- Paramilitary teams comprising Russian defectors attacked their very own nation on Tuesday.
- One group, the Freedom of Russia Legion mentioned they had been there to liberate their countrymen.
- A spokesperson for Ukraine’s navy intelligence mentioned the teams had been performing independently.
Armed teams of Russian defectors attacked their homeland on Tuesday forward of the upcoming Russian presidential elections.
On Tuesday morning, paramilitary teams together with the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Siberian Battalion mentioned they had been launching a joint assault throughout Russia’s borders, per The Telegraph. Russia’s presidential elections are set to be held on March 15 to 17, with incumbent Russian chief Vladimir Putin all however sure to safe his reelection.
“We aren’t coming to kill, erase, or punish,” the Freedom of Russia Legion mentioned in a video assertion, per the Kyiv Publish.
“We come to stay, to liberate you from poverty, from the dictatorship of a terrorist group that seized energy, to offer your youngsters a standard civilized future — with out sanctions, with out repression, with out elections with out alternative,” the video assertion continued.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s navy intelligence, Andriy Yusov instructed Ukraine’s Channel 24 {that a} third group, the Russian Volunteer Corps additionally took half within the assaults. Yusov mentioned the assaults weren’t directed by Ukraine.
“On the territory of the Russian Federation, they act completely autonomously, on their very own, and pursue their social and political program duties,” Yusov mentioned.
Russia’s protection ministry mentioned on Tuesday that that they had responded to a few totally different assaults in Belgorod, per state-owned media outlet TASS. The ministry instructed TASS that Russian forces managed to repel the attackers, who had been outfitted with tanks and armored autos.
This is not the primary time that Russian defectors have mounted an assault in opposition to their homeland.
In December, the Freedom of Russia legion claimed duty for an assault close to Terebreno village, in Belgorod. The group claimed that it had destroyed a Russian troop stronghold and left landmines within the space throughout their assault, per Reuters.
