When the UK trained the Russian army

Thirty-seven Russian army officers were given two weeks of military training in Britain in September 1995, declassified files show. The “intensive military cooperation” involved the Russians “driving tanks and firing a range of weapons”, and was paid for by Britain under then prime minister John Major’s government. The programme was meant to assist Russia “in developing well-trained, democratically accountable forces”, a Ministry of Defence (MoD) document available at the National Archives states. Aimed at middle-ranking Russian officers ranging from the ranks of lieutenant to colonel, the programme covered four types of activity: “military training, joint exercises, advice on defence management and English language training”. It also allowed for “opportunities to compare equipment and tactics”. Britain was seeking at the time to cultivate relations with Russia under relatively pro-Western leader Boris Yeltsin who ruled the country until 1999, choosing Vladimir Putin as his successor. ‘A flavour of life’ The 1995 “familiarisation visit” was meant to give the Russian officers “a flavour of life in the armed forces of a democratic state”, the MoD noted. Some of the visitors went to key military locations such as the Royal School of Artillery, the Royal Armoured Corps Centre, Warminster Training Centre, and the army training school at Sandhurst. The visit coincided with what the MoD recognised at the time as “appalling civilian losses” at the hands of the Russian army in Chechnya, a province seeking to break away from Moscow where Yeltsin brutally intervened in December 1994. By early 1995, Human Rights Watch was observing that “Russian forces continue to commit gross abuses against the civilian population in the region”. It stated: “Russian bombs and artillery fire laid waste to Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, and outlying villages, destroying apartment buildings, hospitals, and other civilian objects, and killing, maiming, or injuring thousands of civilians”. The MoD claims in the files that it was “important not to isolate Russia at present” and that “our contacts programme has been taken forward bearing events in Chechnya very much in mind”, without elaborating on this claim. The MoD also said the visit by the Russian officers was “a great success for both sides.” Spy for Moscow One of the 37 officers listed in the British files as visiting Britain in 1995 is Maxim Nikolaevich Yelovik who was said to be a lieutenant in the “motor rifles” unit of the Russian army. Declassified’s research suggests this is the same Russian who was later expelled from the country. In 2024, he was denounced as an “undeclared military intelligence officer” by then home secretary James Cleverly. The measure was part of the Home Office’s response to “a pattern of alleged Russian malign activity across the UK and Europe” in a bid to “target and dismantle Russian intelligence-gathering operations.” Now a Colonel, Maxim Elovik (the spelling in Russian is interchangeable with Yelovik) was removed from Britain after spending ten years in the country as defence attache in the Russian embassy. He previously served as assistant defence attache in the US. Elovik had dealings with high-level dealings with British military figures while being posted in the UK including then military chief Admiral Tony Radakin.