Two experts who spoke to the “Beyond the News” program saw that what happened in the border province of Bryansk (western Russia) will not have any military impact on the war field in Ukraine, but it will be used politically, especially by Moscow.
And the governor of the Russian Bryansk Province, Alexander Bogomaz, announced that a Ukrainian group had infiltrated the Klimovsk region in the Bryansk Province (on the Russian-Ukrainian border), where it carried out "criminal and terrorist operations in the region."
For its part, the Russian security service said that it had found a large number of explosive devices in the Klimovsky district of Bryansk province, accusing a group of "Ukrainian saboteurs" of planting them after infiltrating the area.
The military and strategic expert, Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi, said that the operation - which was described as the first of its kind - falls within the framework of irregular warfare, and it is a feature that accompanies regular war in all wars, and it will not be the last operation, indicating that what is important in the incident is who is behind it. Is it what is known as the “Russian Freedom Corps”, or the Ukrainian Intelligence, or the Russian Wagner Group, or the “International Legion”?
Al-Duwairi added - in his interview with the episode (3/2/2023) of the "Beyond the News" program - that Moscow and Kiev are exchanging accusations about the party responsible for the operation that took place in the Klimovsk region, stressing that the "Russian Freedom Corps" is the most likely, because its members Most of them are former soldiers who refused the mobilization announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and are on Ukrainian soil.
And in the event that the involvement of the "Russian Freedom Corps" is proven - as Al-Duwairi says - this may pose a danger to Russia, because the incident will be the beginning of the path towards civil war, which is the secret of the fear and anxiety of the Russian leadership.
On the other hand, the military expert was not certain that the operation could be carried out by the Wagner Group, which he said included a group of hired killers.
political recruitment
On the other hand, the military and strategic expert ruled out that the Bryansk province operation would have any impact on the course of the war in Ukraine, but it was likely that Russia would use it politically in order to tarnish the image of its opponents in Kiev and the West by accusing them of supporting terrorism.
Russian President Putin condemned the attack in Bryansk, describing it as "terrorist".
Putin added - in a televised speech - that the Russian army is protecting the country and its people from what he called "neo-Nazis and terrorists", who have infiltrated Russian territory.
The Kremlin also confirmed that Putin will chair an emergency meeting of the National Security Council on Friday to discuss the attack.
In the same context, security and strategic studies professor Omar Ashour said that the incident will not have any military impact on the course of the war in Ukraine, but Moscow will exploit it in the context of combating terrorism.
He explained that the Ukrainian side's situation is not bad and Western support for it continues, as more armored vehicles and tanks will reach it, and therefore terrorist operations harm it.
The Ukrainian intelligence said that the information about what is going on in the Bryansk region is "a continuation of Russia's transformation, purification and liberation from Putin's dictatorship," as she put it.
The military administration in Odessa (southwestern Ukraine) also denied the infiltration of Ukrainian forces into Bryansk, and said that the Russian military group, Wagner, may have taken the hostages.