Russian dictator Vladimir Putin claimed an incursion into Russia by Russian anti-Kremlin armed groups on March 12 was "an attempt to disrupt" upcoming presidential elections in the country.
The Freedom of Russia Legion, the Siberian Battalion and the Russian Volunteer Corps, reportedly crossed the border into Russia's Belgorod and Kursk oblasts from Ukraine on March 12 to conduct combat operations, which continued the next day. The units claimed to have taken under control the village of Tyotkino Kursk Oblast.
According to Ukraine’s military intelligence, the units are comprised of Russian citizens acting as part of Ukraine’s “security and defense forces.”
Putin claimed the goal of the reported breakthrough was "to get a trump card for the exchange of territories in possible negotiations" and to create an "information effect."
"I have no doubt that the main purpose is to, if not disrupt the presidential elections in Russia, then at least somehow interfere with the normal process of expressing the will of citizens," Putin said in an interview with Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti and Russia-1 TV channel.
The Siberian Battalion urged Russians via social media to ignore the Russian presidential elections, which are set to take place on March 15-17, calling the ballots and polling stations "fiction."
Russia held a rigged vote in 2020 to approve constitutional amendments allowing Putin to run for two more presidential terms after his current one expires in 2024. Putin is widely expected to win the election and secure a fifth term in office.
Emmanuelle Chaze
Putin also claimed that the breakthrough of units into Russian territory took place "amid Ukraine's failures" on the battlefield.
Ukraine was forced to withdraw from Avdiivka, a key front-line city in Donetsk Oblast, on Feb. 17 and from other nearby villages weeks later. Russia is intensifying offensive actions along the front as Ukraine's Armed Forces face severe ammunition shortages due to delays in U.S. aid.
President Volodymyr Zelensky told French broadcaster BFMTV on March 11 that the situation on the frontline "is better than it has been in the past few months."
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