From the MT:
“Switching
Sides: The Elusive ‘Russian Legion’ Fighting With Ukraine”
The Kremlin’s
war against Ukraine is one many Russians don’t want to fight. And some are so vehemently opposed that they
are apparently prepared to take up arms against their country and fight
alongside the Ukrainian army. The
Freedom of Russia Legion claims it was formed in March, when over 100 Russian
soldiers gave themselves up to Kyiv’s forces. “I ended up in this war anyway. I thought I
would either die as an occupier and murderer or die with a good conscience. So
I switched sides,” said a 26-year-old former Russian soldier turned legion
member who asked to be referred to by his nom de guerre of Arni.
Along with
ex-soldiers, the legion is apparently also made up of Russians who traveled to
Ukraine alongside other foreigners to fight with the Ukrainian army in the
months after the invasion. It is one of many units — from Georgians to
Belarusians — operating as part of the International Legion for the Defense of
Ukraine set up by Kyiv at the start of the war.
However,
unlike other national units, the Freedom of Russia Legion is shrouded in
secrecy — from its exact size to where it has fought — with some even claiming
the lack of information suggests it’s little more than a Ukrainian PR project. In what it described as a “manifesto,” the
legion pledged in April to “fight for a new Russia” and get rid of “[President
Vladimir] Putin’s dictatorial regime.” Soldiers in the unit use the
white-blue-white flag that has become a popular symbol of Russia’s anti-war
movement. Arni, who spoke to The Moscow
Times on a video call during which he covered his face with a mask, said that
he decided to join the legion to fight for “the light side.”
One of the
legion’s most closely guarded secrets is its size, with estimates placing it
anywhere from several hundred to over 1,000 soldiers. Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Oleksiy
Arestovych said in June that the group had a “few hundred” members. But the
legion claimed last month it consisted of two “fully manned battalions,” which
could potentially mean more than 1,000 fighters. Exact information on numbers
of soldiers is “classified,” according to Arni. But he said about 300 requests
for joining the unit are submitted every day. “It doesn’t mean that that amount
of people join us on a daily basis. We must review those requests, plus
[Russian] intelligence services are trying to spam us,” the soldier said.
The unit is
active on social media and its accounts together have more than 94,000
subscribers. In a June video, the group claimed it had supporters across Russia
who were helping spread information on how to become a member. Another soldier,
who spoke to The Moscow Times on the same video call as Arni, said he traveled
from Russia to Ukraine to join up in April. “I took the risk because I want to fight
against Putin. I want a free Russia,” said the 25-year-old soldier, who claimed
he was in Ukraine and gave his nom de guerre as Professor. He said he was a postgraduate
student at a university “somewhere” in central Russia and began to support the
opposition following the Moscow protests of 2019 and the arrest of opposition
activist Yegor Zhukov. When the war
started in February, he felt “ashamed” and “couldn't stay away, he said.
The majority
of the legion’s members keep their identities a secret out of fear of reprisals
and to protect their families, which makes it impossible to independently
verify their accounts. A group of masked
men who said they were legion members told an April press conference in Kyiv
that they were former Russian soldiers, but refused to give any information
about their Russian units or where they had served. The legion, which admits it
recruits in PoW camps in Ukraine, has posted videos of Russian prisoners giving
their names, denouncing the Russian regime and pledging allegiance to the
legion. It is unclear if these men were under duress at the time and one video
shows a soldier with what looks like cuts to his face.
The most
high-profile member of the group is Igor Volubuev, a former executive at
state-owned Russian bank Gazprombank. Born in northeastern Ukraine, Volubuev
lived most of his life in Moscow, but fled to Ukraine after the invasion and
announced in June he was joining the legion to help make Russia “a free
democratic country.” Volubuev declined two interview requests from The Moscow
Times. In addition to its size, there is
also little information about where the legion has been involved in combat. The
legion claimed its soldiers arrived in eastern Ukraine in May, with footage on
its Telegram channel apparently showing battles near the eastern Ukrainian
cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.
The secrecy
surrounding the legion has led some to assert that it may not be what it seems.
“There might be some [Russian] fighters, but whether it is organized in the way
it is presented remains an open question,” Illia Ponomarenko, defense and
security reporter at The Kyiv Independent, told The Moscow Times. A recent report in Harper’s Magazine described
how Ukraine did not have the capacity to process and deploy foreign fighters
who flocked to the country in the weeks after the invasion, and suggested
foreign units were more PR than reality.
Ponomarenko
said the fate of foreign fighters in Ukraine depended a lot on the military
unit with which they ended up becoming affiliated, as well as their commanders.
“It’s clearer with the International
Legion — there is a large number [of foreign soldiers] and they did take part
in combat, for example, in Irpin, Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk,” he said.
“But little is known about the [Freedom of Russia] legion.” State-controlled
Russian media and pro-Kremlin Telegram channels have questioned the existence
of the legion altogether, calling it a fake or alleging it was created by
Ukrainian intelligence. Yet at the same
time, the Russian authorities have detained at least three men for being
associated with the legion, according to media reports. Russia toughened treason laws last month and
those who fight against the country “in an armed conflict, hostilities, or
other actions” can now be jailed for up to 20 years. Apart from the risks if
they are caught by Russian forces, fighting for Ukraine obliges those enrolled
in the legion to confront a moral dilemma. “I have some resistance inside me,”
the soldier who called himself Professor admitted to The Moscow Times. “I
realize there are guys like me on the other side. But I cannot go against my
principles — I want my country to be free and democratic.“
^ It's great
to see that not every Russian is a Nazi committing War Crimes in Ukraine. ^
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