Russian Volunteer Corps

Russian Volunteer Corps
The Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) is a paramilitary unit of Russian citizens, based in Ukraine. It was formed in August 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to fight against the government of Vladimir Putin. The group reportedly consists of Russian emigrants who are primarily united by their opposition to Putin. According to Ukrainian military officials, the group is not a part of the Ukrainian armed forces. The group is a far-right organisation. Its leader is a famous Neo-Nazi Denis Kapustin.
The group claimed responsibility for a March 2023 raid into the Bryansk region of Russia. Since May 2023, it has been launching larger cross-border raids into the Belgorod region of Russia, alongside the Freedom of Russia Legion.
Origin and aims
The Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) was founded in August 2022 The founder and leader of the group is Denis Nikitin, a famous neo-Nazi. According to the Ukrainian news agency Glavcom, the RVC was formed by Russian volunteers who had started fighting for Ukraine in the Azov Regiment and other units in 2014. According to Polish news agency Vot Tak, unlike the Freedom of Russia Legion, the leadership of the RVC does not rely on Russian POWs-turned-defectors, but on Russian right-wing emigrants living in Ukraine.
The RVC says it is made up of ethnic Russians fighting to defend Ukraine against Russia's invasion and to overthrow the government of Vladimir Putin. It asserts Russia's government should abandon its imperial ambitions and instead focus on improving the well-being of ethnic Russians. The RVC say they believe in self-determination for Russia's various ethnic minorities and "want to see a smaller, ethnic Russian state".
RVC uses the symbols of the Russian Liberation Army, which collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II.
Members of the group include former FSB agent and former actor Kirill Kanakhin.
Ideology
According to official RVC statement, their flag is ideological fusion of Victor Larionovs organizations - a person "from whose ideas, principles and beliefs we build off of, drawing parallels of historical and political continuity". Victor Larionov was a member of a White movement who, while being exiled in 1930s created a "White Idea" - an organzition that in December 1937 would join Russian Fascist party. After Socialist coalition came to power in France in 1938, Larionov, among others was deported to Germany, where he became an employee of "Novoe Slovo" a pro-Nazi newspaper published by Russian émigrés in Berlin between 1933 and 1944. During the war worked for Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories, was a bember of ROA.
In May 2023 RVC posted their official manifesto called "Homo ethnicus". In this manifesto RVC rejects both Liberalism and Communism while presenting a third way - an "Ethnic worldview" encompassing unity by blood and by nation (ethnicity) essentialy advocating for class collaboration:Outside this system of coordinates lies the ethnic worldview. In it, the economy is neither a basis nor a criterion for assessing human essence: “I don’t care what social stratum you belong to and how much you earn. We belong to the same blood, to the same people, which means we are brothers.”and alsoIt is not enough to build a Russian national state - you still need to offer the population a new, ethnic view of the world. A world where your social background, your income level, your gender won't matter. Where only your blood, your abilities and personal achievements will play a role.
Organization and administration
The group gathers its forces through recruiting anti-Putin activists with civilian backgrounds and then coordinates with various political factions that move individuals across borders. Those associated with the RVC come from differing ideological backgrounds. They frequently share nothing other than a mutual opposition to the invasion of Ukraine coupled with the aim of ending the current Russian government.
Reuters has recounted assertions that "RVC fighters [have] received regular salaries from the Ukrainian defence ministry" as well as that the overall "unit [has] numbered up to 200 fighters". However, the news agency has cautioned that these statements have not been independently verified.
Affiliations
According to Ilya Ponomarev, the RVC took part in a press conference on 31 August 2022 with the Freedom of Russia Legion and the National Republican Army when they signed a joint declaration. He claimed that the RVC also agreed to join the agreement.
In October 2022, the RVC published its manifesto, identifying itself as "part of Ukraine's Armed Forces", although Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment. In March 2023, Ukrainian military officials said the RVC was an independent group. Ilya Ponomarev, political representative of the Freedom of Russia Legion, said the RVC has contacts with the Ukrainian military but operates in a "gray area".
Claimed attacks
Bryansk Oblast raid
On 2 March 2023, the Russian authorities claimed that an armed Ukrainian group crossed the border and carried out a "terrorist attack" in the villages of Lyubechane and Sushany, in Bryansk Oblast. Russia said the attackers fired on a car, killing two civilians, before the Federal Security Service forced them back into Ukraine. On 9 March, Russia launched a barrage of missile strikes at Ukrainian civilian infrastructure in what it called "retaliation" for the attack. The Russian Volunteer Corps claimed responsibility for the alleged cross-border raid, and posted videos of armed men in Lyubechane with their insignia, urging Russians to "rise up and fight" against the government.
Ukrainian officials denied involvement, saying it was either a Russian false flag attack or a case of Russians rebelling against their government.
On 6 April 2023, the Russian Volunteer Corps again claimed to have crossed the border into Bryansk Oblast, entering the village of Sluchovsk. While Russian authorities claimed that an attempted incursion was prevented, the Russian Volunteer Corps released video showing them inside the village. During the incursion, combat operations were allegedly carried out.
Belgorod Oblast raids
On 22 May 2023, the RVC and the Freedom of Russia Legion launched a larger raid into Russia, this time in Grayvoronsky District, Belgorod Oblast; videos that circulated online showed armed men who said they belonged to the RVC saying they had crossed the border to fight "the bloody Putinite and Kremlin regime". The governor of Belgorod Oblast said that a Ukrainian "sabotage group" had entered the region and that a "counterterrorism regime" was introduced. The paramilitaries reportedly captured several border villages. On 24 May, the RVC held a press conference on the Ukrainian side of the border. Denis 'White Rex' said they were satisfied with the raid, saying they had seized weapons, an armoured personnel carrier, and taken prisoners before leaving Russian territory after 24 hours. He said that two RVC fighters were wounded and that Ukraine provided support only with medical supplies, fuel and food. Separately, the Freedom of Russia Legion said two of its fighters had been killed and 10 wounded.
See also
Civic Council (Armed Forces of Ukraine)
Combat Organization of Anarcho-Communists
Rusich Group
Azov Brigade
Russian Imperial Movement
References
External links
2022–2023 Belarusian and Russian partisan movement
Pro-Ukraine foreign volunteer units in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Military units and formations established in 2022
Opposition to Vladimir Putin
Far-right politics in Ukraine
Far-right politics in Russia