Russian military unit Kaskad allows careerist Russian politicians and their sons of military age to boast of having participated in the Ukraine war. The group, based in the illegally annexed Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, is equipped and financed by the Russian Defense Ministry.
But although the battalion tries to present itself as a real fighting group, according to its critics it is rather a "detachment of friends, including MPs and their children" Russian journalist Andrey Pertse writes that the title of "veteran" has become a "care elevator" for Russian politicians.