The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized the Legion “Freedom of Russia” as terrorists

The Supreme Court of Russia recognized the Legion “Freedom of Russia” as a terrorist organization at the request of the General Prosecutor’s Office. This is reported by “Interfax”.

According to the Russian law enforcement agencies, the “Freedom of Russia” legion was created in March 2022 “on the instructions of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi” to recruit volunteers from among the citizens of Russia with the aim of their participation in hostilities on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and in the future for ” committing terrorist acts on the territory of Russia and
overthrow of the central government”.

Ilya Ponomarev, a former deputy of the State Duma living in Ukraine, announced the creation of the legion soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to a number of Ukrainian politicians and members of the legion, the unit consists of Russian volunteers, its goal is the liberation of occupied Ukrainian regions and the fight against the “dictatorial regime of Vladimir Putin”. It is confirmed that the soldiers of the legion take part in combat operations, including on the front line. It is not known about any terrorist attacks committed by legion fighters.

As a symbol, the association uses a white-blue-white flag, proposed after the start of the war by a number of activists as the flag of “free Russia”, an alternative to the tricolor.

According to Ponomarev, “the legion actually started as a PR initiative, but then turned into a real force.” In October 2022, Ponomarev hoped that there would be several thousand people in it. The actual number of ego fighters is unknown.

The Prosecutor General of Russia, Igor Krasnov, demanded that the Svoboda Rossii Legion be recognized as a terrorist organization in early February.

• In Ukraine, there is another unit of Russian citizens fighting on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces – the Russian Volunteer Corps. Its representatives took responsibility for the recent raid in the Bryansk region, during which two villages were briefly occupied. Ukrainian authorities actually distanced themselves from the raid, calling it the work of Russian partisans. RDC and “Legion of Liberty of Russia” are two different, unrelated structures.