The Ukrainian military’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) helped Denis Kapustin, the founder of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) who was announced dead last week, to fake his death before claiming the bounty placed on his head by Russian security services, it said on Thursday.
Kapustin, 41, was previously reported killed by a Russian drone while carrying out a combat mission in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region overnight on Saturday, Dec. 27. His RDK is a force of Russians fighting alongside Ukrainians to overthrow the Putin regime.
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On Jan. 1, HUR said in a post on Telegram that a Russian special service operation ordering his murder, which had allocated a $500,000 bounty to carry out the crime, had successfully been foiled.
It added that it had procured the sum offered to “liquidate” Kapustin by Russia and this money would be used to strengthen Ukrainian drone capabilities against Russian forces.
HUR said that the murder of Kapustin – considered a “personal enemy” by Russian President Vladimir Putin – had been “commissioned by the special services of the aggressor state Russia, which allocated half a million dollars to carry out the crime.”
It added that a special operation lasting more than a month had successfully duped Russian intelligence services into believing that Kapustin was dead.
The circle of people involved has been identified, including the instigators within Russian special services and the executors, HUR said.
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A corresponding clip showed a briefing to the head of HUR Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov by the commander of the Tymur Special Operations Detachment, an elite unit of forces within military intelligence.
“Our side also obtained the corresponding amount of funds allocated by Russian special services to carry out this crime. As of now, the RDK commander is on the territory of Ukraine and is preparing to continue carrying out assigned tasks,” the Tymur unit stated.
Budanov congratulated Kapustin on his “return to life,” saying: “I am glad that the funds obtained for ordering your liquidation have gone to support our struggle. I wish us all and you personally success.”
“My temporary absence did not affect the quality or success of the execution of combat tasks. I am ready to move to the area of operations and continue commanding the RDK unit,” Kapustin said.
Kapustin, also known by the name Denis Nikitin and the nom-de-guerre WhiteRex, founded the far-right RDK at the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
One of the most prominent anti-Kremlin Russians fighting in Ukraine, Kapustin is a controversial figure. His far-right activities led to a 10-year ban from the Schengen zone in 2019, though Bellingcat researchers told the Financial Times in 2023 that he had remained active across Germany, France, Bulgaria and more.
A Russian citizen, he had moved to Germany with his family in the early 2000s, where he associated with a group of violent soccer fans. Later, he became “one of the most influential activists” in a neo-Nazi splinter group in the mixed-martial-arts scene, officials in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia have said.
The RDK, the largest of the Russian anti-Putin militias fighting on the side of Ukraine, is subordinate to HUR and is one of the various units within the HUR’s International Legion.
The RDK mounted cross-border operations into Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk regions in 2023 and 2024.
On Dec. 27, the RDK announced his “death” on Telegram, writing: “We will definitely take revenge, Denis. Your legacy lives on.”