On the Death of Denis Kapustin, Commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (UPDATED)

War, paradox, and the limits of political judgement

The Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) reported today, via its Telegram channel, that its founder and commander, Denis Kapustin, was killed during a combat mission overnight.

UPDATE: On 1 January 2026, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (HUR) announced that the report on Denis Kapustin’s death was part of their disinformation operation, meaning that he is alive. According to the HUR, Russian intelligence authorised Kapustin’s assassination allocating USD 500,000 for the task. Following a month-long counter-operation, the HUR disrupted the plot, identified its organisers and executors, secured the allocated funds, and prevented the assassination. That said, the article below still captures the paradoxical nature of Kapustin’s life, even though the report on his death was false.

A Russian intelligence operation authorised the assassination of Denis Kapustin, allocating USD 500,000 for the task. Following a month-long counter-operation, Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine disrupted the plot, identified organisers and executors within Russian services, secured the allocated funds, and prevented the killing. Kapustin, deemed a personal enemy by Vladimir Putin, is now in Ukraine and continuing his duties, with the outcome reported to Kirill Budanov by the commander of the Timur Special Forces Unit.

Despite its name, the RDK is a unit fighting on Ukraine’s side against Russian forces. It operates as part of the International Legion subordinated to the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.

Kapustin, also known as Denis Nikitin and by the alias “White Rex”, was born in Moscow in 1984. In 2001, at the age of 17, he moved with his family to Germany, where they settled as Russian Jews. His apparent ethnic Jewish roots notwithstanding, he became radicalised within far-right football hooligan circles and later became involved in the German neo-Nazi skinhead subculture.

Around 2007, Kapustin returned to Russia, where he founded the far-right clothing brand “White Rex” and became active in organising mixed martial arts (MMA) tournaments in Russia and in Europe. Through the brand, he established contacts with a range of European far-right groups.

One of White Rex’s MMA tournaments, called “The Birth of a Nation”

In 2016, Nikitin was involved in violent attacks by Russian football hooligans on England fans during the European Football Championship in France. As Russia prepared to host the 2018 World Cup, pressure on him inside Russia increased. At the same time, returning to Germany/EU became difficult following the 2016 violence. He subsequently moved, in 2017, to Ukraine, where he continued his business activities. In 2019, Germany annulled his German residence permit; he was also barred from entering the Schengen area.

In Ukraine, where he already had contacts within far-right networks close to the so-called “Azov movement”, he became involved in organising neo-Nazi music events and MMA tournaments, as well as selling far-right merchandise.

Following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Kapustin overcame initial scepticism within Ukrainian intelligence linked to his Russian origin and was permitted to establish the RDK, composed primarily of Russian immigrants in Ukraine, many of whom held far-right views.

In May 2023, the RDK gained international attention after clashing with Russian armed forces inside Russia’s Belgorod Oblast and taking control of several border settlements for a few days. At the time, the operation marked Ukraine’s largest incursion into Russian territory since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. In response to the RDK’s efforts, Russia designated the unit as a terrorist group in late 2023.

Denis Kapustin (right) on Russia’s territory together with another RDK fighter, 2023

The RDK’s raid challenged the perception of Russia’s effective control over its own border and showed that Ukrainian-linked operations on Russian territory did not constitute a “red line” that should never be crossed. The Belgorod raid thus psychologically paved the way for the much larger Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast in August 2024.

The RDK has not been the only unit under Ukraine’s command to accept Russian immigrants willing to fight against Russian forces, but it is arguably the most well known. The unit’s daring operations, dashing boldness, ideological notoriety, and the confusion it caused among Russian aggressors contributed to its popularity within certain circles in Russia. Some Russians even dared to travel to Ukraine – via third countries and with the RDK’s assistance – in order to join the unit’s ranks.

Kapustin and the RDK also sought – likely as part of an arrangement with Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence – to reorient Russia-based far-right activists away from supporting the Russian government and participating in Russia’s “fratricidal war” against Ukraine, and towards active struggle against the Putin regime within Russia itself. Kapustin portrayed the regime as “neo-Bolshevik” and treasonous to a “Slavic race” that transcends the distinction between Russians and Ukrainians.

Denis Nikitin

However, these efforts to destabilise Russia’s domestic situation – which would have been beneficial to Ukraine’s defence – were largely unsuccessful. The overwhelming majority of Russian fascists – many of whom are tightly controlled by either the Russian Presidential Administration or the Federal Security Service (FSB) – have been unwilling, or unwilling to risk, changing their loyalties.

Nevertheless, the RDK was accepted as a legitimate force fighting the Kremlin regime by certain Russian émigré groups based in the West. In December 2025, the RDK submitted an application for its representatives to participate in the Platform for Dialogue with Russian Democratic Forces in exile, in accordance with a resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in October 2025.

While it is unlikely, given Kapustin’s ideological positions, that any RDK representative will be approved by the PACE – with a decision expected in January 2026 – the very submission of the application points to a degree of support, within particular Russian émigré circles, for the idea of armed resistance to Putin’s dictatorship.

Kapustin’s life was a path full of paradoxes. From having Jewish roots to becoming a neo-Nazi; from maintaining contacts close to Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate to serving under Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence; from denouncing “Gayrope” to dying for Ukraine, a country seeking to join that very Europe.

Kapustin’s death, the final paradox of his life, goes beyond his own path: it shows how war bends reality in ways that defy ordinary comprehension, leaving behind outcomes that resist easy or convenient judgement.