Who are these “black Russians” who are disrupting the border between Belarus and Latvia?

Where do the “Black Rus” come from? No one had heard of these “Black Russians” before they claimed responsibility, in a video from October 9, for an incident that occurred on the night of October 5 to 6 on the border between Belarus and Latvia. They allegedly tried to bring illegal migrants into Latvia, then stole surveillance cameras, reports the France 24 channel. Riga had already designated Moscow. The group promises other operations to “test the defenses” of NATO countries.

They present themselves as “Belarusian patriots” and advocate the unity of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, in the unity of a “Slavic unity”. They already have a site, dozens of videos and a Telegram account updated every day. The Latvian security services have opened a procedure, without asserting that the group really exists.

A Russian operation?

It could actually be a Russian disinformation operation. “There is approximately a 0% chance that this group is a real entity,” says Maris Andzans, of the Center for Geopolitical Studies in Riga, interviewed by France 24. The masked man in the video could be a member of the Belarusian or Russian intelligence services. This would be the first time since 2022 that a group has been created to demand such action. In 2014, Moscow created supposedly autonomous militias in the Donbass. For former Latvian Defense Minister Imants Liegis, this is “a disinformation operation”, but calls for people to “keep calm” in the face of this staging.