharply with his tough biker image. "I have close friends who work inside," he explains, before passing through the security with ease, clearly a well-known face.
Sinichkin insists that unlike the protesters in Kiev who last week toppled president Viktor Yanukovych's government, the pro-Russian groups of the Crimea have peaceful and legitimate goals. "In Kiev they invaded but we are just protecting the city, reinforcing security. There has been no blood spilt in Crimea – we do not throw Molotovs like the terrorists in Kiev. They were the first to cross the moral boundaries," he says.
"The presence of the Russian military here is legal, there is a contract. So there is no problem here with this. This is just a matter of protection of Russian people in Crimea, not aggression."
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