In the days after Christmas last year, there were murmurs on the Russian social media claiming that Denis Kapustin, a far-right Russian opposition leader fighting alongside Ukraine, had been killed.
A Moscow-born Russian nationalist, Kapustin painted a complicated history of espousing his political agenda while remaining steadfast in his support against Russian imperialism and the invasion of Ukraine.
He moved to Kyiv in 2017, and founded the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) and fought against Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022, earning him a place on Russia’s federal registry of “terrorists and extremists” in March 2023.
On the morning of 27 December, confirmation arrived from the RDK. “Last night, our commander, Denis ‘White Rex’ Kapustin, died heroically while carrying out a combat mission in the Zaporizhzhia sector of the front. According to preliminary reports, it was an FPV drone [that killed him],” they posted on their official Telegram channel.
Russian war bloggers did the rest. Within hours, the news spread like wildfire, with pro-Russia accounts cheering the fall of one of the fiercest opponents of Vladimir Putin.
But their celebration was short-lived. On New Year’s Day, Kyrylo Budanov, then chief of the Ukrainian intelligence services (GUR), released a video statement, alongside a very much alive Kapustin.
“Welcome back to life, Denis Kapustin,” Budanov quipped in the video shared with The i Paper.
The plot unfolded in the quiet corridors of the Ukrainian intelligence services. “Russia had ordered the murder of Denis Kapustin by the special services of their state, and allocated half a million dollars for it,” a GUR official shared.
With the knowledge of an impending attack on Kapustin at hand, the Ukrainian services got to work to not only foil the assassination attempt but also use the opportunity to hoodwink the Russians.
“As a result of the complex special operation which lasted more than a month, [Kapustin’s life] was saved, and a circle of people – the ones who ordered the crime in the Russian special services and the executors, were also identified,” they said.
A believable story had to be created, then evidence was built to support the “legend” that Kapustin had indeed perished. This was created in the form of a series of videos. “The first, from the perspective of the attack drones, showed the drone flying into the minibus carrying Kapustin, and a second clip showed the aftermath of the strike — a burning car. That was all that was needed,” the official said.
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