Armed incursions into Russia: a “success”, say anti-Putin fighters

PUT À DAY

Two groups of fighters on the Ukrainian side who have claimed responsibility for an incursion in the past two days in a Russian border region on Wednesday boasted of the “success” of their operation which, according to them, showed the weakness of Russian defenses.

Speaking to reporters in northern Ukraine not far from the Russian border, the founder of one such group, Denis Kapustin of the Russian Volunteer Corps, said that having entered Russia and to have returned to Ukraine “can be considered a success”.

The attack that pro-Ukrainian fighters refer to took place on Monday in the Belgorod region , when Moscow reported the incursion of groups of “saboteurs” from Ukraine, the most serious incident of this type which was accompanied by Ukrainian bombardments on Russian villages which left one dead and 13 injured.

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“The operation is in progress. It has several phases, ”assured Mr. Kapoustin, a well-known figure in the hooligan and far-right milieu in Russia who settled before the war in Ukraine where he organized MMA fights and owned a clothing brand.

According to him, this type of incursion forces the Russian army to move “a large number” of forces, thus emptying other parts of the border and the front.

The spokesman for the other group that claimed responsibility for the incursion, “Caesar” of the “Russian Freedom Legion”, called the operation “incredible” while posing in front of an armored vehicle which he assured was a “trophy” taken from Russian forces.

A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, “Caesar” has been identified by Russian investigative media as a member of the far-right imperialist and nationalist nebula Russian.

The fighters, who numbered around 30 before the press, said they spent nearly 24 hours in Russian territory before returning to Ukraine in the early hours of Wednesday.

Moscow claimed on Tuesday that it repelled the incursion with artillery and aviation and eliminated “more than 70 Ukrainian terrorists”.

The fighters, who define themselves as “right-wing conservatives and traditionalists”, for their part assured that they had only two wounded. 

Some have openly displayed themselves in the past as being neo-Nazis.

< p>According to Mr. Kapustin, Moscow's reaction to this incursion showed that “the military and political leadership in Russia is absolutely not ready to deal with such things”.

“I want to prove to them that we can fight against tyrants and that Putin's power is not unlimited”, he added, ensuring that he fight against “injustice” and “torture”.

While Ukraine denied any responsibility for the incursion, Kapustin said Kyiv had “encouraged” them without providing weapons or equipment.

Images released by Russian authorities showed vehicles used by fighters during the incursion and later captured, identified by the American newspaper New York Times as American MRAPs.

If Ukraine received more than 500 from Washington, “Caesar” assured to have bought these “in war shops”.

Russia promised Wednesday an “extremely firm” response in the event of new armed incursions, two days after the most serious attack of groups from Ukraine on Russian territory since the beginning of the conflict with Ukraine.