Russian Volunteer Corps Founder Dies on the Front Lines in Ukraine

The founder and leader of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), a far-right paramilitary group aligned with the Ukrainian military, has been killed in combat, the organization announced on Saturday.

Denis Kapustin, aged 41, lost his life overnight on Saturday while engaged in a military operation in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, according to the RVC.

He was also recognized by the names Denis Nikitin and the combat alias White Rex.

“We will certainly avenge you, Denis. Your legacy will endure,” the RVC stated on its Telegram channel, promising to provide more information about Kapustin’s death after conducting an investigation.

Kapustin, who was born in Moscow, relocated to Kyiv in 2017 and established the RVC at the beginning of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

As per its manifesto, the RVC aims to dismantle Putin’s regime, establish an ethnic Russian state, eliminate imperial aspirations, and prioritize the welfare of ethnic Russians.

In March 2023, Kapustin was listed on Russia’s federal registry of “terrorists and extremists” following the RVC’s incursion into the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine. That same month, he was added to the Interior Ministry’s wanted list.

Since 2019, Kapustin has been subject to a 10-year prohibition from the Schengen Area. The open-source investigative outlet Bellingcat has reported that he continued to participate in far-right activities across Germany, France, and Bulgaria.