Russian rebels challenged President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, saying he had lost his legitimacy and calling on him to end “this circus”. The Russian Volunteer Corps, which is conducting a military operation in Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk regions, is demanding a meeting with Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov over a video showing prisoners of war captured during their cross-border attacks disrupting the presidential election, reports Ukrainian Pravda.

The Russian volunteer corps reported that the Russian Ministry of Defense had lied, claiming that the insurgents had been completely eliminated.

The group also showed an “interview” with one of the prisoners, who said that he did not see the killed DKR fighters.

A Russian soldier said that he was captured during demining – their car was fired upon, and he was the only one of the group to survive.

DKR fighters showed more than ten captured Russian soldiers, but their faces were hidden in the video.

Also, the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, is again called for a meeting.

“All the statements of the Russian Ministry of Defense about the complete destruction of the Russian volunteer corps are yet another lie. A limited military operation in the Belgorod and Kursk regions of Russia continues, and here is the confirmation – a new batch of prisoners of the Russian Armed Forces. And again, we invite Governor Gladkov to a meeting to hand over prisoners,” said the group fighting on the side of Ukraine.

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Message of Russian rebels to Putin

At the same time, the “Russian Legion of Freedom” and the “Siberian Battalion” in a joint appeal to Vladimir Putin stated that he “lost his legitimacy a long time ago” and allowed the evacuation of the civilian population from Belgorod and Kursk. “Russia needs immediate and fundamental changes.”

• “Vladimir Putin, the whole world has been watching for several days how the Russian city of Belgorod, Belgorod and Kursk regions are turning into a zone of active hostilities. At the same time, the administration established by you, despite our repeated appeals, prevents the evacuation of the civilian population. In this sense, it is only because of your ambitions that peaceful people continue to suffer and die.
• We urge you to stop this circus, think about the fate of innocent Russians and allow the evacuation of the civilian population from the war zone. Your election has long since turned into a complete farce. Stop forcing ordinary people to attend your polling station show under bombs and artillery fire. Even forced willpower is impossible when raid signals are sounding. You lost your legitimacy a long time ago, and in the current conditions, even the semblance of the election process has disappeared. It is obvious to everyone that Russia needs immediate and radical changes. In Russia, the need for a deep transformation of relations between the government and the people and an honest conversation about new correct social rules has long been overdue.
• If you are ready to discuss the future of our country without dictatorship and authoritarianism, we, in turn, are ready for such a conversation. If you still have courage and responsibility, contact us in a way convenient for you,” says Denis Whiterex Nikitin, commander of the Russian volunteer corps.

Two people were killed and three were injured in a Ukrainian missile attack on the Russian border town of Belgorod, the regional governor said Saturday, as Russian citizens vote until Sunday in a three-day presidential election.

In Telegram, the governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that the city was hit by missiles fired from the Vampyr missile system. According to him, vehicles and buildings were damaged in Belgorod and surrounding villages.

Footage of the group using the BTR-82A, captured in May 2023, against Kremlin forces in Graivoron, Belgorod, also appeared on social media.

How the Russian volunteer corps presents itself

One of the leaders of the Russian volunteer corps, Oleksandr Fortune, said last summer that Russia will not be able to avoid a civil war after the end of the war in Ukraine, when a real confrontation between the elites will begin.

The fate of Vladimir Putin is less important for the future of Russia, as it would be a mistake to equate it with the war in Ukraine, he emphasized.

The Russian volunteer corps is currently a large military-political platform that has certain military, political, as well as propaganda goals, Oleksandr Fortune claimed in an interview with HotNews last year.

• “If we talk about the history of creation, then at the beginning of the large-scale war there was quite a large number of Russian volunteers who were caught by the war… Someone was in Azov (n.p. – Azov). battalion), some had nothing to do with the war until then, were ordinary civilians, and some signed up for the partisan movement from the first days.
• Later, at a certain time, when the Kyiv region was liberated, the boys began to gather. Basically everyone knew each other personally or through someone.
• In the case of citizens of Russia who lived in Ukraine at that time, everything was quite sad with the documents. It was decided to create a unit for persons who have citizenship of the Russian Federation or are ethnic Russians. After that, everything became quite simple.
• At first there were not many of us. We agreed with some acquaintances from “Azov” that we would help them on a certain section of the front. We began to pass the front line, began to fight, to participate in certain operations,” he said.

We remind you that 114 million Russians have the right to vote in the presidential elections, which began on Friday and will end on Sunday with the almost inevitable victory of President Vladimir Putin, but the monitoring group “Holos” says that these elections are the most unelected. – transparent about what is happening in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

At the same time, more than 50 countries condemn the illegal elections organized by Russia in the occupied Ukrainian territories, instead, the residents of the occupied territories are presented by Russian propaganda as willing to go vote

Read also:

• MFA: Romania condemns Russian elections in the illegally occupied territories of Ukraine / Also blames the opening of polling stations in Transnistria
• What are the Russian rebels who say they have captured parts of Belgorod and Kursk waiting for? – interview with one of the leaders of the “Freedom of Russia” legion: “Possible resistance by force”