Rusich Grouping Rebels, Refusing To Fight In Ukraine

The militants put forward an ultimatum to the Kremlin.

The Russian neo-Nazi group Rusich has announced that it is ceasing to carry out combat missions in Ukraine. According to the group’s Telegram channel, the reason for this decision was the detention of one of the founders and leaders of the Rusich Yan Petrovsky, also known under the pseudonym Slavyan, reports The Moscow Times.

“In the meantime, the situation with Slavyan is not resolved in the direction we need (extradition to the Russian Federation) — the Rusich stops performing any combat missions. There will be time to relax and solve the accumulated issues. If a country cannot protect its citizens, then why should citizens defend the country?” the group's Telegram channel says.

The detention of Jan Petrovsky took place in Finland, it became known only today. Ukrainian authorities suspect him of participating in war crimes committed between June 2014 and August 2015 in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Petrovsky himself denies any involvement in these events.

The commander of the Rusich appears in the sanctions lists of the European Union and the United States. According to the US Treasury Department, he was the leader and commander of a neo-Nazi paramilitary group associated with the private military company Wagner. The European Union also announced that Petrovsky is responsible for actions that threaten the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.

Since 2004, Jan Petrovsky lived in Norway, where he was an active member of the radical nationalist movement. He participated in the anti-immigrant patrols “Soldiers of Odin”. According to the Norwegian state radio company NRK, Petrovsky fought in Syria on the side of an ultra-right group that supported the government of Bashar al-Assad.

Rusich was founded by Petrovsky and Alexei Milchakov in the self-proclaimed “Luhansk People's Republic”. Norway expelled Petrovsky to Russia in 2016, considering him a threat to national security.

Petrovsky became the commander of the Rusich in 2022, after the group’s former commander Alexei Milchakov has been wounded near Kharkiv.