Does The Dugin Assassination Marks the Rise of A Resistance Movement in Russia?

The recent assassination of Darya Dugin, the daughter of Putin advisor Aleksandr Dugin may be the mark of an internal and organized uprising in Russia.  A group calling itself the National Republican Army has claimed responsibility for the act and confirmed that Dugin was the target.

Appearing on the TV show, “Utro Fevralya,” former member of the Russian Duma and now exile Ilya Ponomaryov stated the group contacted him through a Telegram channel he created called RosPartizan or “Russian Partisan,” by persons saying they were involved in the “guerilla struggle” against the Putin regime.  Utro Fevralya is a show broadcast somewhere in Europe that presents anti-Putin views and news by Russians. Ponomaryov stated that this group was not members of existing Anarcho-Communist, or other Far Right groups but represented a “new partisan” organization within Russia. In the interview, Ponomaryov said that those who had initially made contact with them were killed by the Russian state security service, the FSB and that his organization had helped them with material support and arranged for the protection of other members.

Ponomaryov himself is considered a fugitive from Russian justice living in Ukraine.  He holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and a Master’s degree in public administration from Moscow University. He worked in the nuclear field briefly and at one time was head of communications for the Communist Party of Russia from 2002-2007.  He has also been the VP of what was then Russia’s largest oil company, Yukos.  In 2007, he was elected to the Duma. His political views are a mix of classic liberalism and socialism. In 2012, he took a leading role in opposition to Putin’s rise to power as president and was the only member of the Duma to vote against Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2012, believing it would permanently ruin relations with Ukraine and lead to NATO expansion.  He was widely denounced as a traitor and called for his expulsion from the Duma.

While visiting California in 2014, his bank accounts were frozen and he was informed he was barred from returning to Russia because he was under investigation for embezzlement, making it pretty hard for him to mount an effective defense against the charges. While in exile in Ukraine, he has remained a vocal critic of the Putin regime, calling for it to be replaced with an entirely new system that is a mixture of federalism and direct democracy.

Here is a translated statement by the Russian Republican Army below

“We, Russian activists, military and politicians, now partisans and fighters of the National Republican Army, outlaw warmongers, robbers, and oppressors of the peoples of Russia!

We declare President Putin a usurper of power and a war criminal who amended the Constitution, unleashed a fratricidal war between the Slavic peoples, and sent Russian soldiers to certain and senseless death. Poverty and coffins for some, and palaces for others, were the essence of his policy. We believe that disenfranchised people have the right to rebel against tyrants. Putin will be deposed and destroyed by us!

Our goal is to stop the destruction of Russia and its neighbors, to stop the activities of a handful of Kremlin businessmen who have sucked on the wealth of our people and are committing crimes today inside and outside the country. We declare officials of the Government of the Russian Federation and regional administrations to be accomplices of the usurper, those who do not resign their powers will be destroyed by us. We announce businessmen who earn their money on corruption and connections with officials are traitors to the Motherland and accomplices of the usurper.

The property of those who do not repent and do not speak publicly against this government and its war, will be destroyed by us. We declare employees of power structures as accomplices of the usurper. Those who do not lay down their arms and take off their shoulder straps(rank insignia) will be destroyed by us. We declare military cargoes and the cargoes of those who earn money in the war and help it financially legal targets that we will destroy.

We remember the bombings of houses in Russia that brought Putin to power. We know that the regime will not stop at any of the most heinous crimes. And we declare: we carry out actions only against persons of this power. We will not attack civilian objects and civilians, and if Putin’s security forces will make such provocations and attribute the victims to us, do not believe them!

We call on the soldiers of the Russian army to stop shooting at our brothers from other countries, Georgia, Syria, and others. We call on all Russians to join our ranks and raise the white-blue-white flag of the new Russia instead of the tricolor disgraced by Putin’s government. 

We call on those who are ready to fight to follow our example and overthrow this inhuman, hypocritical, and anti-people regime!

We consider it unacceptable that Russians have begun to be defamed all over the world because of war crimes committed by those who have neither nationality nor fatherland, and who love only money and power.

The world is not an enemy of Russia, and Russia is not an enemy of humanity, and we will prove this by deeds. We will give protection to all who follow our call. All who carry out our program to the change of regime are exempted from liability under the laws of the usurper.

After our victory, we will immediately release all those illegally convicted by the Putin authorities.

We will give freedom to all the peoples inhabiting Russia and build a new society – a society without oligarchs, without corruption, without arbitrariness of officials, and without humiliating poverty. A society in which everyone is rewarded according to their work.

A society without wars and violence. A society in which power will belong to the people, where citizens will choose their own leaders and organize the life of their cities and villages themselves.

A society in which the rulers will not be able to sacrifice human lives for their own greatness, but will think about education, medicine, and scientific progress. A society in which everyone will be proud that he was born on the territory of Russia and will want to live in it!

Long live Free Russia! Wherever you are – fight like us, fight with us, fight better than us! Let’s cleanse our Motherland from filth! Victory will be ours!”

On YouTube, a video appeared also by the NRA that repeated their statement.

Partisan Movements Are Important in Russian History

Partisan movements enjoy a romanticized status in Russia going back to WWII. During this war, Partisan groups sprang up in Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union to continue resistance against Nazi occupation.  They sabotaged bridges, rail lines, and supply depots, conducted ambushes, performed recon missions, and gathered intelligence for the Allies and the Soviet Union.

The NRA may also be responsible for a series of attacks on Russian military recruiting stations, warehouses, fuel depots, ammunition storage facilities, and rail lines deep inside Russia and well out of the range of Ukrainian missiles or artillery. These attacks have occurred in Belgorod, Kursk, Bryansk, and now even Moscow with the killing of Darya Dugin over the weekend.

It remains to be seen if the National Republican Army exists on anything but paper and is taking credit for the killing of Dugin to fluff up its own reputation, but if it is real it presents some serious difficulties for Putin in continuing the war.

The propaganda line from the Kremlin is that the whole of the country supports the war in Ukraine, that narrative is hard to maintain with Russians inside the country blowing up rail lines, ammo dumps, and oil facilities.

The are millions of Ukrainians living in Russia, many of whom may be against the war in Ukraine and will give aid and assistance to the NRA. There may be a similar number of Russians who feel the same way and assist the NRA as a matter of self-interest to avoid being conscripted and sent to the front to fight.

It is believed that Ukrainian Special Forces units have infiltrated Russia to commit acts of sabotage against military and infrastructure targets in Russia, the members of the NRA would be valuable force multipliers for these Ukrainian forces in terms of shelter, intelligence, and direct assistance.

Putin has serious security problems in the occupied territories of Donbas, Luhansk, and Crimea that are drawing a lot of resources from the FSB to keep things under control. Faced with an internal insurgency against his own regime, Putin will be forced to reallocate assets and manpower of his internal security apparatus inside the country to track down and kill or arrest the NRA partisans. Given the heavy-handed nature of Russian intelligence services, they are just as likely to arrest, torture, and kill the innocent as the guilty, which would further turn the population against Putin at a time when he needs their public and private support and loyalty more than ever.