After about two weeks of work, SNAG Racing‘s off-road buggy is set to be deployed to Ukraine to be used by Russian troops. The team insists the buggy will not be used in a military capacity and is rather being employed for “humanitarian aid.”
SNAG began the vehicle restoration process in late August with plans of selling it to the regional government of Sverdlovsk Oblast, who will transfer it to the Russian military in Ukraine. Team owner Sergei Kariakin, the 2017 Dakar Rally Quad winner and 2023 Silk Way Rally T3 victor, is a staunch supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a deputy in the Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly.
The buggy had to be virtually rebuilt from the ground up. Kariakin publicly explained the brakes and clutch were fully replaced, while the steering system and gearbox underwent heavy repairs and upgrades. A platform was also installed at the rear for transport. New panelling has also been added along the body.
“We are pleased to announce that we have completed preparing a buggy to humanitarian aid to the special military operation,” begins a team statement. “This buggy was purchased by the Government of the Sverdlovsk region, and we developed and adapted it according to all the necessary criteria and the specified requirements.
“Our efforts are focused on supporting those in difficult situations, and we are doing everything possible to ensure that this aid will provide the fullest help to our soldiers and civilians.”
Kariakin had grown increasingly vocal about supporting the invasion in recent months, a deviation from the two years since its start when public comments were mostly limited to generic statements of patriotism and national pride. In March, ahead of the presidential elections, he called it “incomprehensible” that some parties were not on-board with toeing the government line.
Predictably, he is also opposed to the FIA’s policy prohibiting Russian and Belarusian drivers from entering international races unless they agreed to condemn the war and to not wear their respective countries’ emblems. Kariakin even went as far as to write a letter to FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem asking for it to end, which went unanswered. He claimed in February that the Dakar’s organiser Amaury Sport Organisation is “working hard” to get Russian competitors back into the race.
Nineteen-time Dakar Rally winner KAMAZ-master and their Belarusian rival MAZ-SPORTauto are also linked to the Russian war apparatus as their parent companies supply military vehicles. 2022 Russian-Rally Raid Champion Anton Melnikov, co-driver Anton Nikolaev, and 2011 FIM Cross-Country World Quad Champion Dmitry Pavlov have visited occupied territories in Ukraine to donate supplies to Russian troops.
In contrast to SNAG’s buggy, the Chaborz M-3, which does have military application, will race the Silk Way Rally in 2025 with backing of the Chechen Republic.
The full-scale invasion has now hit Day 229.