Team "Fire!". The story of the Crimean Tatar partisan movement "ATESH". Since 2014, they have been operating in occupied territories, and now in Russian regions
They maintain social media, but without faces or names. They have no spokesperson to talk about their activities. They operate in occupied territory, and in recent years of the major war, also in Russian regions. They blow up, set fires, destroy, and conduct reconnaissance. They are Crimean Tatar partisans united under the name "ATESH". It means – fire. Not fire as an element, but "fire!" as a military command. Their claims of involvement in various acts of sabotage are generally impossible to verify independently. And some of their operations do not enter the public domain at all. However, this phenomenon – the partisan movement as a form of internal resistance – exists, so "Novaya-Europe" began to gather information about it bit by bit, and eventually we managed to talk to their commander. We also discussed with a specialist in the ethics of war how to evaluate the activities of partisans from the perspective of international law and morality. Illustration: "Novaya Gazeta Europe". Simferopol-2014. The Beginning It took six months to arrange a conversation with one of the founders and commanders of the Crimean Tatar partisans. His name is Enver, but this is, of course, a pseudonym. Even not all of his closest associates know his real name. In May 1944, Enver's grandfather was deported from Crimea along with two hundred thousand other Crimean Tatars. The relatives of many movement participants also experienced deportation and repression. So, for them, the occupation of Crimea 70 years later became a terrible continuation of the people's tragedy: it turns out that after Stalin's death, nothing ended, but was only "put on pause". According to Enver, the partisan movement can be considered to have begun in February 2014, when Crimean Tatar activists came out to the parliament in February to prevent the occupation, and "titushki" from Sevastopol were brought against them. Crimean Tatars came to the rally out of their own will, to defend the land of their ancestors, Enver recalls. But everything ended badly: it was the Crimean Tatars who were accused of organizing riots, and they became defendants in criminal cases. Then the activists realized that the occupation could not be overcome by peaceful rallies: everyone would simply be imprisoned, and the protests would be stifled. Many remember that rally, which took place on February 26, 2014. The Crimean parliament was then to consider the issue of the peninsula's status. Crimean Tatars and other local residents who opposed joining Russia came out to the building of the Supreme Council in Simferopol. They chanted "Crimea is not Russia!" and "Bandu – het!". The "titushki", in turn, chanted "Russia!" and tried to raise the Russian flag, which either slipped from the flagpole or was torn down by supporters of a united Ukraine. Then clashes began. The "titushki" threw flares at the protesters. They responded with flagpoles. Two rally participants – Igor Postny and Valentina Korneva – never returned home: they were trampled during the clashes. Crimean Tatars hold flags during a rally near the Crimean parliament building in Simferopol, Ukraine, February 26, 2014. Photo: Baz Ratner / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA. It was already clear where things were heading. And the head of the Mejlis (the representative body of the Crimean Tatars, established in 1991 and banned in Russia in 2016), Refat Chubarov, called for uniting into self-defense units: "When you return home, go to your neighbors, Russians, Ukrainians, people of other nationalities… Together, protect churches and mosques, together, watch over cemeteries, together, arrange schools." And at night, the parliament building was seized by unknown persons ("criminals", as they were called by the then acting president of Ukraine and speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Oleksandr Turchynov), and by morning, instead of the Ukrainian flag, the Russian flag was flying over it. The occupation probably began with that rally. And then the Russian authorities initiated a criminal case for mass riots. The deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Akhtem Chiygoz, was sentenced to eight years in prison, and his colleague, Ilmi Umerov, to two years in a penal colony. The rally became a pretext for searches, threats, and intimidation of Crimean Tatars. Chiygoz's sentence seemed almost an act of humanism against the backdrop of what happened to the Crimean Tatar activist Reshat Akhmetov. On March 3, 2014, Reshat held a solo picket against the occupation of Crimea in the center of Simferopol and was abducted by unknown persons in camouflage. His body, with signs of torture, was found in a forest on March 15. "One of my friends climbed into the power lines with grenades" Some Crimean Tatars then left for Ukraine. But many stayed. They expected a blockade: they understood that otherwise Crimea could not be returned. But the Ukrainian government signed an agreement with Russia and began to sell electricity to Crimea. And then the Crimean Tatars began a civil blockade: they hoped that this would force the occupiers to leave. But they didn't succeed, and they had to take tougher measures: blow up power lines so that regardless of any signed agreements, electricity supplies to Crimea would become impossible. According to Enver, explosives for the power lines were brought by a Kharkiv friend of Crimean Tatar activists with the call sign "Samurai". It was a truly