Russia: dozens of Belgorod attackers killed

[pieter]

Russia: dozens of Belgorod attackers killed


Telegram Image caption, Verified footage showed a helicopter flying low over the area (Source BBC)

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the militant groups that carried out attacks on the Russian army and police in the border region of Belgorod have been defeated. The groups are said to have been pushed back across the border into Ukraine. Seventy of these 'terrorists' were said to have been killed in the fighting, the ministry reports in a statement quoted by the RIA news agency.

Russia provides no evidence of defeating the groups. The claim of the ministry cannot be independently verified.

Link NOS (Source:) nos.nl/liveblog/2476004-eu-chef-borrell-training-f-16-piloten-begonnen-rusland-tientallen-aanvallers-belgorod-gedood

[pieter]

NOS News•
today, 12:46
•Adapted today, 4:01 PM

Who are the Russians who 'invaded' Russia? And what is the role of Ukraine?

Chiem Balduk
Foreign editor


Reuters - Members of the Russian Volunteer Corps posed in a handout picture at Kozinka

It remains unsettled in the Russian region of Belgorod. Russian insurgents invaded the border region from Ukraine yesterday morning. Despite a large-scale 'anti-terror operation', the Russian authorities do not yet seem to have succeeded in regaining control of the area. Two Russian groups in Ukraine have claimed responsibility for the attack. Both emerged last year, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Here's what we do and don't know right now.

Who are they?

The Legion of Freedom for Russia (Legion Svoboda Rossija) was the first to claim involvement yesterday. The legion says it consists of defected Russian soldiers. Initially it concerned 'over a hundred' Russians, now they claim to have many more men. Their intention is to drive the "murderers and looters" out of the Kremlin and end the war with Ukraine.

The Belgian journalist Arnaud de Decker traveled to the front with the legion last December. The legion consists of a mixed bag of Russians, he says. Not only deserters, but also Russian prisoners of war join the fight. "They say they do in-depth research to check whether such a person is not a spy. For example, they say they work with a lie detector."

The other group, the Russian Volunteer Corps, was founded in the summer of 2022 by the well-known neo-Nazi football hooligan Denis Nikitin. Due to his far-right ties, he has been banned from entering the European Schengen zone. It is widely believed that his militia crossed the Russian border once before in a small-scale operation, the purpose of which has remained unknown. The corps has been approached for an interview, but says it will only talk in exchange for donations.

The size of both groups seems small. On social media, they eagerly share videos of their combat training and actions, showing only small groups.

What have they achieved so far?

Much is unclear about the situation in Belgorod. It is certain that the Russian groups were present in at least four places, of which Grajvoron is the most important. Explosives were also reported last night at an FSB secret service office in Belgorod and a government building in Borisovka. Russia says one dead and 12 injured. It is unclear whether the insurgents have taken up permanent positions.



The political goal is more important than the military success, says Eastern Europe expert Bob Deen of the Clingendael Institute. "Russia's hubris and incompetence has been exposed. They failed to guard the border and stop this action quickly. So the goal - demonstrating Russian weakness - has actually already been achieved. Moreover, the war has been brought to Russia ."

He points out that in this action Russian tactics are now being used against Russia itself. "They are 'rebels' armed to attack their own country, similar to the Russian meddling in Donetsk and Luhansk in 2014." Online people are already making fun of the 'People's Republic of Belgorod', which will vote in favor of joining Ukraine in a manipulated referendum.

Wich role does Ukraine play?

The existence of the "operation to liberate areas from the Putin regime" has been confirmed by Kyiv, but participation in the action is denied. It is inconceivable that the Ukrainian army is not aware of the operation, if the actions started from the Ukrainian border. "As long as the scale remains small, and for example no air support is provided, Ukraine can get away with that denial," says Deen.

The two Russian groups say they operate independently from Ukraine, although the Freedom Legion serves under Ukrainian command. They also wear Ukrainian insignia. "It is of course part of the strategy to keep the status vague," says Brigadier General Han Bouwmeester of the Dutch Defense Academy. He is keeping all options open for now, including the possibility that Russia itself is behind the actions. In addition, it is wise for Kyiv to keep its distance because of the extreme right-wing background of the clubs.

How does Russia react?

Russia says it will eliminate the 'saboteurs' with an anti-terror operation. That operation is said to have been completed, although there is no independent evidence for this. For a long time nothing was reported about arrests or disabled soldiers. The Ministry of Defense now claims no less than seventy deaths, without clear evidence.

Initially, an attempt was made to downplay the situation, says Eastern Europe expert Deen. Fierce war rhetoric towards Ukraine failed to materialise. But this afternoon, former president Medvedev still came up with the usual verbal abuse. He spoke of "Ukrainian saboteurs" who must be destroyed "like rats". The West is also held jointly responsible for the actions.

