Russia said Tuesday it had deployed jets and artillery to destroy an armed group that penetrated the border from Ukraine, while the Kremlin demanded the military prevent any repeat attack.
The incursion was the most serious since Moscow launched its large-scale offensive in Ukraine last year, prompting the Kremlin to express “deep concern” and the evacuation of nine villages in the southern region of Belgorod.
The defence ministry’s announcement that it resorted to the air force and artillery on Russian territory confirmed an unprecedented use of force domestically since the offensive began.
Who are those groups and how they operate?
Two groups of Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine have jointly claimed responsibility for an armed incursion into Russia’s Belgorod region: The Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and the Freedom of Russia Legion (FRL). Both groups have disclosed little about the financing, numbers, or degree of support they receive from Ukraine.
The RVC is better known because, in April, its fighters carried out a high-profile mission into Russia’s Bryansk region bordering Ukraine.
Leaders
The RVC says it has “right-wing-conservative beliefs.”
Its founder, Denis Kapustin—also known as Denis Nikitin—has links to the far-right and football hooliganism. It previously organized mixed martial arts fighting events and ran a clothing brand called White Rex.
Russia has declared him a terrorist.
The RVC posted a video of the incursion, showing a ginger-bearded man wearing the unit’s logo.
The Agentstvo website identified him as Alexei Levkin, founder of a neo-Nazi website called Wotanjugend and previously served in Ukraine’s Azov battalion.
The Freedom of Russia Legion’s political leader is former Russian lawmaker Ilya Ponomaryov, the only MP to vote against the annexation of Crimea and who later moved to Ukraine.
Russia has ruled it is a terrorist organization.
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s rolling war news show featured a fighter from the Legion with the call sign Caesar. Agentstvo wrote that he was linked to a Russian white supremacist organization, Imperial Legion, around a decade ago.
Missions
The RVC says it is now carrying out sabotage and reconnaissance missions.
In March, a fighter in the Corps with the call sign Fortune told AFP that it coordinates with Ukrainian armed forces on Ukrainian soil but takes on missions to Russia at its own risk.
He said it had “hundreds” of fighters.
The Legion calls itself a “partisan” movement with political and military wings.
Its website says it was founded in the spring of 2022 to drive Russian troops out of Ukraine and then “build a new free Russia.”
There needs to be more information about its role in the fighting.
It says it carries out direct action to damage or destroy Russia’s railway tracks and military infrastructure.
Equipment
Ponomaryov told Britain’s LBC radio this week that Ukrainians are “helping us in training our forces and providing us with the necessary equipment.”
The Legion wrote on Twitter that it has French RT61 heavy mortars.
The RVC posted a video of fighters riding on an armored personnel carrier that it said was a trophy belonging to Russia’s FSB security service, which oversees border guards.
Russia reactions
Wagner mercenary group, founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, blamed the incident on the failures of the Russian state.
Miroslava Salazar with AFP
