“Spare people”. Russian MP and ex‑DPR leader Alexander Borodai caught on tape describing Russian volunteers as expendable in Ukraine war

They’re seen as second-rate infantry. In reality, they’re positioned on the front lines as defensive units, set to hold the line. Their real task is to draw attention and exhaust enemy forces as much as possible while others in the rear prepare for the main offensive. Just wear them down, you understand? No one expects these forces to achieve some fucking incredible—or even small—victory. They’re simply cannon fodder.

What’s more, as you understand, it’s not just the generals who think this way; there are people in other offices, these civilian suits. They look at what these volunteers’ social composition is and ask, ‘Who are they?’ Essentially, they’re Landsknechts mercenaries, yes. Volunteers for pay. And yes, many of them are motivated. Right? But you have to understand—back in civilian life, they wouldn’t be making any money at all, maybe 20,000, 30,000, or at most 40,000 rubles [about $200–400 US dollars]. Here, they’re making 220,000, 250,000, 260,000 rubles [about $2,200–2,600 US dollars] or more—money they’d never see otherwise... And, I say, there’s a big plus here. They’re being bought as meat. From the perspective of the people in suits, these people don’t represent much social value. Why so? They’re generally older, right? Not productive members of society. None of them are going to become accomplished researchers. Sorry.

The speaker pauses, taking another call, saying he “wanted to give an instruction” but “can’t remember what it was.” He then resumes his train of thought.

This infantry, you understand, is made up of people who aren’t seen as particularly valuable. Or valuable at all. Sociologically speaking, these are different kinds of people—everyone understands there are some enthusiasts, paragons of honour, conscience, and so on—but who actually signs up, from a sociological perspective? They’re people who didn’t find themselves as civilians, you know. So yes... there’s a term for this, you know, introduced by Maxim Gorky and widely used in various philosophies and stuff—“spare people.” Get it? Spare people.

Put it bluntly, it’s mostly spare people signing up here. Mostly, that’s the main [quality]. There are others, who aren’t [valued the same way], but these don’t count as much. If they’re spare people, then these people can be expended in war to wear down the enemy as much as possible. That’s their purpose...

There’s really nothing unfair or underhanded here—they’re being compensated. They’re being paid fairly generously, more or less, right? They’re being paid with medals and decorations too. Maybe not as generously as in the regular army, but they’re compensated, you understand? No one is... It’s not a con, fundamentally, you know? I’m not talking about the occasional mishandling by some accounting people. Overall, everything’s absolutely honest. Right?

We’ve gathered these spare people from across Russia—those who don’t hold any kind of social balance. We’ve gathered them, corralled them, and their role is to exhaust the enemy to the max. While we’re working on our military industry, our troops, and proper recruitment; while we’re building a system, handling everything carefully behind the scenes, we’ll eventually build up a force for the main strike. That will be for a significant offensive operation, to create serious reserves. For now, we’re giving everything we’ve got. To these, spares, we’re even giving old weapons, old guns, and, if in short supply, a roughly adequate number of shells—well, in short, we give them the opportunity to prove themselves, to fight. And we hand them...

By the way, the enemy is falling for it, if you’ve noticed. Because who are they sending against us? Frankly, I don’t consider khokhols a nation because, honestly, they’re not a nation, right—but if they were, they’d be sending their “best in the nation.” Young, strong, healthy, people of reproductive age are being mobilised... Shit, they’re not quite like that anymore; they’re feeling the shortage on their side too—they’re simply depleted, you understand? Initially, though, they were the best characters the enemy could gather. The best. The bravest, the boldest, all that.

And now they’re up against our mass, you see? Our mass may not be just like that, right? You know we have a ton of weaklings, old men, and all that. But this mass still withstands, somehow, across this whole situation. And sometimes, when it can, it even wins, you understand? Because some of those fighting are Soviet people with an old Soviet mindset, who—despite being 50, 60, or even older—dig in and grind, you know? They might even put the younger ones to shame.

And there are also rare individuals of exceptionally passionate level; I think you’re familiar with certain [unclear], right? No doubt. So, you meet people of these passionate levels who draw mass around them and sometimes really drive people to perform truly exceptional, let’s put it this way, acts on the front lines, showing how to fight—even in the face of a [unclear] enemy. That’s all there is to it. Very straightforward.

Editor: Dmitry Treschanin