Two Kiev-based paramilitary operations claimed credit for a terror attack upon civilians in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, killing one and wounding some two dozen. The so-called “Russian Volunteer Corps” (RDK) of neo-Nazi Denys Nikitin (aka Kapustin) also had claimed the cross-border attack on the Bryansk Oblast, there shooting at passengers in cars, killing two and wounding a 10-year-old-boy on the way to school. Evidently, the less well-known “Free Russia Legion” (RFL) took part in the affair yesterday with the RDK.
In a statement today, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that a Ukrainian nationalist unit had crossed the border following intensive artillery shelling of an international checkpoint, according to RT. “The Kiev regime, having suffered a defeat in the city of Artyomovsk [known as Bakhmut in Ukraine], switched to the implementation of terrorist actions against the civilian population.” The MOD stated that artillery fire, airstrikes, and the actions of border guards completely destroyed the invaders. “The remnants of the nationalists were driven back to the territory of Ukraine, where they continued to be hit until they were completely eliminated.” RT reported that the statement claimed that over 70 Ukrainian terrorists, four armored combat vehicles, and five pickup trucks had been destroyed in the process. The ministry also published a video purportedly showing the destruction of the Ukrainian saboteur group.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s GUR Andrey Yusov disavowed any official connection to the assault. The GUR had previously disclaimed the March 2 assault in Bryansk, but Nikitin reported at the time that Kiev officials had signed off on the raid. Further, the head of the GUR, Kyrylo Budanov, has bragged about the GUR’s involvement in assassinations, bombings and sabotage inside Russia. Just last Tuesday, May 16 in his interview with blogger Sergey Ivano, Budanov claimed that Kiev has been “working” with figures within Russia’s opposition movements, and that it was “absolutely obvious” they were doing so. Budanov is on record as claiming the right to kill any Russian, anytime, anywhere.
The core of the RDK was recruited from ethnic Russians who in 2014 had volunteered for the original Azov Brigade. Its leader, Nikitin, is infamous for his “White Rex” clothing brand (which sports neo-Nazi insignia), and for his recruitment operation’s use of “white rock” bands and fight clubs. While he is simply labeled in the West as a “football hooligan,” he himself admits that he doesn’t know or support any teams. Rather, he attends matches to initiate brawls. His recent video warns white nationalists to not fall for Putin’s nationalism, but fight against Putin. After claiming that Zelenskyy, a Jew, “promotes the worst of liberal values,” he states that Putin is worse. The RDK’s October 2022 manifesto states that they are “part of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.” They employ the symbols of the World War II Nazi collaborators, the Russian Liberation Army.
The raid employed U.S. armored vehicles, some of which were left in Belgorod when the raiders fled. Today Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said that the US “did not approve of the transfer of equipment to any third parties,” such as “paramilitary groups that are not part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
