For Russian rebels engaged against Moscow who have joined the Ukrainian ranks, the offensive launched on August 6 by Kyiv's army in the Kursk region of Russia could have been an opportunity after a year and a half of clandestine operations and limited-range raids. It could have been a reunion with home. However, the Ukrainian army general staff decided otherwise: Russian supporters were kept out of Kyiv's most daring operation in two and a half years.

Both Ilya Ponomarev, the politician in charge of the Freedom of Russia Legion, and Denis Kapustin, known as "Rex," the commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), confirmed that their units have been excluded. The two men also confirmed a much more sensitive piece of information, which has become an open secret in Kyiv over the weeks, but which no official in Kyiv will comment on publicly: The GUR, the Ukrainian military intelligence service, which coordinates the Russian rebels' activities and, above all, carries out its own operations in enemy territory, has been excluded from "Operation Kursk," or at least from its initial assault phase, by the general staff.

"The GUR and its Russian fighters have been excluded from the operation, but not for military reasons," said a source close to the rebel movements. "It's more for personal reasons: [Ukrainian army commander General Oleksandr] Syrskyi, who has a certain rivalry with [military intelligence chief General Kyrylo] Budanov, wanted his moment of glory if the operation was successful."

The Russian rebels, who have taken part in various incursions into Russia since their first raid in March 2023 in the Bryansk region, then in a larger operation in June 2023 in the Belgorod region, are trying not to show too much frustration at not being present in the Kursk region.

For Ponomarev, who, in addition to the armed group Freedom of Russia, coordinates a "Russian Parliament" in exile which meets twice a year in Warsaw, Poland, the objective is now political. "If Kyiv wished, we could administer these territories in Russia. Our movement has former local officials, including from the Kursk region, who could manage an alternative local power to that of the Kremlin."

Ponomarev, who claims that "this option is under discussion in Kyiv," recently flew to Washington, believing that "the main obstacle is on the side of Ukraine's allies, especially the Americans, who fear anything that might resemble a regime change policy in Moscow."

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