large-scale campaign, which began with the civil blockade of the peninsula announced by the Crimean Tatars and ended with a blackout: in two days – November 20 and 21, 2015 – four power lines supplying Crimea were put out of order. "A year after the power lines were blown up, I was awarded the honorary badge "Civil Blockade of Crimea"," recalls Crimean Tatar public figure Erfan Kudusov, who is personally acquainted with Enver and confirmed his identity to us. "Lenur Islyamov, one of the organizers of the blockade (Lenur Islyamov is a Crimean Tatar politician and businessman, sentenced in Russia in absentia to 19 years in prison for the blockade of Crimea and sabotage. – Ed.), presented me with the award. By the way, Lenur loves to use the word "atesh" – I don't rule out that he influenced the choice of the name for the movement." He presented the awards right next to the explosion site – in Novo-Alekseevka. After the power lines went out of order, the Ukrainian authorities tried to restore them. But the destroyed supports were guarded from repair by Crimean Tatars. Ukrainian special forces were sent there. And there, on one side of the road, stood a Crimean Tatar unit – the battalion of Noman Chelebidzihan (the first chairman of the government of the Crimean People's Republic, killed in 1918 by revolutionary sailors. – Ed.), and on the other – "ATO soldiers": "Azov", "Donbas" and, I think, "Aidar". Blood could have been shed. One of my friends climbed into the power lines with grenades. The situation was very difficult. And then we – editor-in-chief of "Ukrainska Pravda" Sevghil Musaeva, [Ukrainian journalist] Aider Muzhdabaev and I – called on Crimean Tatars in Kyiv to come out to Bankova Street. People came out. [President] Poroshenko summoned [previous head of Mejlis] Mustafa Dzhemilev and [current head –] Refat Chubarov to resolve the issue. A shopper in a grocery store, lit by candles due to a power outage, in Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine, November 22, 2015. Photo: Pavel Rebrov / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA. On November 21, 2015, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, after a meeting with the leader of the Crimean Tatar people, Mustafa Dzhemilev, instructed the government to do everything necessary to completely stop trade with Crimea. Three weeks later, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to ban the supply of goods and services to the occupied peninsula. The campaign turned out to be successful. True, at that time it was not yet a formed partisan movement, but simply a group of Crimean Tatar activists. At first, no one thought about creating an organization. But when Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea began to be persecuted, it became clear that a long struggle lay ahead. However, Crimean Tatars are no strangers to struggle and exile. Before the full-scale invasion, Crimean Tatar activists were mainly engaged in studying the deployment of Russian troops in Crimea and occasionally engaged in sabotage – for example, disabling gas pipelines. But after February 24, the issue could be formulated differently: it was not just about returning Crimea, but about preserving Ukraine. In September 2022, the "ATESH" movement was finally formed. The core, Enver explains, remained the Crimean Tatar majority, but "ATESH" was joined in large numbers by Ukrainians and Russians. Enver keeps the structure of "ATESH" secret, but promises to reveal details after the war, saying that the model was OUN-B (a faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists that emerged in 1940 and was led by Stepan Bandera, hence the letter B in the name). In early 2023, a Telegram channel was created, the first post of which was the oath of an "ATESH" warrior, and the second was a short video manifesto. A man in a balaclava said: "We are the underground movement ATESH, which includes Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians, and Russians. We have mobilized into the Russian army and will destroy it from within. We will leak data on positions, warehouses, soldiers, and equipment. We will carry out sabotage at warehouses and headquarters. Every day there are more and more of us!" ATESH leaflet in Feodosia, August 2023. Photo: ATESH / Telegram. The Two Hundredth and Thirtieth After the partisan movement was formed and announced itself publicly, sabotage began in the occupied territories. According to Enver, from the very beginning, they understood that under these conditions, only a forceful approach was possible, not persuasion and negotiations. But a forceful approach is not only sabotage on power lines and railways. It is also the destruction of the enemy. It was they, the Crimean Tatar partisans, who took responsibility for two very high-profile actions: the murder of the deputy head of the occupation administration of Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, and the attempted assassination of Zakhar Prilepin (both reports on the "ATESH" Telegram channel, which Ukrainian media refer to, are now deleted). Kirill Stremousov was called the main media face of the Russian occupation. However, before the full-scale invasion, he was considered more of a town madman and a scandalist, who from time to time was involved in criminal cases, and in his free time wrote complaints about everyone he could. But with the start of the occupation, such people became extremely in demand. As early as March 2022, Stremousov created a gathering of collaborators in Kherson – the "Committee for the Salvation of Peace and Order". And a position appeared there, with