The Russian Militias Taking Vengeance Against Moscow

The Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps were formed following last year’s invasion. Now they are bringing the fight to the Kremlin

- Kim Sengupta

The fighters are exuberant after their cross-border mission, showing off a captured BRT armoured car and machine guns among their battle trophies, while vowing further attacks in a long campaign and predicting Vladimir Putin’s downfall.

They have not invaded Russia on Ukraine’s behalf, but started a war of liberation, declares Denis Kapustin, the head of the Russian Volunteer Corps at a camp in northeastern Ukraine. “We went back to our homeland. There were no Ukrainian soldiers with us; they will not appear in the territory of the Russian Federation. This is our internal problem,” he insists.

The group, along with another anti-Putin militia, the Freedom of Russia Legion, claim that they were answering a cry for help from the people of Belgorod, the region in which they have taken over a few villages amid much publicity. The deputy commander of the Freedom of Russia Legion, call sign Caesar, says: “Not long ago, as you know, Russian Su-35s [warplanes] dropped two bombs over Belgorod. After this, we began to receive letters from local residents with a request to demilitarise the region.