Russia | A Russian paramilitary force announced that it was patrolling the Finnish border – Researcher: “Involved in trolling”

Russian The paramilitary group Rusitš has apparently received some kind of approval from the Russian authorities for their patrolling near the Finnish border, as they claim on the Telegram service.

That’s what a senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute thinks Jussi Lassila. He bases his view on the fact that you cannot move near the border on the Russian side without permission from the authorities, but the group seems to have moved right there.

On Monday, Rusiš published a message on Telegram in which they announce that they have started cooperation with the Russian Border Guard in Northwestern Russia. According to the group, the purpose of the cooperation is to exchange experiences, carry out intelligence operations and strengthen the border against Finland.

There are pictures attached to the message. In one of them, the members of the group pose with assault rifles, apparently on the shore of the Saimaa canal.

Rusich is an armed ultra-nationalist Russian group that has become known, for example, for suspected war crimes in the Donbas war since 2014. The members of the group have been told, for example tortured and murdered prisoners of war.

The US Treasury Department has characterized Rusich in its sanctions decision as a “neo-Nazi paramilitary group”.

In the summer of 2023, the Finnish authorities arrested one of Rusič’s leaders Jan Petrovskyalso known as Voislav Torden. The Central Criminal Police suspects him for war crimes committed in Ukraine.

Rusić’s leadership ladder was told to St. Petersburg For Fontanka news mediathat the group is supposed to patrol with the help of the Russian border guards in the Leningrad region near Vyborg.

As the location of the photo published in connection with the group’s Telegram message Over has located the Rättijärvi lock on the Saimaa canal. The place is known in Russia as Tsvetotchnoye. It is more than seven kilometers from the Finnish border.

Rusich is estimated to have a few hundred members.

“Based on their own Telegram communication, they are cooperating with the FSB. The place suggests that apparently they have some kind of permission to do so. Or at least they haven’t been blocked,” says Lassila.

The FSB is Russia’s security service, and the Russian Border Guard operates under it. Russia has very wide border zones, sometimes tens of kilometers wide. FSB’s permission is required to stay in them, it is stated, for example, in the FSB’s document concerning the Leningrad region in the instructions from 2017.

Finland prime minister Petteri Orpo (kok) speculated to STT on Tuesday that the announcement of Rusič’s participation in border guarding on Russia’s border with Finland “is related to Russia’s communication needs”. According to Orpo, Russia needs to communicate about its own defense or military presence after Finland’s NATO membership.

Researcher Lassila also thinks that it seems to be about influencing information.

“This is related to trolling practiced by Russia. It probably has a role Jan Petrovsky with arrest in Finland”, says Lassila.

Russia has dabbled in trolling, i.e. influencing information through social media discussions for years now. In Lassila’s opinion, the Finns have absolutely no reason to worry about Rusić’s border guarding.

“You could throw such comments that you are welcome to be arrested,” he says.

in his Telegram message Rusiš also mentions that the group works “within the framework of DND”. DND is a so-called voluntary people’s militia.

Such auxiliary forces of law enforcement officers, consisting of civilians, have been established in the regions of Russia in recent years. The DND system was also in use in Russia during the Tsarist and Soviet times.

Finland’s border with Russia is currently closed by decision of the Finnish Government.