Exactly how many there are and where they are is a top secret. Their motivations are very different. And if you want to be one of them, you have to pass a lie detector test. But they exist: “Several hundred” Russians fighting alongside Ukraine against Russian troops, united in the “Freedom of Russia” legion under Ukrainian command.
“I’m not a traitor. I’m a real Russian patriot,” said the Legion’s spokesman, who calls himself Caesar. He likes to take journalists to the ruins of an Orthodox monastery in Dolyna, an area that has been conquered by the Ukrainian army in the fall. army was recaptured.
He chooses his words – sometimes Russian, sometimes English – carefully. “I’m not fighting the motherland, I’m fighting Putin’s regime, against tyranny,” he says. The legion consists of “several hundred” Russians who have been deployed to the Donbass since May after two months of training.
Volunteer corps within the Ukrainian army
The Legion is part of the International Volunteer Corps within the Ukrainian Army, its emblem is a fist with the words “Freedom” and “Russia” written above it. His men have been deployed in Bachmut on the Eastern Front, which has been fighting hard for months. There, under Ukrainian command, they fought mainly in artillery.
Recruits are carefully screened before being admitted – through interviews and a lie detector test – to rule out the risk of infiltration.
Little influence on war events
According to Ukrainian military expert Oleg Zhdanov, the legion mainly has a political significance: “It is good for Ukraine if it can show that the Russians also support democracy and freedom and fight on the right side,” he says. However, the Russian fighters “do not have much influence” on the course of the war due to their small numbers.
The Legionnaires have different motivations for fighting against Russia. For Tichiy, a worker from the Russian industrial city of Togliatti, 800 kilometers southeast of Moscow, they are more personal than political: his wife – whom he met in Russia – is Ukrainian. “She wouldn’t have understood if we had stayed in Russia,” says the 40-year-old father of two, who was visiting Kiev with his family at the time of the invasion.
“We will liberate Ukraine”
From there, the family never returned to Russia – Tichiy joined the Legion. His family in Russia could not understand his decision, he hardly had any contact with them. He broke up with his friends. They sat on the couch in Russia and stubbornly repeated: “We will liberate Ukraine,” he quotes them. Tichiy sees Russian soldiers as “enemies”: he would rather blow himself up with a grenade than be captured by them.
Caesar, on the other hand, has political motives. The former St. Petersburg physiotherapist describes himself as a “right-wing nationalist” and believes the only way to overthrow Vladimir Putin’s government is through violence. “Russia is dying,” he says. “Go into the villages – you will see drunks, drug addicts and criminals.” That is the result of 20 years of Putin.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
