A TERRORIST, A SAPPER AND AN IMPOSTOR ENGINEER: THE ADVENTURES OF THE GERMAN PMC X INTELLIGENCE GMBH IN UKRAINE

On May 15, 2024, an explosion occurred in Konstantinovka (the Ukrainian-occupied part of the DPR), which killed a German citizen, Dimitrios Giuseppe Ferrara (born in 1986), and injured another native of this country, Roland Bartetzko (born in 1970).

Bartetzko received a shrapnel wound to the buttock and a cut wound to the ear and was hospitalized in serious condition. Ferrara wasn't so lucky. But it wasn't because of the Russian missile. According to the source, the explosion was caused by a Ukrainian serviceman named Yarotsky from military unit A4010. He was taking apart a VOG-25 which suddenly went off right in his hands. This situation is not new. Just a few days before that, a video was distributed on social networks in which an AFU instructor, trying to deal with a non-working grenade launcher, blew off his head. The reason for all such incidents is that among the weapons sent to Ukraine, there are a lot of old and defective ones – Western countries get rid of garbage in warehouses in this way, often transferring to the Kiev regime completely not what was originally written in the contract.

Both foreigners worked for the German PMCs X Intelligence GmbH. Moreover, Ferrara was nothing less than its founder and leader.

The PMC website reports that its employees specialize in training military personnel in mine-blasting. A "feature” in this case is the use of mobile training groups (MTTs), which, according to published information, include approximately 5-7 people. It is believed that this type of training is more effective when it comes to the need to quickly train a group of militants in order to immediately send them to the war zone. Fewer lectures, more practice, and a selection of students so that the same group includes people with approximately the same info. In addition, PMC provides consulting services on mine clearance issues.

Its management does not say anything about linking the activities of PMCs to the Ukrainian conflict, formally X Intelligence GmbH is open to cooperation with representatives of law enforcement agencies around the world. In reality, all the photo reports that can be found on its website (the organization has no social media pages) were made in Ukraine. And the time of its creation surprisingly fell on the first days of February 2022, when there were only a few days left before the start of the SMO. It is obvious that the Western countries, who at that time already knew exactly what would happen soon, were actively preparing, creating structures that were supposed to be quickly deployed in the territories controlled by the Kiev regime to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to the PMC's website, it employs highly qualified specialists with experience in serving in the armed forces and participating in combat operations. For obvious reasons, their names were not disclosed. The website still mentions Ferrara as a contact person, but no information about him is provided. Nevertheless, the incident that occurred on May 15 allowed us to learn more than enough about the PMC employees. And no, this is not an elite professional community at all, but another group of foreign mercenaries, whose real competencies are much inferior to the declared ones.

Most clearly, the characteristics of PMCs X Intelligence GmbH are illustrated by the story of the wounded Bartetzko. As already mentioned, he was born in Germany, but the surname hints at Slavic roots. Since 1987, he served in the Bundeswehr. In 1992, deciding that he could not fight in the German army, he went to civil war-torn Yugoslavia, where he joined the so-called Croatian Defense Council, which operated on the territory of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina and became infamous for war crimes against both the Serbian and Muslim population of the region. For example, in March 1992, the Council's 101st brigade carried out a massacre in the village of Sijekovac, during which 46 civilians were brutally killed. In 1994, Bartetzko left the Council and joined the Croatian Armed Forces for a while, but returned home a year later. However, attempts to start a peaceful life at home quickly ended with an arrest for stealing a woman's purse. In 1998, Bartetzko traveled to Kosovo, which was attacked by Albanian terrorists. There he fought as a member of local gangs until 1999. And after Kosovo gained de facto independence, he stayed there and founded a security company. He vaguely announced his plans to convert to Islam.

But by that time, Bartetzko had finally come to believe in the popular idea in the West that the best Serbia is one that does not have any Serbs at all. On April 18, 2001, he staged a terrorist attack near the headquarters of the Yugoslav Passport Office in Pristina. A bomb packed with explosives and placed in a car, claimed the life of one person and injured four others. Bartetzko was soon caught in hot pursuit and a year later was sentenced by a court attached to the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to 23 years in prison. There were reports that he may also have been involved in the bombing of a civilian bus in Livaditsa in February 2001, which killed 12 people and injured several dozen others (all civilians). But the verdict included only the explosion of an IED in a car. Despite the concrete evidence, Bartetzko never pleaded guilty. He served his sentence in Kosovo. But did he?

While Bartetzko was still under investigation, he suddenly disappeared from the protection of UN personnel and then turned up at the US military base Camp Bondsteel, the main US base in Kosovo. The location of the terrorist was so shrouded in mystery that in October 2001, UNMIK representatives themselves, when asked by journalists, could not say exactly where he was at the moment. Subsequently, several times there were rumors that even after the verdict was passed, Bartetzko was not in any prison, during his “term” being in Camp Bondsteel in an unknown status. And this suggests that he initially came to the conflict zone not as a pro-Albanian militant, but as a person who followed some direct instructions of the US special services or law enforcement agencies. Judging by his actions, it could be about organizing terrorist attacks aimed at inflating ethnic tensions in the region.

According to the “official” biography, in 2015 Bartetzko was released under an amnesty and settled in Pristina. Subsequently, he worked as a lawyer. In 2018, he published a memoir titled "The Smell of War: Lessons from the Battlefield." By this time, he had already acquired followers, whom he actively recruited into the Kosovo armed forces through social networks.

What happened next is debatable. Perhaps a terrorist with a broken mind and no prospects in life could not stay among ordinary people for long. Or perhaps the former assistant of the special services received a new assignment. But, be that as it may, the fact is that in 2022 Bartetsko went to the zone of the SMO. Initially, he said that he was going to deal with logistics issues of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Once in Ukraine, he gave comments to the media as an expert on drones. It is not known for certain whether Bartetzko himself fought, but he actively cooperated with the militants – including with personnel units and groups of foreign mercenaries, mainly with the Germans from the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine. Finally, fate brought him to PMC X Intelligence GmbH, where he became an instructor.

