The Sibir Battalion (; ) is a paramilitary group made up of Russian citizens opposed to the

Putin regime Since 1999, Vladimir Putin has continuously served as either president (acting president from 1999 to 2000; two terms 2000–2008, three terms 2012–present) or Prime Minister of Russia (three months in 1999, full term 2008–2012). During h ...

. Members of this unit include Russians,

Yakuts The Yakuts or Sakha (, ; , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to North Siberia, primarily the Republic of Sakha in the Russian Federation. They also inhabit some districts of the Krasnoyarsk Krai. They speak Yakut, which belongs to the Si ...

, and

Buryats The Buryats are a Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia who speak the Buryat language. They are one of the two largest indigenous groups in Siberia, the other being the Yakuts. The majority of the Buryats today live in their ti ...

, who see Ukraine's victory as an opportunity to gain independence or wide autonomy from Russia. Before signing a contract, citizens of the Russian Federation undergo a thorough inspection, which can last up to a year. The battalion does not recruit captured Russian soldiers. The unit fought in the Battle of Avdiivka. On 12 March 2024, the unit participated in a

raid RAID (; redundant array of inexpensive disks or redundant array of independent disks) is a data storage virtualization technology that combines multiple physical Computer data storage, data storage components into one or more logical units for th ...

into the

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

and Belgorod regions of Russia alongside the

Freedom of Russia Legion The Freedom of Russia Legion (FRL, ; ; abbr. ''ЛСР'', ''LSR''), also called the Free Russia Legion, is a Ukrainian-based Paramilitary, paramilitary unit of Russian citizens, which Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, opposes the Russia u ...

. The commander of the battalion is Vladislav Ammosov. He is an ethnic Yakut, and claims to have worked in Russia's

GRU Gru is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Despicable Me'' film series. Gru or GRU may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Gru (rapper), Serbian rapper * Gru, an antagonist in '' The Kine Saga'' Organizations Georgia (c ...

foreign

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...

agency for 15 years. He fought in the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and Second Chechen wars. Ammosov supports independence for his native Sakha (Yakutia).Історія російського офіцера ГРУ, який воює на боці України за незалежність Якутії
19 May 2023. The Sibir battalion uses the unofficial flag of Siberia, a diagonal white-green bicolor.

References

{{authority control Regiments of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine Military units and formations established in 2023 Russia–Ukraine relations Opposition to Vladimir Putin Territorial defence battalions of Ukraine Belarusian and Russian partisan movement (2022–present)

See also

References