Russian Corps
In 1941, Skorodumov offered the German occupying forces in Yugoslavia to form the Russian Corps, an independent armed outfit of Russian white emigres with the purpose of defending the local Russian populace from the atrocities of communist guerillas. Skorodumov hoped that the Germans would agree to deploy the Corps on the Eastern front, where it would become the centre of a Russian anti-communist liberation movement. The German forces agreed to work with Skorodumov and appointed him as the head of the Russian Corps, only to be arrested by the Gestapo three days later for proclaiming the corps as an "independent" armed force. Skorodumov passed on command to Boris Shteifon, whom the Germans approved of.