Bombs in Belgorod: Cross-Border Chaos, Emboldened Russian Nationalists & Troubling Alliances

In this episode, Alex talks about his concerns surrounding a cross-border raid into the Russian border region of Belgorod. The details are still murky, but it looks like different paramilitary, nationalist legions wanted to destablize Russian forces, liberate villages, and take Russian reserves off of the front lines. According to the Econonomist, the fighting included “an illegal crossing from Ukraine into Belgorod, a Russian region on the border, by tanks and infantry fighting vehicles; the death of at least one border guard; farm buildings on fire; a downed helicopter; traffic jams of fleeing locals; and the reported evacuation of a nuclear-arms facility several kilometers into Russian territory.”  Alex discusses how it appeaars that most of these fighters were far-right Russian nationalists that have been working with the Ukrainian government. Alex is concerned that some of these paramilitary groups have white supremacist and far-right ideologies and want to topple the Putin Regime so that they can make Russia a mono-ethnic state. Alex argues that while the Ukrainian government and this forces have shared interests right now, once the war settles down there may be a new power vacuum created in Russia that could cause chaos and violence.