How risky is this situation?

In the Russian war in Ukraine there is constant talk of 'red lines' being crossed or not. Invading Russia could be interpreted by the Kremlin as an escalation, especially if Western weaponry was used. "However, the Ukrainians have a lot of weapons and tanks captured from Russia that they can use," says Deen. Nevertheless, one American armored vehicle has been spotted so far, according to an overview of the Dutch military weblog Oryx.

The operation of the Russian groups may have been completed by now. Reports of new attacks remain out today. "We welcome the new day in the liberated area and move on," was the latest message from the Freedom Legion this morning.


Russia says it routed the fighters from both groups - the Liberty of Russia Legion (pictured) and the Russian Volunteer Corps

[pieter]

NOS News•
yesterday, 21:20

Unrest due to attacks by 'Ukrainian' saboteurs in the Russian region of Belgorod



A crashed helicopter, shelling and shocked exclamations in videos: various images of military developments in the Russian region of Belgorod, close to the border with Ukraine, are circulating on social media. Russian authorities say Ukraine is behind the attacks, but Ukraine points to Russian militias.

According to Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the region, a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group has entered Grajvoron district and fighting has been ongoing in the Belgorod region by Ukrainian forces since this morning. Gladkov wrote that in a post on Telegram.

The governor later reported in a live stream that eight people were injured in the attacks. There would have been no deaths. Three houses, an office and a kindergarten are also said to have been damaged.

Due to the attacks, Gladkov announced special "anti-terrorism measures" such as ID checks. According to the governor, most people in Grajvoron district have now left their homes.

Kremlin adviser Dmitri Peskov also points to Ukraine and speaks of a "Ukrainian sabotage group", Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reports. According to Peskov, Ukraine is trying to divert attention from Bachmut with the attacks.

Russian militias


Members of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVK)

But on their own Telegram channel, a group calling itself the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVK) is claiming the attacks. And the Ukrainian intelligence services also point to Russian militias.

The RVK would not be the only group active in the region. A group calling itself the "Freedom of Russia Legion" posted a video today calling on Russians to "take responsibility for their future". The group was founded shortly after the invasion of Russia and then wrote in a manifesto that it wanted to overthrow the Putin regime. Today, the group again opposed United Russia, the party that supports Putin.

The Freedom of Russia Legion also actively reported on their Telegram channel during the day. For example, the group reported that it had liberated various places in the region together with the RVK.

In one of the videos the group posted to Telegram today, two men in military clothing can be seen while gunfire is heard in the background. "The news from the fields of Belgorod is not long in coming."

'Underground guerrilla groups'


Members of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVK)

An adviser to Ukrainian President Zelensky, Mychajlo Podoljak, says that although Ukraine is following developments with interest, it is not involved. "As you know, tanks are sold in every Russian military store and there are underground guerrilla groups made up of Russian citizens," Podaljak tweeted.

However, Ukrainian news medium Suspilne reports that a spokesman for the Ukrainian security services, Andri Yusov, has said that the RVK and the Freedom of Russia Legion are conducting an operation in Belgorod to "create a security strip" to protect Ukrainian citizens. The operation was to be carried out exclusively by Russian citizens. He then told the American news channel CNN that the groups are "part of defense and security forces" but operate as independent entities in Russia.

It is not the first time that the RVK has claimed an attack on Russian territory. Earlier this spring there were attacks in Bryansk, for which much remained unclear, but for which the RVK eventually claimed responsibility. The group was labeled a 'terrorist organization' by the Russian Supreme Court in March this year. The images that circulated on social media then led to unrest among the Russian population.

Even then, the Ukrainian authorities denied involvement in the attacks. The leader of the RVK, the far-right Denis Kapustin, then told the Financial Times in an interview that the actions had indeed been agreed with the Ukrainian authorities.


A bullet and shrapnel-riddled signpost on the road to the Russian city of Belgorod [File: Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo]

[pieter]

The Russian Volunteer Corps


The logo of the Russian Volunteer Corps (Русский добровольческий корпус)

The Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC; Russian: Русский добровольческий корпус, РДК, romanized: Russkiy dobrovol'cheskiy korpus, RDK) is a Russian nationalist paramilitary unit based in Ukraine. It was formed in August 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to fight against the Russian regime of Vladimir Putin. The group's founder Denis Nikitin, and the group itself, have been described as far-right or neo-Nazi. Nikitin claims the group consists of Russian emigrants who are primarily united by their opposition to Putin. The group claims to be part of Ukraine's armed forces, but Ukrainian military officials say it is independent.

