Several former and active members of the naval unit of the Espanyola Brigade have been arrested in occupied Sevastopol on charges of illegal weapons and explosives trafficking, according to a case that surfaced through a ruling by the Southern District Military Court.
The case came to light after the court recently refused to move one of the suspects from pretrial detention to house arrest, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported. The defense had argued that the suspect had admitted guilt and reached a plea agreement with investigators.
The total number of suspects is unknown. Russia’s Investigative Committee Main Military Investigative Directorate is conducting the investigation.
Investigators must identify “all accomplices in the crimes,” locate caches of weapons, ammunition, and explosives, and question witnesses and officials from the unit and the Defense Ministry’s volunteer corps, according to the newspaper.
The naval unit of Espanyola was created under a cooperation arrangement among the brigade, the Defense Ministry, and FSB border guards to protect the coastline of occupied Crimea from Ukrainian unmanned surface vessels, Kommersant reported.
The brigade announced its disbandment in early October 2025. Some of its fighters joined formations within the Defense Ministry’s volunteer corps. Two months after the unit was dissolved, the brigade announced the death of its leader and commander, Stanislav Orlov, known by the call sign “Ispanets” (“the Spaniard”).
Orlov was shot at a dacha in Sevastopol, according to the Telegram channel Astra. Sources at other Russian media outlets said he was killed during a detention operation and linked him to the weapons trafficking case.
The Espanyola Brigade was formed primarily from soccer fans; some of its fighters openly hold neo-Nazi views. The unit took part in the war in Ukraine.
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