We’re the only opposition to Putin left, say Russian soldiers fighting for Kyiv

Ukraine’s Russian units said they are the only remaining opposition to Vladimir Putin as they pleaded with the West for military support in interviews as they conducted a daring raid.

Speaking from Russian soil and operations rooms during the biggest cross-border raid since the war began, commanding officers said they were attacking Russia to resist the president’s “perverted vision of the world”.

Three Ukrainian units made up of Russian citizens – Freedom of Russia Legion (LSR), the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) and the Siberian Battalion – began an operation into the Kursk and Belgorod regions of Russia on Tuesday.

It was launched to coincide with Russia’s elections, with polls open from Friday until Sunday. It is part of a multi-pronged attack that includes Ukrainian drones shutting down three oil refineries deep within Russian territory.

Speaking from somewhere near Tyotkino, Aleksey Baranovsky, a former lawyer and political dissident who is now an LSR fighter, said they were seeking to interrupt the election and show there are still people willing to oppose “dictator” Putin.

“We are sending a message to those inside Russia, who are demoralised and lost since [Alexei] Navalny’s murder, that we are still here, willing to fight the regime,” he said.

“We also want to show Western governments and people, like those in the UK, that we are fighting the regime, the election is not legal and that, of course Putin will win, but he is not a legitimate leader,” he added.

Baranovsky urged the West to support their resistance movement “at least behind closed doors”.

Wearing a combat helmet and doused in red light, which is used for night vision on the battlefield to conserve stealth, Denis Nikitin, founder of the RDK and a notorious extremist, spoke over a secure line from another secret location.

Nikitin said: “If the West wants to win this war, they should help us … the only real opposition to Putin is us, Russian citizens who took up arms and are fighting.” Nikitin also goes by the surname Kapustin and the callsign Rex, after his white nationalist clothing brand, White Rex.

“People in the West should ask themselves – do they want to actually stop Putin or do they want to just pretend they’re helping?” he added.

European aid, Nikitin said, would allow his unit to become more effective, but they would continue to carry out cross-border operations without it.

The LSR claims to have taken control of the Kursk settlement of Tyotkino, while all units have urged civilians to evacuate and Russian soldiers to surrender.

A humanitarian corridor came into force on Thursday night to allow civilians to leave the area.

Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence, said on Thursday evening that Kursk and Belgorod are now areas of “active combat actions”, but Moscow said on Friday that it had repelled all attempts by pro-Ukrainian fighters to capture territory.

High-profile opposition leader Navalny died suddenly at a penal colony last month where he was serving a 30-year sentence. His family, allies and Western leaders have blamed Putin for his death.

Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya has urged Western countries not to recognise Putin as the legitimate leader of Russia following the elections.

‘Repeated torture’

Nikitin, who said his unit is working separately to the other two units but to largely the same goals, said he did not agree with Navalny’s political style and that his peaceful methods were not effective.

“[Navalny] didn’t achieve anything, he just died after repeated torture in prison. The only language Putin understands is armed resistance,” he said.

The RDK was recently added to Russia’s list of terrorist organisations and Nikitin was sentenced in absentia to life in prison in November, local media reported.

Born in Russia, the former mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter lived in Germany as a teenager. He moved to Ukraine in 2017, where he organised fight clubs, and was served a 10-year ban from Europe’s Schengen zone in 2019 for his ties to white nationalists and neo-Nazis.

The Siberian Battalion, the most recent unit established for Russian nationals in Ukraine, is primarily for ethnic minorities from Siberia, including Buryats, Yakuts and Tuvans. It is their first operation and it is not clear how closely they work with the RDK.

The current cross-border operation follows similar incursions in spring and summer last year, which sought to put pressure on Russia by highlighting that its national territory was poorly protected.

Security service arrests

Moscow said on Friday it had detained a man for allegedly trying to disrupt Russian air defence systems and a woman accused of preparing to attack railway infrastructure near Ukraine.

The FSB security service announced the arrests of the Russian citizens as voting began in presidential elections set to extend Vladimir Putin’s long rule.

The FSB said it had detained a man in Moscow for carrying out tasks “aimed at countering Russian air defence systems.”

It said it opened an investigation into high treason, a charge that can carry up to life in prison.

Fighters said that Russian forces were more prepared for them this time, having built defensive lines with trenches, but also that their units now had more men. The previous operations were “like a big publicity stunt”, said Baranovsky, and were followed by a wave of sign ups.

Militarily, the incursion is intended to draw Russian resources away from occupied Ukraine, with the Ukrainian military exhausted and suffering from a shortage of soldiers and ammunition.

“If Ukraine loses the war the whole of Western civilisation loses as well and in five months, or five years, you will have to fight Putin yourselves,” said Nikitin.

“Now [the West] can help us and keep Putin at bay – we will do the dirty work,” he added.