2023-05-22 21:20:11
The war of Vladimir Putin has fully crossed the borders of Ukraine to delve into Russian sovereign territory. Of the Russian volunteer militias sympathetic to the Ukrainian cause assured this Monday that they had taken two small towns in the Russian region of Belgorod, an incursion later confirmed by Russian authorities in the region and Ukrainian military intelligence. In several messages and videos posted on Telegram, the paramilitary groups announced that their intention is to create a “demilitarized zone” in the border areas as a first step to “release” the Russia of the “Kremlin dictatorship”. The ordeal has not gone unnoticed in Belgorod, where the “anti-terrorist regime” has been declared to try to neutralize the “saboteurs”.
It is not the first time that the conflict has entered Russian lands, where there have been attacks with artillery and drones or sabotage of various kinds contra military installations, freight trains o fuel tanks. But the actions on Monday, concentrated in one of the regions that serves as a logistical hub for the Russian war machine in Ukraine, seem to inaugurate a much more ambitious phase to disturb the rear of the Kremlin. The authorities of both sides confirmed that they are taking place fighting in various villages close to the border with the Ukrainian province of Kharkiv, located in the northeast of the country, where some videos show columns of smoke rising over several buildings.
The two militias that have claimed responsibility for the operation say they have taken over the villages of Kozinka y Gora-Podol, while the assault on Graivoron, located about 180 kilometers west of Belgorod, the capital of the region of the same name. “Russian volunteers have returned to the motherland. We are in home. He time to fight for the freedom of Russia has arrived”, can be heard in one of the videos posted by the so-called Russian Volunteer Corpsan organization that claimed responsibility last March for an attack in the province of Briansk in which two people died. In their messages, they also asked the population to stay in their homes, not resist or be afraid. “We are not your enemies. Unlike the zombified by Putinwe do not harm civilians or use them for our benefit”, the paramilitaries affirm in another video.
Intentions telegraphed weeks ago
Two weeks ago EL PERIÓDICO, from the Prensa Ibérica group, published some documents that detailed the intentions of groups of Russian volunteers to create chaos in the border areas and foster a civil war climate with the intention of taking control of some squares and declare their independence from the Russian state. This newspaper could not confirm the authenticity of the documents, which appeared in one of the chats of frens chan and bore the usual classification marks of the US intelligence. Its embassy in Madrid limited itself to responding that it does not comment on issues related to espionage, but several experts consulted since then have reasonably doubted that the documents were American.
“We cannot rule out that it is a coincidence, but it is possible that the same people who organized the attack today wanted to advertise your intentions two weeks ago manufacturing some supposed American documents”, he assures from London’s Chatham House Keir Giles, expert on Russia and its Armed Forces. “There is no doubt that today’s actions serve Ukraine and its allies to create the impression that the Russian border regions are under threat. That would serve to distract their military before the imminent Ukrainian counteroffensive. But that does not mean that Ukraine is behind the documents. In recent months we have seen how some actions were carried out by some ‘freelance’ actors who operate on their own”, adds Giles.
Shortly before declaring “anti-terrorist regime” in Belgoroda legal figure that allows its authorities to take extraordinary measures while industrial activities that require the use of explosives or chemical substances are suspended, its governor attributed the attack to “saboteurs and reconnaissance groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces”. From the Kremlin, his spokeswoman stated that both the army and the FSB and the border guardhave “taken the necessary measures to liquidate the enemy”.
Paramilitary groups of Russian partisans
From KievHowever, their military intelligence stressed that behind the assault are groups of Russian partisans, specifically the Russian Volunteer Corpsan organization formed in August last year by Russian nationalists believed to have links to the extreme right, and the Freedom for Russia Legion, made up of deserters from Putin’s army and created shortly after the start of the full-scale invasion. Both have been fighting in the Ukrainian ranks in recent months, although they persist many doubts about who is behind of them or to what interests they respond.
In the videos posted on their respective Telegram channels, where signs with place names from the Belgorod region are seen, they appear white and blue flags hanging from various infrastructures, one of the symbols of the Russians who oppose the invasion of Ukraine and the Putin regime. “Looking ahead, our intention is liberate all of Russia from Putin’s dictatorship and put an end to this crime war”, says another of his messages.
What seems quite doubtful is that they will be able to consolidate their positions inside Russian territory. “It is worth remembering the kind of tactics the Kremlin uses in these kinds of situations,” Giles said in a telephone conversation. “An example is what happened in the late 1990s on Russia’s borders with Chechnya and dagestan. Your army razed several villages with artillery instead of fighting to recover them to preserve the integrity of civilians, ”adds the Chatham House expert.
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