Putin Defectors Say They Have Destroyed Two Russian Tanks

May 10, 2023

Russian anti-Vladimir Putin activists have destroyed two tanks at a checkpoint in the border Belgorod region, according to Kremlin dissidents.

The Freedom of Russia Legion, an anti-Kremlin paramilitary group, said in a post to social media on Monday that it had used drones to take out two Russian tanks near the Shebekino checkpoint, close to Russia's border with Ukraine. It also destroyed an infantry fighting vehicle and a reconnaissance vehicle, according to the group.

Newsweek couldn't independently verify the group's claims. The Russian defense ministry has been contacted for comment via email.

The Freedom of Russia Legion has said it has carried out several cross-border raids against Moscow in recent weeks, focused in the Belgorod region, which has seen significant spillover from the ongoing war in Ukraine.

On Sunday, the group said an "advanced assault group," along with members of the pro-Ukrainian Russian Volunteer Corps, had entered Shebekino.

The Russian defense ministry said in a statement on Sunday that a "sabotage and reconnaissance group of Ukrainian terrorists" had tried to cross a river near Novaya Tavolzhanka, a settlement close to Shebekino.

"The enemy was hit by artillery," the ministry said on Telegram. The group then "scattered and retreated," it added.

"Ukrainian terrorists wanted to cross the river near the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, but our servicemen stopped them," Belgorod's regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on social media on Monday. Ukraine has denied involvement with the paramilitary group.

It has claimed responsibility for several cross-border raids in recent weeks, after a significant incursion in Belgorod in late May that Russia blamed on a "Ukrainian nationalist formation."

The Freedom of Russia Legion has previously said it has destroyed Russian military equipment in cross-border raids.

Ilya Ponomarev, an exiled Russian politician who claims to speak on behalf of the Freedom of Russia Legion, told Newsweek on June 1 that fighters had reached Shebekino with "heavy equipment," adding on June 2 that "active fights are ongoing" in the suburb of Novaya Tavolzhanka.

"One of our tactical aims is to draw Russian troops from other parts of the Ukrainian front," Alexei Baranovsky, a representative of the Freedom of Russia Legion told Reuters on June 1.

The group also hopes to recruit new members, and "show Russians that a different country is possible, that an armed group has appeared that is ready to struggle for freedom," Baranovsky added.

The British defense ministry said on June 2 that the cross-border raids presented Russian military officials with "an acute dilemma" about where to place their defenses, including moving resources from occupied territory in Ukraine to the Russian border.