(Kyiv) Russian fighters, allied with Ukraine against the Kremlin, assured Thursday that they would continue their armed incursions into Russia, boasting of having opened a new “front” in the conflict.
Since last week, these groups have said they have repeatedly infiltrated the Russian border regions of Belgorod and Kursk, with the Russian army claiming to have repelled their assaults.
Their operations have in any case increased pressure on Russian localities close to Ukraine, also subject to deadly bombings in retaliation for Russian strikes on Ukrainian territory.
On Thursday, during a press conference in Kyiv, they assured that their struggle would continue and would soon extend to “other cities”.
“It is undoubtedly no exaggeration to say that we have opened a second front, by carrying out large-scale military action in enemy territory,” said Denis Nikitin, the leader of one of these groups, the Volunteer Corps. Russians.
This nationalist is linked to the extreme right and to the world of hooliganism.
He assured that his aim was to “raise the banner” of his group above the Kremlin and to set up a “nationalist-oriented government”.
The Russian Volunteer Corps conducts its armed operations with the Siberian Battalion as well as the Russian Freedom Legion.
This third group, with a more moderate conservative program, hopes to attract Russian supporters of Alexeï Navalny, the main opponent of the Kremlin, who died in prison in February.
Ukrainian “support”
These fighters broadcast videos via social networks in which we see them armed to the teeth and installed in tanks.
They claim the footage is filmed on Russian territory and shows them firing at the Russian army, but their claims cannot be independently verified.
According to Denis Nikitin, these land infiltrations should force Russia to withdraw soldiers from the front so that they can defend the border regions.
They began shortly before the Russian presidential election, largely won on Sunday by Vladimir Putin who faced no real opponent.
For these fighters, these operations also constitute the only way to transform their country, where no dissent is tolerated, even if the civilian border populations risk paying the price.
“Peaceful demonstrations do not work,” judged one of the members of the Siberian Battalion, who introduced himself under his nom de guerre “Kholod” (“Cold” in Russian).
Alexei Baranovsky, another fighter, said they had the “support” of Ukrainian authorities.
“The military infrastructure of our unit is interconnected with the structures of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense,” assured Denis Nikitin.
These groups, which had already carried out short incursions of the same type last summer, are however “not strong enough” at present to take lasting control of Russian localities, he admitted.