It claimed responsibility for a March 2023 attack in Bryansk Oblast, Russia. The Russian government claimed a Ukrainian group carried out the cross-border "terrorist attack" and killed two civilians. The Ukrainian government denied involvement, calling it either a false-flag operation or an attack by anti-government partisans within Russia. In May 2023 it reportedly took part in a cross-border raid into the Belgorod region of Russia, alongside the Freedom of Russia Legion.

Origin and aims


The Flag of the Russian volunteer Corps

The Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) was founded in August 2022 by Denis Nikitin (real surname Kapustin), who has been described in media as a neo-Nazi football hooligan. He was born in Moscow, and moved to Germany in 2001 and lived there for several years; he returned to Russia in 2008 and founded the clothing brand White Rex before moving to Ukraine in 2017, where he was involved with far-right movements. According to Reuters, he has described himself as a "nationalist fighting for a Russia that belongs to ethnic Russians" but "has rejected the neo-Nazi and white supremacist characterisations".

The RVC announced its formation with a statement released on a newly-created Telegram channel, which read in part: "We Russian volunteers living in Ukraine have decided to take up arms and create a military formation – the Russian Volunteer Corps – so that, together with our Ukrainian comrades-in-arms, we can defend their homeland, which shelters us, and then continue the fight against Putin's criminal regime. ... To divert the attention of the population from internal political problems, the [Russian] regime offered society another bond – the concept of the 'Russian world', although for some reason it decided to build it on the territory of Ukraine, and not in Moscow, which has not been part of such a world for a long time."

Nikitin said that the RVC consists of ethnic Russians fighting for Ukraine against Russia's invasion. He explained that Russian nationalism "has turned completely the wrong way" and posted a video urging white nationalists to fight Putin because Russia had turned into a police state. Nikitin spoke negatively about Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy because he is Jewish and "promotes the worst of liberal values", but stated that Putin is worse. In October 2022, the RVC published its manifesto, identifying itself as "part of Ukraine's Armed Forces", although Ukrainian officials did not comment on this claim.

According to the Ukrainian news agency Glavcom, the RVC was formed by Russian volunteers who had started fighting for Ukraine in the Azov Regiment and other units in 2014. According to Polish news agency Vot Tak, unlike the Freedom of Russia Legion, the leadership of the corps does not rely on Russian POWs-turned-defectors, but on Russian right-wing emigrants living in Ukraine. The RVC use the symbols of the Russian Liberation Army, which collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II.

The RVC's declared aims are to overthrow Putin's government and form an ethnically Russian nation-state. It says Russia should abandon its imperial ambitions and instead focus on improving the well-being of ethnic Russians.

Relation to other Russian armed opposition

According to Gordonua.com, the RVC was part of press conference on 31 August 2022 with the Freedom of Russia Legion and the National Republican Army. Ilya Ponomarev—political head of the National Republican Army—signed an agreement on political co-operation with the Freedom of Russia Legion, and claimed the Russian Volunteer Corps also agreed to join the agreement. However, Meduza reports that the RVC does not collaborate with the Freedom of Russia Legion due to "ideological differences".

Bryansk Oblast attack


Image from the video released on March 2 by the "Russian Volunteer Corps" showing its fighters in the village of Lyubechan, Bryansk region (Russian). CAPTURE TELEGRAM

On 2 March 2023, the Russian authorities claimed that an armed Ukrainian group crossed the border and carried out a "terrorist attack" in the villages of Lyubechane and Sushany, in Bryansk Oblast. Russia said the attackers fired on a car, killing two civilians, before the Federal Security Service forced them back into Ukraine. On 9 March, Russia launched a barrage of missile strikes at Ukrainian civilian infrastructure in what it called "retaliation" for the attack. The Russian Volunteer Corps claimed responsibility for the alleged cross-border raid, and posted videos of armed men in Lyubechane with their insignia, urging Russians to "rise up and fight" against the government.


According to Russian sources the attackers killed two civilians and wounded a child in the village of Lyubechane.

Ukrainian officials denied involvement, saying it was either a Russian false flag attack or a case of Russians rebelling against their government. Ukrainian military officials said the Russian Volunteer Corps was an "independent" group. Ilya Ponomarev, political representative of the Freedom of Russia Legion, said the RVC has contacts with the Ukrainian military but operates in a "gray area".

On 6 April 2023, the Russian Volunteer Corps again claimed to have crossed the border into Bryansk Oblast, entering the village of Sluchovsk. While Russian authorities claimed that an attempted incursion was prevented, the Russian Volunteer Corps released video showing them inside the village. During the incursion, combat operations were allegedly carried out.

