Ukraine has confirmed that reports of the assassination of Denis Kapustin, the leader of the right wing Russian Volunteer Corps, were deliberately staged as part of a covert intelligence operation aimed at protecting his life and exposing Russian security failures. Kapustin, also known by the alias White Rex, had been reported dead last week after the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced he was killed by an FPV drone strike in the Zaporizhzhia region. The Russian Volunteer Corps even published a tribute on Telegram at the time, vowing to avenge him and promising further details. However, Ukraines Defence Intelligence of Ukraine later revealed that the death was faked during a month long special operation. The move was designed to mislead Russian intelligence services and secure a 500,000 dollar bounty that had reportedly been allocated by the Kremlin for Kapustins killing. In a video released on the intelligence agencys official Telegram channel, Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov congratulated Kapustin on his return, describing him as a personal enemy of Vladimir Putin. Budanov said the operation highlighted a major failure by Russian secret services and added that the funds obtained would be used to strengthen Ukrainian special units. Kapustin also appeared in the video, saying his brief disappearance had no effect on the work of his fighters. A former football hooligan and neo Nazi activist from Moscow who later lived in Germany, Kapustin relocated to Kyiv in 2017. He has been banned from entering the Schengen area since 2019 due to his involvement in far right movements linked to mixed martial arts circles. Following Russias full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Kapustin founded the Russian Volunteer Corps, which fights alongside Ukrainian forces. The group is designated a terrorist organisation in Russia and says its goal is to help restore Ukraines territorial integrity within its 1991 borders and overthrow the Russian president. Ukrainian officials say the operation not only protected Kapustin but also embarrassed the Kremlin by demonstrating the effectiveness of Ukrainian intelligence tactics..
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