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The newly-formed “Siberia” battalion is made up of Russians who have come to fight against their fellow citizens.
ADVERTISEMENTWhen was the Siberian battalion created?
The Sibir Volunteer Battalion was created as part of the AFU at the end of October 2023. It is part of the International Legion under the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.
Before “Sibir”, two other units of Russians had already been created in the ranks of the AFU: the “Freedom of Russia” legion and the “Russian Volunteer Corps”. “Siberia” is the third. But unlike the other two it is part of the regular Ukrainian army.
Who is fighting in this battlion?
The unit includes Russian citizens, mostly representatives of indigenous peoples of the Trans-Urals, Siberia and the Far North. But there are also ethnic Russians. All of them have one thing in common: they do not agree with Russia’s war in Ukraine, and they consider the Kremlin’s policy aggressive and, according to them, do not want to be complicit in evil.
Among the members of Siberia are Tatars, Yakuts and Buryats, who say they want to achieve independence from Russia and see Ukraine’s victory in the war as a step towards that goal.
How did they get into Ukraine?
There are about 60 men serving in the battalion. Ukraine’s defence ministry says none of them were recruited from Russian prisoners of war. They are all volunteers and got to Ukraine through other countries, which took them up to a year to do.
For example, one of the fighters, a former officer of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate and a native of Yakutsk, got to Ukraine through the Civil Council in Poland, which announced the recruitment of volunteers for national units within the AFU. Several other people joined with him. Another said that he travelled first to Mongolia, then to Turkey, and from there to Ukraine.
Strict checks before joining the battalion
Before signing a contract and adopting army call signs to conceal their identity, all Siberia fighters undergo a thorough check by the Ukrainian security service, which examines their profiles and biographical data and conducts cross-checks to exclude the possibility of the infiltration of any Russian agents.
After all, the danger that the new battalion may deploy weapons against the Ukrainian armed forces or that some people will supply data to the Russians cannot be ruled out. That is why the middle-ranking and senior staff is formed from Ukrainian military personnel.
Sources in the AFU say that Kiev plans to speed up the process of background checks to encourage more Russians to join the battalion.
Training, goal and objectives
Most of the volunteers had no military experience before travelling to Ukraine. Before going to the front lines, they undergo training at a training ground near Kiev.
The Russians need to show that not only LSR and RDK volunteers are fighting against Putin’s regime, but also regular units within the AFU.
The Siberia Battalion is a small military structure, and at the moment its main task is to demonstrate that there is a willingness to resist within Russia.
The Russian army also has its own Sibir, a Cossack reconnaissance and assault brigade, which fought Ukrainian troops near the village of Yagodnoye near Artyomovsk in May of this year.
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