A Russian far-right volunteer corps, allied with Ukrainian forces, claimed responsibility for the attack in the Bryansk region, near the border with Ukraine, in which 2 men died and a child was injured. At first the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had accused the Ukrainian "neo-Nazis and terrorists" of shooting at a car of civilians - "They entered the border area and opened fire on civilians. They saw that it was a civilian car, they saw that civilians were sitting there and that there were children and they opened fire on them." Quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency, Putin added that "these people want to deprive us of historical memory, our history, our traditions and our language."
But the Novaya Gazeta website reports that a group of far-right Russians living in Ukraine, who also fought in the ranks of the Azov Regiment, posted a video in which they assume responsibility for the attack. "We are not at war with civilians and we do not kill anyone who is unarmed - says in the video a man who claims to be part of the group - "it is time for ordinary citizens of Russia to realize that they are not slaves".
Situation now under control, according to the Russian secret services FSB, in the Briansk region. According to Russian services, a large number of explosive devices have been found and work is underway on mine clearance.
Kiev attacks Moscow. Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukraine's presidential adviser, wrote on Twitter: "The story of a Ukrainian sabotage group in Russia is classic deliberate provocation."
Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader, suggested "treating" the participants of the raid in the Bryansk region "in the most severe, harsh and even cruel way possible." Kadyrov also speaks of the need to "account for the families (of alleged rebels) who may reside in the territory of the Russian Federation... Experience shows that without their assistance, indulgence and approval, such terrorist acts do not occur," he said. The same technique, Kadyrov says, has been used in Chechnya for many years: the families of suspects are taken away for questioning and are forced to record a video condemning their relatives. And he also suggested "bombing all points directly or indirectly related to this attack" regardless of the fact "that there may be civilian objects nearby. It is already a war without rules, which is being unleashed and imposed on us by the diabolical Ukrainian regime," says Kadyrov.
Novaya Gazetareports that the Russian Volunteer Corps was founded in August last year by oligarch Denis Kapustin, known in Russian far-right circles. According to the founders, members of the Corps fight in the Ukrainian conflict as part of the Kiev armed forces. Its members, some observers note, use symbols of the so-called Russian Liberation Army, an organization that collaborated with Hitler's Germany during World War II.