Ukraine says Russian armed groups behind border raid on Russia
Russian forces are battling a cross-border incursion by fighters – described alternatively as either armed Russian opposition groups or Ukrainian saboteurs — who crossed the Ukrainian frontier in what appeared to be one of the most daring attacks on Russian territory since Moscow’s war on Kyiv began 15 months ago.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Monday that a Ukrainian “sabotage group” had entered Russian territory in the Graivoron district bordering Ukraine and was being repelled by local forces.
Ukrainian news broadcaster Hromadske, citing Ukrainian military intelligence sources, said two armed Russian opposition groups, the Liberty of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), consisting of Russian citizens, were responsible for the attack on the Belgorod region. Little is known about the groups or their ties with the Ukrainian military. The RVC was founded last August and reportedly consists mostly of anti-Putin far-right Russian fighters who have links with Ukrainian far-right groups.
Ukraine intelligence representative Andrii Cherniak also said that Russian citizens were behind the cross-border assault.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Twitter that Ukraine had “nothing to do with it” and suggested that an “armed guerrilla movement” had emerged to oppose “a totalitarian country”.
“Ukraine is watching the events in the #Belgorod region of #Russia with interest and studying the situation,” he said.
The only driving political force in a totalitarian country of tightened screws is always an armed guerrilla movement. #Ukraine is watching the events in the #Belgorod region of #Russia with interest and studying the situation, but it has nothing to do with it. As you know, tanks…
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) May 22, 2023
Belgorod’s Governor Gladkov said he had imposed a “counterterrorism regime” allowing authorities greater powers to clamp down on people’s movement and communications. In a late-night post on Telegram, Gladkov said that in two separate attacks, houses and administrative buildings were damaged in two towns in the region, Borisovka and Graivoron.
He said earlier that at least eight people had been wounded.
Telegram channels monitoring Russia’s military activity, including the blog Rybar with more than a million subscribers, said buildings housing Russia’s Interior Ministry and the FSB security service had come under attack in the region’s main town, also known as Belgorod.
The RVC published video footage late on Monday on their Telegram social media channel which showed what the group said was a fighter inspecting a captured Russian armoured vehicle. Another video showed what it said were fighters operating an armoured vehicle on a country road inside Russian territory.
The Russian Volunteer Corps troops allegedly captured a Russian armored personnel carrier BTR82A during their incursion from Ukraine into Belgorod oblast, western Russia, on 22 May.
📹 pic.twitter.com/xsuvWLquGT— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) May 23, 2023
Other videos posted on Russian and Ukrainian social media channels showed pictures and videos of what were described as captured Russian service members and their identity documents.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed and that work was under way to drive out the “saboteurs”, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported. An effort to “push them out from the Russian territory and liquidate them” was under way, he said.
Peskov described the action as an attempt by Ukraine to divert attention from the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Moscow claimed to have captured after months of battle but where Kyiv says it is still fighting.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, posted several video clips from social media about the attacks and the groups involved in the incursion, including a video purportedly showing a Freedom of Russia Legion flag attached to balloons and reportedly flying in Moscow.
Russian media report that the buildings of FSB (Federal Security Bureau) and internal affairs ministry were under strike in Belgorod, Russia.
Reportedly, the buildings were attacked by drones. pic.twitter.com/rJrN4QKfg6
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) May 22, 2023
Russia’s RIA Novosti state-owned news agency wrote that the cross-border operation was “exclusively” for media and public relations purposes and designed to sow panic in the Russian public and influence perceptions of events in the region.
The Telegram channel Baza, which has links to Russia’s security services, said there were indications of fighting in three settlements along the main road leading into Russia.
The “Open Belgorod” Telegram channel said power and water had been cut off in several villages.
The Liberty of Russia Legion said on Twitter it had “completely liberated” the border town of Kozinka. It said forward units had reached the district centre of Graivoron, further east.
“Moving on. Russia will be free!” the group wrote.
The Legion and the RVC completely liberated n/a Kozinka, Belgorod Oblast. Forward units have entered Graivoron.
Moving on.
Russia will be free!
— “Liberty of Russia” Legion (@legion_svoboda) May 22, 2023
Early in March, Russia’s FSB security service reported an incursion from Ukraine into Russia’s Bryansk region. In videos circulating online at the time, armed men saying they belonged to the Russian Volunteer Corps said they had crossed the border to fight what they called “the bloody Putinite and Kremlin regime”.
The RVC was founded last August by Denis Kapustin, a Ukraine-based Russian nationalist, and announced on May 17 that it was joining forces with the Liberty of Russia Legion, which calls itself the Freedom of Russia Legion in English.
The group says it has made at least three incursions into the Bryansk region since March.
