Since war broke out last month, a number of individual volunteers and groups of ex-soldiers have made it to Ukraine to fight on KyivвЂ™s side-a Russian missile strike on March 13 targeted a Lviv military base housing many of the foreign volunteers. The Forward Observations member told Foreign Policy that the groupвЂ™s connection to Lapaev has given Moscow ammunition to target it. Lapaev told Vice News that he regretted his past association with neo-Nazis. Bales, who is Black, apologized but downplayed the radical aspects of those Ukrainian fighters. вЂњWith an impending Russian invasion on the horizon, we traveled to the most forward position in the fight to bring you the raw, unfiltered truth, straight from the soldiers in the trenches themselves,вЂќ the group wrote on its YouTube page in January.Д«ales has taken heat for associating with Vadim Lapaev, a member of the far-right Azov Battalion in Ukraine. The group has traveled to Ukraine to make connections with local fighters there and to shoot photo and video from the conflict.ДЄ member of Forward Observations, who asked for anonymity due to threats from the Russian government, told Foreign Policy that they are focused on sourcing medical supplies, gear, and money for their Ukrainian compatriots. infantry soldier who served in Afghanistan, originally began as a lifestyle brand, selling tactical gear. But the groupвЂ™s members are volunteers, not contractors.ДЇorward Observations, founded by Derrick Bales, a former U.S. RussiaвЂ™s fingering of a specific entity, the Forward Observations Group, is a curious inclusion: It is a real organization that has fought alongside Ukrainians in the Donbass region and that has showed up to help defend the country from the Russian invasion. ItвЂ™s Russia that has long maintained a biological weapons program in violation of international law.вЂќ вЂњItвЂ™s Russia that continues to support the Assad regime in Syria, which has repeatedly used chemical weapons. вЂњItвЂ™s Russia that has a long and well-documented track record of using chemical weapons, including in attempted assassinations and poisoning of PutinвЂ™s political enemies like Alexey Navalny,вЂќ a State Department spokesperson said. State Department, in a statement to Foreign Policy, called the allegations вЂњpreposterous,вЂќ describing the Russian account as a вЂњfalse pretext we have been warning the Kremlin would inventвЂќ and warning that it may be cover for the future use of chemical weapons by Russia. There appears to be no backing for such a claim-or for the following allegation that the вЂњgeneral coordination of the delivery and warehousing of hazardous freight was carried out by the staff of the private American military contractor Forward Observation Group.вЂќ As they were being unloaded, four Ukrainian soldiers received severe chemical and poisoning.вЂќ

The statement makes the very specific allegation that, in December 2021, вЂњUkrainian radicals delivered 200-litre metal barrels with foreign markings to Donetsk Oblast. This is in keeping with a concerted effort from the Kremlin to accuse Ukraine, and by extension the United States, of threatening RussiaвЂ™s security by engaging in the development of biological and chemical weapons-claims for which it has supplied no credible evidence and which have been roundly debunked. The KremlinвЂ™s statement, in describing the material it submitted to the United Nations Security Council, accuses Ukraine of plotting to bomb two chemical factories, in Severodonetsk and Odesa, and of plotting вЂњthe destruction of containers with toxic chemicals in highly populated areas.вЂќ special operations forces and вЂњadical Ukrainian groupsвЂќ of plotting a chemical weapons attack on Ukrainian civilians in an attempt to blame Russia.

In a statement released on March 11, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned of вЂњpotential chemical provocations in Ukraine.вЂќ The statement, without evidence, accuses U.S. By targeting foreign fighters, Moscow may be trying to create a boogeyman to blame if it deploys chemical or biological weapons. veterans who have volunteered to defend Ukraine. As scrutiny of RussiaвЂ™s increasing reliance on mercenaries in Ukraine mounts, the Kremlin is trying to deflect it back onto U.S.

Forward observation group