Commander of Russian Volunteer Corps says Ukrainian military knew about planned attacks on Russia’s Bryansk region
The founder and commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps Denis Kapustin, also known as Denis Nikitin, gave an interview to the newspaper Financial Times, revealing some details of the sortie.
According to him, the group's entry into Russian territory was coordinated with the Ukrainian military.
"How do you think I walked there in the darkness of the night? There are mined bridges, cameras, thermally guided drones, hidden observation posts. If it hadn't been agreed with everyone, I think we would have just been destroyed," he said.
Kapustin also said that about 45 people participated in the operation, including members of the "partisan network" operating in Russia. He reiterated that the main purpose of the sortie was "to remind Russians that they do not need to live in shackles, put up and participate in someone else's war, fulfilling someone else's will."
Kapustin said that in one of the villages where the group visited, there was a shootout, but he did not know anything about the victims.
The Financial Times notes that the commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps, although agreeing to an interview, gave very few details, which do not allow to have a complete picture of what happened.
The telegram channel of the Russian human rights organization Gulagu.net published a letter received from one of their sources in Russian power circles. The source claims that the entry of the Russian Volunteer Corps into the territory of the Bryansk region foiled a provocation prepared by the Russian authorities.
"An internal investigation and resignations are inevitable. The operation with the "Ukrainian saboteurs" was supposed to begin an hour or two later, so when the "unaccounted sabotage group" came in, at first there was an impression the operation had begun a little earlier. The real sabotage group fell like a brick on the head: the corridor was cleared for "their own" terrorists, and an hour and a half earlier the Russian Volunteer Corps came in, " Gulagu.net’s source says.
According to the author of the letter, a Bryansk version of “Ryazan sugar” operation (Russian apartment bombings in 1999) was planned in the region. Now "chaos and confusion" have set in among those who prepared the provocation.
"It is not entirely clear what else those who really arranged this operation know. The "corpses of murdered Ukrainian saboteurs." were already prepared at the morgue freezers. They will no longer be "needed", judging by the situation. Civilians were more fortunate. There, the production of dead bodies could have taken place in real time. Given the press releases about "ruthlessly shot children", everything was supposed to be very dramatic. Press releases were already prepared. More people already know about this than one can imagine to have at least a hint of secrecy, " the anonymous source said.
On the morning of March 2, the authorities of the Bryansk region announced that a "Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group" entered the villages of Liubechane and Sushany on the border of the Klimovsky district. According to Russian authorities, as a result of the attack, two people were killed, an 11-year-old boy Fedor was injured.
Ukraine said that these reports are a provocation, and it has nothing to do with what happened. The Russian Volunteer Corps later took responsibility for the attacks. Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a terrorist act.
Later that day, the Russian FSB said that it had "forced" the enemy back into the territory of Ukraine, where a "massive artillery strike" was carried out on them. There were also reports that a car of the Russian National Guard hit a roadside explosive device, and two Russian border guards were injured during the shootout.