A paramilitary unit of Russian citizens based in Ukraine and fighting against the Russian government has claimed responsibility for the assassination of a high-ranking Russian intelligence officer near the Ukrainian border.
The Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) released a video on November 9, 2023, allegedly showing the operation that killed Lieutenant Colonel Sergey Shaty, the deputy head of the border troops of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
The Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), a paramilitary group composed of Russian citizens fighting against the Russian government in Ukraine, has released a video claiming to show their assassination of a senior Russian intelligence officer.
“As a result of professional ambush operations, an FSB (the successor agency to the KGB) lieutenant colonel and a service SUV were destroyed,” the group writes on its Telegram page.
The video shows a group of masked men armed with rifles and rocket launchers attacking a convoy of FSB vehicles on a rural road. The RDK claims to have destroyed one of the vehicles and killed Shaty, who was reportedly involved in the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas.
“Glory to RDK! Glory of the Great Russian Empire!” the fighters wrote.
A Kyiv Post source in the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) reported that the vehicle, which was fired upon on the outskirts of the village of Ulitsa in Russia’s Bryansk region, resulted in the death of Lieutenant Colonel Sergey Shaty.
“The deputy head of the rear management department of the border troops of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Lt. Col. Sergey Shaty, has been eliminated,” the source said.
Ukraine’s military intelligence told Kyiv Post that it was the work of the local Ukrainian underground operating in the region.
However, some Ukrainian journalists and activists praised the RDK as a brave and patriotic force that is fighting for the freedom and dignity of the Ukrainian and Russian nations. They said the RDK is exposing the crimes and corruption of the Kremlin and its puppets.
The killing of Shaty was not the sole assault on the Russian-backed forces in the occupied eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk. On November 8, 2023, a car bombing took the life of Leonid Pasechnik, a Russia-backed politician who led the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic.
The Ukrainian underground was suspected of being behind the attack, which was also condemned by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The attacks have raised the tensions between Russia and Ukraine, which have been locked in a conflict since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and supported separatist rebels in Donbas. Despite several ceasefire agreements, the fighting has continued, claiming more than 13,000 lives.
Relevant articles:
– Russian Volunteer Corps Fighting Against Kremlin Releases Video of Intelligence Officer Ambush, Kyiv Post, November 12, 2023
– Russia-Ukraine war live: Melitopol resistance kills Russian FSB trio – reports, The Guardian, November 13, 2023
– RVC fighters behind assassination of FSB officer in Russia’s Bryansk Oblast – NV Ukrainian intel source, The New Voice of Ukraine, November 10, 2023
– Kyiv Confirms Assassination of FSB Lieutenant Colonel, RDK Fighters Claim Responsibility, Kyiv Post, November 10, 2023