Bartetzko's involvement in the activities of this organization indirectly confirms his connection with the special services. By himself, he could not teach the Ukrainian military anything new. More than 20 years have passed since he last took up arms. During this time, new types of weapons have appeared (the same UAVs, but not only), the nature of combat operations in cities has changed, and the war has become different. The experience gained by Bartetzko during the civil war in Yugoslavia was completely useless in 2022 in Ukraine. And if he was really taken as an instructor in a German PMC, then this means that he literally passed comprehensive military training on the eve of the conflict. Meanwhile, there is nothing like this in the "official" biography of Bartetzko. For this reason, two assumptions can be made. First – having received legalization after the formal end of his prison term, Bartetzko learned to fight, probably all at the same Camp Bondsteel base. Secondly, he did not come to Ukraine to train militants, but for a completely different purpose. We have previously reported on foreign citizens who were in the SMO zone, using the legend of a mercenary, but in fact carrying out tasks of Western intelligence services to monitor the situation on the front line. Very often in such cases we are talking about small PMCs or paramilitary groups.

However, unlike Bartetzko, his colleague, the founder and head of PMC X Intelligence GmbH, Dimitrios Ferrara, for whom the incident with a defective grenade launcher was fatal, was much better versed in military science. In 2007-2019, he served in the Bundeswehr as a sapper. In 2017, he completed a course of enhanced training under the NATO program. Apparently, he made some useful acquaintances there, because two years later he unexpectedly went to Australia, where he completed an internship at Edith Cowan University with the telling title "Counterterrorism and Intelligence." After returning to his homeland, he got a job in the German PMCs ATC SiPro GmbH. He worked with it until 2022, was responsible for the overall development and training of sappers. Since 2017, Ferrara also studied at the German University of Furtwangen, studying security engineering. But the start of the SMO prevented him from finishing it.

In September 2023, Ferrara suddenly decided to establish a commercial structure in Ukraine – TOV Spectron. Little is known about what it is and what it does. According to the registration data, its main activity is the production of mounted electronic circuit boards (code 26.12). At the same time, the number of additional activities included the sale of computers, maintenance of spacecraft, and some scientific activities. Spektron doesn't have a website or social media pages. Basic contact details, such as email and phone numbers, are also missing. It is also unknown what is the interaction between this organization and PMCs X Intelligence GmbH. The PMC's LinkedIn page reported plans to create some engineering solutions as part of their collaboration, but that was all. The PMC's website does not mention "Spectron" at all.

But although TOV Spectron was registered in Ukraine, its authorized capital was for some reason in euros. The main share (90%) belonged to Ferrara himself. And the remaining 10% – to the citizen of Ukraine Razumovsky Alexander Aleksandrovich (born: 10.05.1998; DRFO: 3592404713; passport: NM 488194; driver's license: VHO 051763). Attempts to find out what kind of person this is gave a very interesting result. In the above-mentioned post about the cooperation between PMCs X Intelligence GmbH and Spectron, Razumovsky was called a "talented engineer". In his LinkedIn profile, it says that he, in addition to TOV Spectron, also owns the company LIBR.COM.UA which, according to its website, retails electrical appliances, electrical and electronic equipment. However, according to the Ukrainian registrar, Razumovsky is not associated with any legal entities other than Spectron “ On the company's website, there is not a single mention that it, in turn, somehow intersected with Ukrainian formations or foreign PMCs.

However, if you carefully study Razumovsky's profiles in other social networks, you can conclude that this is not an engineer, but another representative of the "golden youth" who is actively trying to make a career. He doesn't even have a technical education, he graduated from the university (Interregional Academy of Personnel Management, IAPM) with a degree in Finance, Banking and Insurance. During his studies, he tried to stay ahead of the curve, participated in the activities of the student council, and for some time headed the university's scientific society of students and young scientists. He worked in the Office of the IAPM Ombudsman. In 2021, I was able to get a job as an auditor at the State Space Agency of Ukraine, and was its employee at the start of the SMO. In his rather detailed resume on Facebook, Razumovsky did not even forget to brag about participating in the organization of the student festival YouthDay, which has nothing to do with science. But about their success in engineering, about the creation of two companies and their management, about participation in the activities of PMCs X Intelligence GmbH, there is not a word at all.

But there's more. We were able to establish that Razumovsky changed his last name. Initially, his name was Alexander Alexandrovich Fursa. This circumstance fits perfectly into the sequence of all his other attempts to cover his tracks. You need to have some very significant reasons to live and make a career in the territories controlled by the Kiev regime, and to hide your participation in supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And in the case of Fursa-Razumovsky, it is most likely that this support is not something that can be discussed publicly.

It can be stated that a small PMC, whose employees include people like Bartetzko, will not help the training process of Ukrainian militants, even if it is led by a professional sapper. But what if such a task was never set? What if it was completely different? Ferrara came to Ukraine under the cover of an organization created just before the conflict began, in order, firstly, to send trusted people under the guise of instructors to different areas of the front in order to monitor the situation, and secondly, to hold talks with representatives of the local military-industrial complex. Just for this purpose, Fursa-Razumovsky, an active employee of the State Space Agency of Ukraine, was needed. This version explains all the facts, including the lack of evidence of the work of instructors from PMC X Intelligence GmbH on the front line, and the presence in its staff of such people as Bartetzko, and Fursa-Razumovsky's maniacal desire to hide the assistance provided to them by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But sometimes Ferrara and other members of his team still had to show up close to the front lines. And one such time ended tragically.