unlimited power. In late October and early November 2022, Stremousov urged "not to listen to the malicious Ukrainian Nazi media" and swore that Russian troops would not leave Kherson. And on November 9, he unexpectedly died in a car accident. Almost simultaneously with the retreat of the occupiers from Kherson. Whether by chance or by plan – no one knew: neither the occupation forces nor the advancing Ukrainian army had time for investigations. According to Enver, Stremousov was arrogant and overconfident – he drove his SUV like a madman, ignoring traffic rules and not noticing anyone or anything around him. And when one of the partisans happened to be nearby (the action was not planned), then, as Enver says, "the rest was a matter of technique." Portrait of the deceased Kirill Stremousov during a mourning ceremony in Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine, November 11, 2022. Photo: EPA. The story with Zakhar Prilepin was different. On May 3, 2023, his car was blown up in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The explosive device was detonated remotely. It was located under the passenger seat, but on that particular day, Prilepin himself was driving. His bodyguard and driver, Alexander Shubin, was in the passenger seat – he died on the spot. The severely wounded Prilepin was taken to the hospital and placed in an artificial coma. The Investigative Committee of Russia initiated a criminal case under the article "terrorist act". Alexander Permyakov was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in this case. According to the prosecution, it was he who planted two radio-controlled anti-tank mines on the road in the Nizhny Novgorod region. In a conversation with me, the commander of "ATESH" neither confirmed nor denied whether Permyakov was somehow connected with the partisan movement. When asked why Prilepin was chosen, Enver replies that since he visited Kherson and agitated for the "Russian world", he, like any occupier, became a legitimate target in wartime. Propagandists are not as harmless as they seem and cause no less harm than aggressors with assault rifles, because largely thanks to them, volunteers continue to join the Russian army, believes the partisan commander. "We are used to perceiving partisans as some kind of spontaneous self-organized movement," says philosopher Arseny Kumanov, a specialist in the ethics of war and author of the books "War in the XXI Century" and "War, or Captive to Violence." "But historically – both in Napoleonic times and in the 20th century, including World War II – partisan movements were more often associated with regular armies and supported by them. They were, simply put, soldiers who acted in an unconventional way. Remember, Napoleon complained that the Russians were fighting incorrectly: their way of war was not noble. In our case, the situation is different: "ATESH" is, in my assessment, a self-organized movement. And the question of whether partisans fall under certain ethical norms and international law is more complex in this case. International law is not doing very well, because it, it turns out, should generally prohibit any partisan movement: because soldiers mimic civilians and can create additional danger for them. So, another question is important here: do people who lack the resources and capabilities to confront regular army units have the right to conduct combat operations against those they consider occupiers or traitors? It is also the right to liberation from occupation, the right to national self-determination. Damaged car after the assassination attempt on Zakhar Prilepin in the Nizhny Novgorod region, May 6, 2023. Photo: Anastasia Makarycheva / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA. "Let's Stop the War Together!" "Even before "ATESH" was formed into a movement, people remained in Crimea who, by virtue of their oath, patriotism, and initiative, began to help informationally, organizationally, and in other ways," recalls Erfan Kudusov. "Then such people appeared in occupied Henichesk, Melitopol, Novo-Alekseevka. Not only Crimean Tatars, but also Ukrainians. They, I would say, helped proactively. Naturally, there were also those whom our special services deliberately left there for intelligence work. Unfortunately, there was also a lot of betrayal during the occupation. Employees of the police and SBU defected to the occupiers in large numbers. And partisan activity became more valuable. In Crimea, you can be imprisoned for speaking Crimean Tatar or Ukrainian – vigilant citizens will call the FSB. And if a person has actually done something – drawn something, glued a leaflet, set fire to a relay cabinet – they will face huge sentences. My friends are in prison – some got 17, some got 20 years. Therefore, of course, there is fear. But at the same time, there is an understanding of Russian chaos. They cannot suppress social networks, they fight messengers, but unsuccessfully. New messengers, new technologies appear. A huge number of people play games, and within the game space, excellent information exchange takes place. It's very difficult to track. If earlier the main geography of "ATESH" was the occupied territories, then after the full-scale invasion, their actions began to spread to different regions. This means that Russians are joining the movement – at least, Crimean Tatars cannot "cover" such a number of regions. So, overnight, thousands of leaflets appear in Russian cities: in Nizhny Novgorod, Kostroma, Tambov, Tver, Saransk, Kursk, and also in Omsk, Novosibirsk, Kazan. Then an "ATESH" agent infiltrates the radio