Belgorod Oblast attack



In May 2023, the RVC, alongside the Freedom of Russia Legion, according to Ukrainian media citing Ukrainian military intelligence, launched an incursion into Russia, this time in Grayvoronsky District, Belgorod Oblast; videos that circulated online showed armed men who said they belonged to the RVC saying they had crossed the border to fight "the bloody Putinite and Kremlin regime". The governor of Belgorod Oblast said that a Ukrainian "sabotage group" had entered the region and authorities said that a "counterterrorism regime" was introduced.

[pieter]

[pieter]

[pieter]

[pieter]

[pieter]

NOS News•
today, 19:46

Grand plans among Russian rebels: 'Invasion went better than expected'

The invasion of pro-Ukrainian Russian insurgents in the Belgorod region has been successful, according to the pro-Ukrainian Russian insurgents themselves. In an interview with NOS, the Dutch Broadcasting Foundation, the leader of Russia's Legion of Freedom, Ilya Ponomarev, claims the raid was successful. Russia says that all invaders have been chased away, but that is not true, he says. "We maintain control over a border strip of 40 kilometers."

On Monday, the group invaded Russia from Ukraine. According to Ponomarev, the raid went better than expected. The intention is to retain control of a strip of land and start the new, 'free' Russia there. Two people were killed and ten injured in the operation.

He does not comment on troop strength for security reasons. He does claim to have four battalions, in addition to a battalion of the neo-Nazi Russian Volunteer Corps. A battalion usually consists of hundreds of men. According to Ponomarev, the local Russian authorities have fled. "The locals left behind are open and very nice."

Ponomarev's claims cannot be independently verified. There have been no new reports of combat action since yesterday. The far-right Russian Volunteer Corps, with which Ponomarev works, shares images of the alleged presence on Telegram, but it cannot be determined when they were taken.


Ilya Vladimirovich Ponomarev (Russian: Илья́ Влади́мирович Пономарёв, Ukrainian: Ілля Володимирович Пономарьов, romanized: Illia Volodymyrovych Ponomaŕov; born 6 August 1975) is a Russian-Ukrainian politician who was a member of the State Duma from 2007 to 2016. Ponomarev was a member of the State Duma, the Russian parliament, for many years. In 2014, he was the only member of the Duma to vote against the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. He has been leading opposition to the Kremlin from Kyiv since 2016. The Legion of Freedom for Russia was set up shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine with deserting Russian soldiers.

Russian Defense Minister Shoygu says "more than 70 terrorists have been destroyed". He announces that there will be "extremely hard and fast" response to further actions. Footage of captured vehicles and a charred body was shown as evidence of the shutdown. The Kremlin consistently speaks of Ukrainian rather than Russian "saboteurs."

The Ukrainian government says it is not involved in the operation, although Kyiv was aware of the plans. President Zelensky's chief security adviser also warns that there could be more raids in Russian border regions.

"This operation was set up entirely by Russians," Ponomarev says firmly. "All soldiers are Russian and work autonomously, but we are part of the Ukrainian army. We got the green light, but the planning and implementation was in the hands of Russians." Ponomarev leaves in the middle where exactly the green light has been given.

The Legion's political leader says he is in contact with the headquarters of the Ukrainian armed forces. "We have informed them about the operation, but that is difficult because we are still in the process." He said there was excitement at the news. After all, the invasion of Belgorod means that Russia has to better secure its northeastern border with Ukraine, at the expense of deployment at the front.



Shadow Parliament

The Russian opposition to President Putin consists of many different factions, largely in exile. Ponomarev tries to unite all branches, but leaders such as oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky or anti-corruption fighter Navalny are holding back for the time being.

Ponomarev has set up a shadow parliament with dozens of refugee opposition politicians. White-blue-white has been chosen as the flag: the Russian tricolor but without the 'red of blood'. "Combined with the armed resistance, we can bring about political change."

Ponomarev is positive about the chances of a revolution in Russia. "There is a lot of dissatisfaction in the Russian elite, because the war is being lost and they have a lot of problems because of the sanctions. But they don't take action because there is no leader and there is no organized resistance." His hope is that his movement will be embraced as an alternative to 'the Putin regime'.

"If Russia is defeated in Ukraine, the regime will disintegrate. We already see many cracks and we are pressing on that," said Ponomarev. "This year will be the last year of the current government. I am convinced of that."

[pieter]

Tanks like these are sold at any Russian military store." Insurgents in Belgorod | Ilya Ponomarev



TVP World
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31.458 weergaven 23 mei 2023 #TVPWorld

The recent events unfolding in Belgorod Oblast have drawn significant attention to the turmoil within Russia. Volunteer combatants from the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion have initiated the fight against Putin's regime and the Kremlin's war. To provide insights into these developments, the implications of the events in Belgorod, the vulnerabilities exposed within Russia, and the potential consequences of the war in Ukraine we were joined by Ilya Ponomarev, Russian politician and a delegate to the Congress of People's Deputies.

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