JRL NEWSWATCH: “Who are the militias raiding Russia’s Belgorod region? They have links to Ukrainian military intelligence and, in some cases, to the far right” – The Economist
“… [Recently] two militias … oppos[ing] … Putin — the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Free Russia Legion — claimed to have ‘liberated’ several border villages [in the Russian region of Belgorod]. The groups appear to be based in Ukraine …. [and] Russia says … the militias are a front for the Ukrainian army; [but] Ukraine insists … they are composed of Russian dissidents. The reality is somewhere in between. Both militias do indeed recruit disaffected Russian nationals. Both … co-ordinate their activities with hur, Ukraine’s military-intelligence agency[] … [but] have no formal connection to the Ukrainian government. That allows Ukrainian officials to distance themselves … however implausibly. The Kremlin sought to downplay the embarrassing security breach. … [T]he Russian defence ministry claimed to have killed or expelled all … militia fighters from Belgorod … [but] provided no evidence. A Ukrainian intelligence source [suggests that] … the operation in Belgorod … undermine[s][] Putin’s domestic authority: if a strongman can’t guarantee security, what is the point of him? … [The source also suggests that the incursions could prompt the Kremlin] to pull Russian military reserves away from … the front … in the run-up to a long-planned Ukrainian counter-offensive. …”
The Free Russia Legion and Russian Volunteer Corps formed in 2022. Earlier this year, they spearheaded an incursion from Ukraine into Bryansk, another border region.
The two groups diverge with regard to management structure and beliefs. The Free Russia Legion is more loosely organized and is closer to hur. The Russian Volunteer Corps is more tightly managed but has far-right leanings.
Ukrainian intelligence declares that their own focus presently is on the survival of Ukraine, and that they are therefore essentially prepared to work with diverse parties.
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