The Russian neo-Nazi group Rusich has announced that it has started positioning itself on the border with Finland as a volunteer militia.
The group's Telegram channel stated that their involvement in border protection will include exchanging experiences and conducting intelligence activities. The FSB (Federal'naya sluzhba bezopasnosti, eng. Federal Security Service) border service has not officially commented on the situation, according to the Kremlin opposition website Meduza.
In Russia, social organizations are allowed to assist in protecting the state border. However, their involvement is restricted to working at border crossings and searching for individuals who are trespassing the border illegally. These organizations are not permitted to engage in intelligence-gathering activities.
The co-founder of Rusich, Yan Petrovsky, has been in custody in Finland since the end of 2023. He is suspected of torturing Ukrainian soldiers during the war in Donbas in 2014-2015. Other Rusich militants participated in the hostilities following the full-scale invasion. However, in August 2023, they announced the suspension of all combat tasks, accusing the Russian authorities of inadequate assistance to Petrovsky.
The unit's members have repeatedly made public calls for the killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war. In the fall of 2022, an "instruction on killing enemy POWs" written by the group was posted online. In March 2024, after a terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall near Moscow, one of Rusich's soldiers announced an auction for the knife with which the officer cut off the ear of the suspect in the attack.
The primary founder of the group is neo-Nazi Alexei Milchakov, a soldier in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
lp / belsat.eu
Translated by PEV
