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Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
The Free Russia Legion and their leader are really interesting. It’s the kind of stuff I bet someone will make a film about one day. I hate to think of what happens if Russia or Wagner get their hands on him though. You would pretty much have to take your own life first in that situation.
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I don't know, I think Ukraine would do well to limit the amount of attention those militias that are handling the border incursions are getting, as they're filled with some pretty unsavory characters. This is mostly about the Russian Volunteer Corps (which is apparently much more extreme than the Free Russia Legion), but it's not exactly endearing:
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Far-right militias who stormed a Russian region bordering Ukraine this week used US-made tactical vehicles in the attack, raising questions over Kyiv’s support for the Ukraine-based Russian extremist groups.
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The Russian Volunteer Corps, founded by Nikitin last summer to fight against his home country’s invading army, includes self-avowed neo-Nazis. Born in Moscow, Nikitin also uses the surname Kapustin and goes by the call sign White Rex. This is also the name of his white nationalist clothing brand, which is popular among western far-right extremists.
“Nikitin is a real self-promoter, an intelligent, educated man who seems to be primarily interested in his own power, image, and standing,” said Michael Colborne, a journalist at the open-source investigative group Bellingcat who leads its research on the global far-right.
Colborne identified another member of the Russian Volunteer Corps in photographs posted by the group during its Belgorod operation as Russian Aleksandr Skachkov, a rightwing extremist. Skachkov was arrested in Ukraine in 2020 during a raid on people selling translations of the manifesto of the gunman behind the 2019 mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, according to Bellingcat.
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https://www.ft.com/content/0b57c31b-...reType=nongift