Freedom of Russia Legion

"Caesar", the spokesman and deputy commander of the Legion in an interview

According to UNIAN, the Freedom of Russia Legion was formed from a company of the Russian army who voluntarily defected to the Ukrainian side. According to the company commander, they crossed to the Ukrainian side with the help of the Security Service of Ukraine on 27 February 2022, to "protect Ukrainians from real fascists". He called on his compatriots, soldiers of the Russian army, to join the Freedom of Russia Legion in order to save their own people and the country "from humiliation and destruction".[19] The Legion's stated goals are to repel the Russian invasion of Ukraine and ultimately depose the silovik regime of Vladimir Putin.[20] The group claims to be made up of two battalions.[1]

Soldiers of the Freedom of Russia Legion in May 2022

The Legion's official Telegram channel was created on 10 March 2022, and its first post called on people to join the armed struggle against the "war criminal Putin". On 5 April, three men wearing military fatigues and black balaclavas held a press conference in Kyiv, announcing that the Freedom of Russia Legion had been formed. They said it was made up wholly of Russian citizens, including former POWs. One of the men said the Putin regime had tricked them into going to Ukraine to carry out "genocide", saying he had seen war crimes by the Russian army.[20]

The Freedom of Russia Legion is reportedly part of Ukraine's International Legion.[1][16]

On 1 June 2022, the Legion's official Telegram (and YouTube) channel posted a video claiming to show a Russian tank being captured by the Legion. On 29 June, they said they captured a Russian POW in the Lysychansk area.[21]

On 11 June, it became known that Igor Volobuyev, the Ukrainian-born ex-vice-chairman of Gazprombank, who left Russia at the outbreak of the invasion, had joined the Freedom of Russia Legion.[22][23]

On 13 July, the Legion allegedly made a statement that it had withdrawn from active fighting, to "restore combat capability".[21]

In December 2022, the Legion's spokesman said that it operated under Ukrainian command and were mainly involved in artillery and propaganda[24]

Some Legion fighters reportedly fought in the battle of Bakhmut.[24]

In May 2023, the Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps launched a raid into Russia, in Grayvoronsky District, Belgorod Oblast.[25][26] They claimed to aim at creating a demilitarised zone along the border, to stop Russian artillery firing at Ukraine from Russian territory.[9][18] The two groups launched another raid on 1 June into the Shebekino area of Belgorod Oblast. A spokesman for the Legion said their goals were to draw Russian troops away from other parts of the front, and to encourage rebellion against the Russian government.[27]

A patch set of the Freedom of Russia Legion with the clenched fist and the white-blue-white flag

The Legion uses the white-blue-white flag instead of the official white-blue-red flag of Russia.[7][15] The letter L, the first letter of the words Legion and Liberty, is also used by the Legion as one of its symbols. On the right sleeve, the Legion wears the flag of Ukraine, like other Ukrainian foreign legions.[28][21]

The Legion has not publicly identified its leaders.[29] The Legion's spokesperson, who uses "Caesar" (Tsezar) as a nom de guerre,[30][31] has emerged as the group's de facto public face.[29] He identifies himself as the Legion's deputy commander,[32] and a former physiotherapist from Saint Petersburg.[24] He said in December 2022: "I am not fighting my motherland. I am fighting against Putin's regime, against evil. I'm not a traitor. I'm a true Russian patriot who thinks about the future of my country."[24]

The Legion's manifesto describes itself as a group of "free citizens of Russia who take responsibility for themselves and are beginning to fight for a New Russia."[31] It criticizes Putin's government for its corruption and suppression of civil liberties.[29] The group believes that Putin's regime can be toppled only by armed struggle,[24] and calls upon Russian officers and soldiers to defect.[29] Caesar, former member of the ultranationalist Russian Imperial Movement,[30] described himself as a right-wing nationalist,[24] but said that "we adhere to moderate centrist views."[33]

The far-right, neo-Nazi Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), a separate anti-Putin group,[33][29] has said it has "a different ideological base" than the Legion.[29] Caesar declined to condemn the RVC, saying: "I do not discuss other units, especially Russian volunteers."[33]

In August 2022, the Freedom of Russia Legion and National Republican Army signed the Irpin Declaration, a declaration of cooperation among armed anti-Putin Russian forces. The organizations also agreed to create a political wing, to represent their interests and organize a joint information policy, led by Ilya Ponomarev, a former Russian MP.[34][35] However, the existence of the National Republican Army as an organization is unconfirmed, and representatives of the RVC attended the signing ceremony in Irpin. Ponomarev said that the RVC had signed the declaration,[34][35] but the RVC denied that it had signed on.[36]

Michael Clarke, a visiting professor of war studies at King's College London, said in May 2023: "It's clear that Freedom of Russia Legion and Russian Volunteer Corps are both predominantly Russian groups — self-styled 'partisans' trying to bring the Putin government down and that they range from the soccer-thug neo-Nazis to the wannabe celebrities and even to some semi-serious political reformers. They are not 'liberals' but rather hard-line Russian nationalists — just not of the Putin variety."[29][33]

The Legion's spokesperson Caesar said in December 2022 that the Legion had "several hundred" members.[24] He said the unit's recruitment process involves multiple rounds of interviews, psychological testing, a polygraph test, and two months of training.[24] He claimed in February 2023 that the legion consisted of two battalions and was raising two more.[31]

The Russian government has responded to the Legion both legally and with propaganda. On 22 June 2022, Nikolay Okhlopkov, a Russian anti-war activist from Yakutsk, was arrested because the authorities accused him of "wanting to join the Legion". The Legion denied any link with Okhlopkov. On 14 July 2022, Putin signed a new law, under which Russian citizens can be imprisoned for up to 20 years if they "defect to the side of the enemy during an armed conflict or hostilities".[21][37][38]

In March 2023 the Supreme Court of Russia declared the Legion a terrorist group, meaning citizens who join can face up to 20 years in jail.[39]

Russian state media has rarely mentioned "Freedom of Russia" during 2022. For example, as of July 2022, RT had only one video which mentioned the Legion.[21]

State-controlled Russian media and pro-Kremlin Telegram channels have promoted claims calling the Legion fake or alleging it was created by Ukrainian intelligence. Illia Ponomarenko, defense and security reporter at The Kyiv Independent, commented to The Moscow Times: "There might be some [Russian] fighters, but whether it is organized in the way it is presented remains an open question ... It's clearer with the International Legion – there is a large number [of foreign soldiers] and they did take part in combat, for example, in Irpin, Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. But little is known about the [Freedom of Russia] legion." The Moscow Times also cited the report in Harper's Magazine which "described how Ukraine did not have the capacity to process and deploy foreign fighters who flocked to the country in the weeks after the invasion, and suggested foreign units were more PR than reality".[40]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Freedom of Russia Legion.

• Freedom of Russia Legion on Telegram
• YouTube page
• Zolkin, Volodymyr (January 17, 2023). "Легион "Свобода России". Тренировочный лагерь" [Freedom of Russia Legion. Training camp]. Volodymyr Zolkin (YouTube channel) (in Russian).