plant of the air defense concern "Almaz-Antey" in Balakhna, Nizhny Novgorod region. Then participants of the movement, who joined the Russian army, conduct filming from a training ground in the same region during exercises. ATESH leaflets calling to stop the war. Photo: Civil Force / Telegram. The story of Gennady Artemenko, whom "Novaya Gazeta Europe" wrote about, also happened in the Nizhny Novgorod region, in Dzerzhinsk. He was accused of state treason, including for "ATESH" leaflets that appeared in the city almost every night. True, after Gennady's arrest, the leaflets did not stop appearing, but the accusation, based on footage from a distant surveillance camera (the video only shows a silhouette in a jacket, and the investigation could not establish the identity), remained. By the way, those leaflets did not call for killing Putin or blowing up a military unit – they said: "Let's stop the war together!" In the Nizhny Novgorod region, by the way, the hunt for spies was active. One can recall the case of pensioner Lev Lerman, who was accused of espionage, but when nothing could be found at all: neither on his phone, nor on his computer, nor on video cameras among the silhouettes pasting "ATESH" leaflets, a second search was conducted and 10 cartridges were found (only police officers were present during the "discovery"). Lerman was sent to a penal colony. Perhaps such activity of the special services in the Nizhny Novgorod region is related to the attempt on Prilepin. Or perhaps it is also due to the fact that "ATESH" leaflets continue to appear there regularly, even after all the arrests. And now not only with calls to stop the war together, but also with calls to join the partisan movement, which sounds even more radical to the authorities. " But so far, none of the movement's participants have been caught by Russian special services or ended up in prison, say the leaders of the Crimean Tatar partisans. Two years ago, the movement acquired a cyber-partisan unit – "Cyber ATESH". Last year, cyber partisans disabled the Russian registry of electronic summons; attacked "Alfa-Bank" and "Rosselkhozbank"; hacked the phones of employees of an enterprise producing drones and extracted logistics and UAV transfer schemes to troops; obtained secret documents on the combat duty of Black Sea Fleet cutters. And, of course, personnel lists are always relevant for them: these, the partisans say, will be useful for future accountability. By the way, according to Enver, most of the "cybers" are Russians. "Regarding the national composition – how many Crimean Tatars, how many Ukrainians, and how many Russians are there now – I won't tell you, and no one will," says Erfan Kudusov. "But I assure you that if there is one or two Crimean Tatars in any unit, that unit can safely be called Crimean Tatar." When "ATESH" formed as a partisan movement, most Crimean Tatars perceived it with joy. But many were scared. The situation in Crimea has changed dramatically. Conditionally speaking, every third person there is now in uniform. And special services are creating an atmosphere of fear. Intelligence, agent, and sabotage work are being carried out as they have been all this time. But all attempts to get close to the top officials have been unsuccessful: it is so saturated with special services that it is impossible to describe in words. According to Kudusov, many Crimean Tatars were forced to leave: some – to Europe, others – to Ukraine, and now they are fighting in various units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "They do not advertise themselves under any circumstances, do not maintain social media, do not speak out publicly," he continues. "Because we have large families, and everyone has relatives left in Crimea." "And if there is even a vague suspicion that your relative is fighting, they will first send a district police officer to you – like a "black mark", then the prosecutor's office, the Investigative Committee, the FSB. People live in constant fear. Husbands "close themselves off" from their wives so as not to blurt out anything extra. I don't want to call – like, come on, Crimean Tatars, everyone join "ATESH" – but we really need more people and strong resistance. Over the past year, I have attended seven funerals. And I understand perfectly well that resisting means putting yourself in mortal danger. But not resisting means that there will be not seven, but seven thousand funerals. A soldier with the flag of the Crimean Tatar people, Kyiv, Ukraine, April 7, 2023. Photo: Alina Smutko / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA. "If we don't resist, we will simply disappear" People join "ATESH" voluntarily. But sometimes it happens that partisans have to recruit someone from the Russian military to obtain information or to blindly use the recruited person to carry out sabotage. There's no need to invent complex schemes and multi-step combinations. Enver says that the best argument for recruiting military personnel is money. And also alcohol, which the partisans promise to deliver to their unit's location: cars with military personnel are stopped at checkpoints and vodka is searched for, while families of civilian residents of Crimea can pass all these posts without inspection, which is what they use. Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian businessmen help "ATESH" members, so they have money for work, including recruitment. According to Enver, all this time they have not met a single ideological occupier who refused to betray their homeland: they immediately start bargaining. Back in 2022, Crimean Tatar partisans came up with a project for those who did not want to fight against Ukraine but lacked the courage to desert and go to prison. "ATESH School" is an online educational project in which movement instructors trained Russian soldiers in sabotage: damaging military equipment, ammunition, and fuel. " Partisans say that over the year of the project's existence (it ended in August 2023), four thousand people completed training in the online school. But this was a temporary thing. They came up with it, did it, and finished it. It is impossible to determine the effectiveness of the school: everything that was done online remains there, and if someone who completed the course actually engaged in sabotage, they are unlikely to notify anyone about it. They would prefer it to remain a secret forever. Or, at least, until the end of the war. The partisans themselves do not comment or provide details – they only say that feedback still exists and that in several well-known cases, the lessons of "ATESH School" worked. However, they talk openly about their other actions. For example, on November 12, 2022, the "ATESH" Telegram channel published a statement: "In the military hospitals of Simferopol, ATESH agents successfully liquidated 30 servicemen of the Russian Army. 30 unfortunates whom we helped reach God's judgment" (this entry is now deleted, but its screenshots remain in the messages of Ukrainian media). The same Telegram channel published a list of the deceased (only screenshots remain). The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation did not confirm or deny this information. According to Enver, several partisans got jobs as volunteers in a military hospital and replaced IV drips, resulting in the deaths of dozens of patients. It was not difficult to do this, he says, because people who came to the hospital and offered themselves as volunteers were not even checked for documents. The partisan commander claims that they all managed to leave for Turkey – it was the fastest and easiest way. Wounded Russian serviceman in a Russian Ministry of Defense hospital in Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine, June 28, 2022. Photo: Dmitry Makeev / TASS / Profimedia. In December 2022, "ATESH" members recruited, or rather bribed, a private from a military unit in the village of Sovetsky. The soldier, Enver says, "turned out to be very greedy and bargained for a long time." But in the end, he agreed and carried a bag into the barracks' quartermaster's room. At night, the bag caught fire and burned down the barracks. The fact is that Crimeans know everything about this military unit – before the occupation, it was Ukrainian unit A-4519. And in Nova Kakhovka in February 2023, partisans tracked down Russian military personnel who had come on a business trip. "ATESH" members noticed that the seconded personnel drove along the same route every morning and evening, and visited the same shops and cafes. Therefore, it was not difficult to plant explosives in their car. The explosion occurred on the morning of February 10 on Dneprovsky Avenue, near a police station. Two died on the spot, two were hospitalized in serious condition. From the partisans' perspective, this was a message to all Ukrainians in the occupied territories: they must see that resistance continues. "From a legal point of view, these are certainly illegal actions," says Arseny Kumanov. "The wounded are non-combatants, meaning they are not currently participating in hostilities. Therefore, attacking them, from a legal point of view, is certainly not allowed. It is a crime. But if we quickly dealt with the law, then morality also remains. And if we look at the situation through the prism of moral categories, then it turns out like this: the wounded will recover, go to the front again, and kill. On the other hand, by this logic, one can attack everyone, because potentially this person can sign a contract and go to the front." A teenager can grow up and become a soldier. Women also serve in the army, by the way. And if we act according to this logic, then we can provoke a huge amount of violence. To disable the enemy in non-lethal ways, to make them harmless, but not to kill them – this is, of course, the ideal formula. And in general, I may express an unpopular opinion, but in my opinion, we must be strict about morality and simply accept that our actions are not always moral – even though they are sometimes effective, necessary, and even the only possible ones. Then we need to tell ourselves: "Yes, we are doing something not very good from a moral point of view, but it is the only possible means right now." And the second thing we need to talk about is why these people are forced to do what they do? Why did they find themselves in such a situation? And this is no longer their responsibility. Some say that some "ATESH" actions look cannibalistic. Others believe that "they are somehow not multiplying the occupiers by zero enough." Still others are convinced that the activities of Crimean Tatar partisans in the occupied territories are chemically pure heroism, about which books will still be written and films will be made. "You see," Erfan Kudusov said at parting, "if we don't resist, we may simply disappear. Ukrainians as a nation will not disappear, they will not dissolve even without Donbas and Crimea. Even if you take away half the country, God forbid – Ukrainians will not disappear. But we face a serious threat of disappearance. And therefore, the activity of "ATESH" is very important for us. Even the word itself – "atesh" – warms the soul, because it is ours, Crimean Tatar."
