2023-06-11 17:35:04
The voice of Serhiy Bohdanovskiy resounds on the immense Freedom Square of Kharkiv, bathed in light. The young commander of the “Skhid” (“East” special unit, linked to the Azov battalion), under the authority of the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, follows daily from his base in Kharkiv the incursions of anti-Kremlin groups into the Russian region of Belgorod, on the other side of the border, about thirty kilometers away.
“These are operations carried out in Russia by Russians. It is not for Ukraine to claim a part of Russian territory.Nevertheless, the people of Belgorod now understand that the Kremlin does not protect them and leaves them to their fate,” he said, taking long puffs on an electronic cigarette. Serhiy Bohdanovskiy teasingly imagines the “attachment” of Russian territories to Ukraine. «If there was a popular will expressed to join Ukraine, which has proven that it cares about its citizens, it should be studied. Out of humanity…” he adds hilarious.
The specter of a “People’s Republic of Belgorod”
Since May 22, two armed formations made up of Russian opponents of Vladimir Putin have been carrying out these so-called “liberation” operations in the Belgorod region. The Legion for the Freedom of Russia (LSR), an aggregate of various profiles, and the openly far-right Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), destroyed or seized Russian military equipment and held some localities for several days .
These formations have also raised the specter of a “self-determination referendum” aimed at creating a “People’s Republic of Belgorod”, on the model of entities invented from scratch by the Kremlin in Donetsk and Luhansk. The confusion, fueled for a time by the participation of a Polish volunteer corps, caused a wave of refugees and a hasty redeployment of the Russian army, visibly taken by surprise.
The fact that LSR and RDK circulated freely on both sides of the border, equipped with Western weapons and vehicles previously delivered to Ukraine, betrays a complicity, at least passive, of Kiev. But “it remains a Russian operation”, insists Serhiy Bohdanovskiy, stroking a hipster beard: “No Ukrainian soldier has set foot in Russia. » Which does not prevent him from congratulating himself “of this brilliant find of our information service (GUR). This diversion creates discord between Prigojine, Guerassimov and the others, it sows doubt in Russian society… The advantages for the Ukrainian war effort are obvious. »
“War coming back to them is only fair”
The images of Belgorod affect the inhabitants of Kharkiv all the more as the population is historically and culturally close to it. Maria Takhtaulova, historian, recalls that in 1918 the first People’s Republic of Ukraine claimed this region as part of the Ukrainian ethnographic basin. Eventually falling to Soviet Russia, the area saw its ethnolinguistic composition changed in the 20th century.
“But it is not uncommon to come across people speaking Ukrainian in the countryside,” assures Maria Takhtaulova. The acts of sabotage that have been shaking the region for months would confirm a sympathy in favor of Ukraine. This affinity is found “all around the border” and could allow Russian opponents to replicate their incursions into Kursk or Bryansk. “If it is, they are already far from Kharkiv”, s’aventure Maria Takhtaoulova.
In fact, they are invisible in Kharkiv. And what is going on about thirty kilometers away, we hear nothing. On the sunny terraces, we try to savor a certain respite, after a very trying year. “The Belgorodians, we saw them every day before the invasionrecalls Vadym, sipping his tea without even reacting to a new air alert. They were happy to come here, shop and enjoy the city. It suited me very well, I was what is called a pro-Russian. But since February 24, 2022, none of these neighbors, these “brothers”, have cared about our fate. When war comes back to them, it’s only fair. »
#Kharkiv #rear #base #operations #Russian #neighbor #Belgorod