Russia: two border regions of Ukraine arm self-defense militias
The governors of Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions have announced that “people’s militias” self-defence units, newly created units, were to receive weapons to respond to the risk of armed incursions from neighboring Ukraine.
“For several months we have been working on the issue of supplying arms to the units of the voluntary popular militias”, claimed on Telegram Governor of Kursk Oblast Roman Starovoit. “Today, I can say that the mechanism has been found. (…) The first batch has already arrived at the base. In the near future we will increase the number of weapons up to three hundred”he continued.
The ‘voluntary people’s militias’, a resurgence from the Soviet era, were formed in December to “provide additional assistance to the armed forces, national guard, police and border guards” while “the Kursk region is almost daily subject to terrorist attacks from Ukraine”according to Roman Starovoit.
Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov on Wednesday took part in a ceremony to hand over weapons to self-defense militias in his territory, according to local media.
They broadcast images of the ceremony, where we see men receiving an automatic rifle when their name is called. In this region, the “voluntary people’s militias” were created in the first weeks of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “everything is done in accordance with the law”. “These are necessary measures in the context of attacks, attacks perpetrated from Ukrainian territory”he told reporters on Wednesday.