The newly-formed "Siberian Battalion" is made up of Russians who have come to fight against their fellow citizens.
When was the Siberian Battalion created?
ADVERTISEMENTThe Siberian 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 the Siberian Battalion 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". Siberian Battalion is the third. But unlike the first two, the new one is not part of the territorial defence, but is part of the regular Ukrainian army.
Who is fighting in this battalion?
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.
Ukraine's Siberian Battalion is also distinguished by its anti-colonial discourse. For example, ethnic Tatars, Yakuts and Buryats and representatives of other peoples have joined the Ukrainian army, saying that they intend to fight for "self-determination of the peoples of Russia" and achieve independence from Moscow, and see Ukraine's victory in the war as a step towards this goal.
How did they get into Ukraine?
About 60 men are 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 Siberian Battalion 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 middle-ranking and senior staff are formed from Ukrainian military personnel.
Sources in the AFU say that Kyiv 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 ground near Kyiv.
The Russians need to show that not only LSR and RDK volunteers who also made the so-called Belgorod Oblast incursions, are fighting against Putin's regime, but also regular units within the AFU.
The Siberian 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 Siberian Battalion, a Cossack reconnaissance and assault brigade, which fought Ukrainian troops near the village of Yagodnoye near Bakhmut in May of this year.