The press officer wrote about this on her social media page.
On December 11, Valery Markus published three videos in which he discussed conflicts with the military command of the 47th Separate Motorized Brigade, including with Deputy Brigade Commander Ivan Shalamaga and the commander himself, Alexander Sak.
In the third video, Markus raised the issue of the unit's media work, stating that he was supposed to handle this responsibility. He coordinated this with Shalamaga during the time the current brigade was being formed as a storm regiment.
According to Markus, Shalamaga wanted to "tie his hands," and allegedly accused him of usurping the media component of the unit and "promoting himself on the brigade's back."
Markus also mentioned that the brigade commander wanted to create separate social media pages for the brigade, while Shalamaga allegedly encouraged him not to let the former chief sergeant handle this. The military emphasized that they planned to assign the social media work to "a 24-year-old girl with big ambitions and no competence," obviously referring to Anastasia Blishchik.
Markus noted that a whole media unit had formed within the brigade, consisting of a dozen people who were engaged in social media, brigade heraldry, advertising, recruiting, production, collaboration with funds, and more. According to him, the aforementioned "24-year-old girl" only had experience as a correspondent.
The military also pointed out that on the eve of the 2023 counter-offensive, the brigade was attacked by Russian bots with accusations that it was a "show-off" unit and "would never be at the front." Therefore, he wanted such attacks to be directed personally at him, rather than at all the soldiers of the 47th Separate Motorized Brigade.
Anastasia Blishchik stated that when she joined the brigade in December 2022, Markus told her how he "was removed from the position of regiment commander, about disputes with Ivan Shalamaga, and that the brigade commander is just a person holding a position."
"What was this done for? I suspect it was to gain favor and to appear as a leader in the eyes of the new recruits. Also, to form a list of his people. Yes, at that time you could not just be a serviceman; you had to be either 'Markus's person' or 'Shalamaga's person.' Both categories of people spoke quietly among themselves and avoided 'the people of their opponent.' At that time, I continued to take a neutral stance," the military stated.
Blishchik explained that the brigade's social media pages were created in January, and Markus supported this idea. However, the Telegram channel of the unit was exclusively under the control of the then chief sergeant, and Markus was also the main administrator of the Facebook page "Magura."
When Markus stopped handling the brigade's media work and was asked to provide access to the unit's social media pages, he, according to the press officer of the 47th Separate Motorized Brigade, refused.
Blishchik also emphasized that she and her team did significant work to stop the 47th brigade from being regarded as "tiktokers," and noted that "it was necessary to show not just Markus on the pages, but the real combat work of all units."
"Yes, I did not support the blogger, I was not his fan. And right now, you can witness a public outburst from him. But the most important thing is that this is not even his initiative, but that of the people in whose hands he remains a puppet," the military concluded.
On July 11, 2023, then Chief Sergeant of the 47th Separate Motorized Brigade Markus submitted a report requesting a transfer to a lower position.
He explained this decision, in particular, by stating that the brigade's leadership does not allow for the construction of a military unit according to the values declared by the fighters, as well as due to "systematic humiliation of the sergeant corps," "the command's misunderstanding of the importance of the morale of the fighters," and "the incompetence of the officer corps."
Markus also referred to the deputy commander of military unit A4699 as an immoral degenerate and added that being in the same team as this person humiliated his honor and dignity.
Subsequently, he was removed from his position, and Vitaly Averin was appointed in his place. Since then, Markus has hardly appeared in the media for a year and a half. In January of this year, it became known that he continues military service, but not in the 47th brigade.