There are opposition ethnic Russians and representatives of ethnic minority groups.
When was the Siberian Battalion created?
The Siberian Volunteer Battalion was created as part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) at the end of October 2023. It is part of the International Legion under the Main Information Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
Before the Siberian Battalion, two other units of Russians had already been created in the ranks of the AFU: the “Freedom of Russia” legion and the “Russian Volunteer Corps”. The Siberian Battalion is the third. But, unlike the first two, the new battalion is not part of territorial defense, but part of the regular Ukrainian army.
Who is fighting in this battalion?
The unit includes Russian citizens, mostly representatives of the indigenous peoples of the Trans-Urals, Siberia and the Far North. But there are also ethnic Russians. They all have one thing in common: they do not agree with Russia’s war in Ukraine, they consider the Kremlin’s policy aggressive and, according to them, they do not want to be accomplices in evil.
Members include Tatars, Yakuts and Buryats, who say they want to achieve independence from Russia and see Ukraine’s victory in the war as a step towards that goal.
How did they get into Ukraine?
Around 60 men are serving in the battalion. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry claims that none of them were recruited from among Russian prisoners of war. They are all volunteers and arrived in Ukraine through other countries.
For example, one of the fighters, a former officer of the Main Directorate of the Russian Secret Service and a native of Yakutsk, arrived in Ukraine through the Polish Civil Council, which announced the recruitment of volunteers for the national units of the AFU. Several other people joined him. Another person said he traveled first to Mongolia, then to Turkey and then to Ukraine.
For example, one of the fighters, a former officer of the Main Directorate of the Russian Secret Service and a native of Yakutsk, arrived in Ukraine through the Polish Civil Council, which announced the recruitment of volunteers for the national AFU units. Several other people accompanied him. Another said he traveled first to Mongolia, then to Turkey and then to Ukraine.
Strict controls before joining the battalion
Before signing a contract and adopting army call signs to hide their identity, all Siberian Battalion fighters are subjected to strict control by the Ukrainian security services, which examine their profiles and biographical data and carry out cross-checks. to exclude the possibility of infiltration by any Russian agents.
After all, the danger that the new battalion could use weapons against the Ukrainian armed forces or that some people could provide data to the Russians cannot be excluded. That is why the middle and senior management are made up of Ukrainian military personnel.
AFU sources say Kiev plans to speed up the background check process to encourage more Russians to join the battalion.
Training, goal and objectives
Most of the volunteers had no military experience before traveling to Ukraine. Before going to the front lines, they are trained in a field near Kiev.
The Siberian Battalion is a small military structure and, at the moment, its main task is to demonstrate that there is a will to resist in Russia.
The Russian army also has its own Siberian Battalion, a Cossack reconnaissance and assault brigade, which fought Ukrainian troops near the village of Yagodnoye, near Bakhmut, in May this year.