The anti-Putin “partisans” who have caused chaos in Russia’s Belgorod region in recent weeks plan to advance even further, secure the border with Ukraine and eventually “march on Moscow.”
In an exclusive interview with Kyiv Post, Aleksey Baranovsky, a representative of the political wing of the Freedom of Russia Legion that is currently fighting in the region, outlined the ambitions his group has.
“Right now, we are already 10 kilometers deep, and Russia does not control this territory,” he said. “It is such a grey zone. The range of a tank is just 10 kilometers. So, roughly speaking, Russian tanks in the Belgorod region cannot shoot [into] Ukrainian territory now.
“The Grad missile strike range is 40 kilometers. That is why at least 40 kilometers in depth must be demilitarized to secure the border. Well, this is the most minimal plan.”
At the other end of the scale, their plans extend to regime change within the Kremlin, once Ukraine has liberated all of the territory currently under Russian occupation.
“We understand that if we don't change the political regime in Russia if we don't overthrow Putin, then long-term security is impossible,” Baranovsky said. “The plan at its maximum, of course, is to march on Moscow.
“When the Ukrainian Armed Forces liberate Crimea, there will be a paralysis of governance in the Russian Federation. It will be the right time to turn to Moscow, the Kremlin.
“Unfortunately, the Russian people gave birth to Putin, and we must also finish him off. No one will do this job for us.”
The political wing of the Freedom of Russia Legion has a plan for a two-year transitional period for post-Putin Russia before democratic elections could be held. The main goal for Russian partisans is to arrest and sanction any Russian military or political officials that supported Putin's regime.
“At first, there will be some transitional government whose task will first be to arrest all war criminals and give some to Ukraine, and some will be sent to an international tribunal,” Baranovsky said.
“In other words, there will first be a clearing out of the criminals that have seized power in Russia because there are a lot of officials who may not have committed war crimes, but they all worked for Putin's regime.
“They should be banned from taking part in politics and state administration. So, it must be a cleansing of the authorities at all levels. It could take two years to complete such procedures, and only after that are free democratic elections possible," Baranovsky explained.
Baranovsky went on to compare his vision for a post-Putin Russia with what happened in the post-WWII Federal Republic of Germany, between 1945 and 1949.
“Compared with post-Hitler Germany, where the first elections happened there four years after the fall of the Reich, we expect to implement this plan in two years.”
Baranovsly outline the options, as he sees them, for the future governance of Russia after Putin.
“Well, actually, the military rebels will decide who governs Russia because power is not given, it is taken, and only armed men can take it, the Freedom of Russia Legion, the RDK, of course.
“The Congress of People's Deputies is one of the options for the actual future that Russia will have after Putin. There is a parliament, an alternative legislative power. That is why we are meeting in Warsaw and working on specific legislation. We discuss not only some theoretical ideas but also concrete legal acts that will come into force after Putin's replacement by an interim government,” he said.
