The “Russian Volunteer Corps” (RDK), which claimed responsibility for the attack on border villages in the Briansk region, coordinated its actions with the Ukrainian authorities. On this subject said RDK commander Denis Nikitin in an interview with the Financial Times.
“Yes, of course, this action was agreed (with the Ukrainian authorities), otherwise it could not have happened,” Nikitin said.
The RDK commander stressed that if the Ukrainian army had not given its consent to this operation, it would most likely have ended in failure.
“How do you imagine I walked there in the dark of night?” There are mined bridges, there are cameras, heat-seeking drones, hidden observation posts. If I didn’t coordinate with anyone, I think we would just be destroyed,” Nikitin said.
He also confirmed that during the attack in one of the villages where RDK fighters infiltrated there was a shooting, but did not specify with whom. At the same time, according to Nikitin, he does not know the victims.
Denis NikitinShot: BAZA Telegram channel
“Ukrainian saboteurs” in the Bryansk region
On the morning of March 2, the governor of the Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, and the media reported that Ukrainian saboteurs had entered the region. According to state news agencies and telegram channels, the fighting took place in two border villages of the Bryansk region – in Sushany and Lyubechany.
Initially, the media wrote that during the raid the Ukrainians took the inhabitants of Lubechan hostage, but later this information was denied. At the same time, according to local authorities and media, two civilians were killed in the attack, and a boy was also injured.
Soon a video appeared on social media in which fighters from the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), a unit of Russian immigrants fighting alongside Ukraine, take responsibility for what happened in the region. from Bryansk. In one of these recordings, the commander of the RDK, Denis Nikitin, stands in front of a building with a sign reading “Lyubechansky feldsher-obstetric station”.
The Russian Volunteer Corps is part of the International Legion of Ukraine, which was formed in August 2022 from immigrants from Russia. Some of them have been fighting alongside Ukraine since 2014. The corps commander is Denis Kapustin (Nikitin), also known as White Rex. Many RDK fighters, including Nikitin, are ultra-right supporters.
On March 3, the FSB also released a video showing two civilian vehicles with supposedly dead men inside. One of these cars, judging by the footage, was shot down with small arms. No other official footage from the scene has been released.
Sergei Bobylev / TASS
How Russia, Ukraine and RDK commented on the incident
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the incident a “terrorist attack” and also said undercover saboteurs “opened fire on civilians”. The FSB reported an “exit of Ukrainian nationalists” in the border region.
The Ukrainian authorities, in turn, deny their involvement in the incident in the Bryansk region. In particular, Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, called the reports of a “Ukrainian sabotage group” a “classic provocation”. According to him, with the help of this information, the Russian authorities “want to frighten their people”. At the same time, Podolyak urged the Russians to “be afraid of their supporters”.
RDK representatives themselves say that their action was informative and propaganda in nature. They also claim that they did not fire on civilians.
