Russia claims they are actually Ukrainian militants and has blamed Kiev for recent attacks on its territory. The Ukrainian government denies direct involvement with the groups.
Insurgents of Russian nationality against the government of Vladimir Putin have announced the capture of Russian soldiers in the Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine.
The Belgorod governor replied that he would agree to find members of the paramilitary group if the captured soldiers were still alive.
However, the insurgents later said that the governor “didn’t have the courage” to meet them and that they would hand over the prisoners to Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities say Russian paramilitaries form the Russian Freedom Legion (FRL) and Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) groups, which advocate the overthrow of Putin’s regime and condemn the invasion of Ukrainian territory, which began in February last year.
Russia claims they are actually Ukrainian militants and has blamed Kiev for recent attacks on its territory. The Ukrainian government denies direct involvement.
The Russian military said on Sunday (4/6) that its artillery had hit a “terrorist” group near the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, adding that “the enemy scattered and retreated”.
About two weeks ago, Russia says it surrounded insurgents in Belgorod and killed more than 70, while driving the rest back to Ukraine.
Earlier, the Russian Freedom Legion posted a video to Telegram showing the capture of two Russian soldiers. The BBC has been unable to confirm the identity of the men appearing in the video.
The message was released as a joint statement with the Russian Volunteer Corps, which later released another video featuring what would have been more captured Russian soldiers.
“Neither the military nor the civilian leadership is interested” in the fate of the captured men, the RDK said.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, called the paramilitaries “scoundrels, murderers, fascists” but promised to “guarantee security” if the talks go ahead.
Andriy Yusov of the Kiev Intelligence Directorate said both groups were working “autonomously on the territory of Russia” and that Ukrainians were not involved, while Ukrainian TV said they were militiamen and “Russian volunteers” .
The Russian Volunteer Corps rose to prominence in March 2023, participating in an attack in the Bryansk region of Russia involving 45 people.
Unconfirmed Russian reports mentioned shootings, casualties and hostages, while the RDK claimed they had crossed the border to call on Russians to rebel against their rule. The group claimed they had taken no hostages and had withdrawn safely to Ukrainian territory.
Russian nationalists
The leader of the Russian Volunteer Corps is known as Denis Kapustin or Denis Nikitin, a Russian nationalist, and the group openly supports a mono-ethnic Russian state.
In 2020, a Ukrainian investigative website claimed he was linked to neo-Nazi groups, and Nikitin has claimed in the past that he belongs to a movement of football hooligans.
The RDK accuses Russia’s traditional opposition of remaining indecisive in the war in Ukraine.
Another member of the group, named Fortuna, told the Ukrainian press last November that it numbered 120 people.
“We are a volunteer unit, we are not conscripts or contract soldiers.”
The Russian Freedom Legion is a very different organization that fights alongside Ukrainian troops against Russian forces. The group flies a blue and white flag, seen by some members of the Russian opposition as the flag of “Free Russia”.
Nikitin said that while both sought the “overthrow of the Putin regime,” the legion fighters were more inclined to describe themselves as centrists.
However, on May 22, the legion announced that it had “liberated” the Russian village of Kozinka across the Ukrainian border southwest of Belgorod.
“The Legion and the RDK continue to liberate the Belgorod region,” he said.
“Once again, the myth that Russian citizens are safe and the Russian Federation is strong has been debunked,” he added.
He then posted videos of balloons carrying his flag over Moscow.
The size of the legion is unclear, but according to its website, the group claims it “fights in full cooperation with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and under the leadership of the Ukrainian command”.
A member known as Caesar, the soldier’s most famous, insisted that “there are no people in the legion who were forced to enlist” and all the members were contract soldiers of the Ukrainian International Legion.
Although he said a small number were Russian soldiers who had surrendered to Ukrainian forces, they had done so precisely to change sides.
In response to Moscow’s decision to label it a “terrorist organization”, the group indicated that it had previously been denounced as non-existent.
There are some doubts about the military significance of the two groups. Ukrainian expert Volodymyr Fesenko says there are several units and they seem to be more concerned with public relations than real action.
Former Russian MP Ilya Ponamarev, who is now a citizen of Ukraine, said on Facebook in August 2022 that the FRL and the RDK, as well as another group called the National Republican Army, had signed a statement agreeing on the common goal to liberate Russia from Vladimir Putin’s government.
Source: Terra
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