Neo-Nazi “White Rex.” Back in the land of the living.

Kapustin at left.

By Marc Bebenroth, junge Welt, January 7, 2026. Translation and notes by Helmut-Harry Loewen. 

Secret services lie and deceive. They sometimes do so to get their people out of the line of fire. This was likely the intention behind the apparently feigned drone death of the fascist paramilitary Denis “White Rex” Kapustin. Kapustin's unit announced to the public last week that he had died in a Russian drone attack in the Zaporizhzhya region. If we are to believe the same people, this was a ruse to thwart an imminent Russian commando operation against Kapustin and thus save the life of the commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK). “RDK commander Denis Kapustin is alive,” the service announced on January 1 on the Telegram channel DI Ukraine. The Russian state had offered a bounty of the equivalent of 425,000 euros. The reward had been collected and will benefit the special forces of the Ukrainian military intelligence service GUR [1]. 

In a video released on the same day, Kapustin can be seen participating in a GUR briefing via video conference. Kyrylo Budanov congratulated the man on his “return to life.” Budanov has since been promoted from head of the secret service to the new head of the presidential office and thus de facto head of government of Ukraine, a move whose announcement was timed to coincide with the disclosure of the secret service operation [2]. The operation also identified those involved in the alleged assassination plot. Kapustin expressed his willingness to continue carrying out combat missions and “special tasks.” “My temporary absence had no impact on the quality and success of the combat missions,” said the man identified as Kapustin in the statement. 

Ukrainian intelligence services had apparently already faked the death of a man wanted by Russian investigators in 2018, as reported by T-Online on January 2. At that time, it was rumoured that the opposition Russian war correspondent Arkady Babchenko had been killed in an attack in Kyiv. A day later, it became apparent that Babchenko was still alive. At that time, too, those responsible for the attack were identified. 

On November 14, 2024, the Russian military court sentenced Kapustin and a certain Kyryl Kanakhin to life imprisonment in absentia for participating in an incursion in the Russian region of Bryansk as members of a banned terrorist organization, as reported by the TASS news agency on the same day. In addition, Kapustin was fined 2.5 million rubles (around 26,400 euros at today's exchange rate) and Kanakhin was fined two million rubles. According to the verdict of the Second Military Court of the Western Military District, the convicted men were members of a Ukrainian sabotage group that illegally crossed the Russian border armed with explosives and infiltrated two settlements. There, the men allegedly opened fire on civilian vehicles and individuals. Kapustin had previously been sentenced to life imprisonment for participating in fighting against Russian soldiers in the Kherson region. 

RDK fighters had mobilized for an “anti-Putin demonstration” in Berlin on March 1, 2025, and apparently applied for an exemption from the ban on wearing masks. This request was granted in order to “protect their identity from possible reprisals by the Russian government,” as a police spokesperson told junge Welt. The youth wing of the neo-Nazi party “Der III. Weg” also took part in the march. Photos show, among other things, the presentation of the Wolfsangel used by the Ukrainian Azov brigades, which had once been the insignia of the SS Panzer Division “Das Reich” [3]. 

According to the German domestic security-intelligence agency, the Russian-born man had lived and worked in North Rhine-Westphalia, among other places, before emigrating to Ukraine in 2019. He was active in the neo-Nazi martial arts scene and called for fighting alongside the Ukrainian armed forces against Russia. According to reports, Kapustin fought for the supremacy of the “white race” and against the multi-ethnic state of Russia under President Vladimir Putin. In March 2023, the RDK carried out its first operations on Russian territory in the Bryansk region. The corps declared its cooperation with the Ukrainian military, at least unilaterally. In August 2022, the RDK announced an informal cooperation, then published a manifesto in October in which it described itself as part of the Ukrainian armed forces. 

Notes: 

[1] The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (GUR / HUR MO), also known as Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), is the military intelligence service of the Ukrainian government. 

[2] On Budanov’s ties to the Central Intelligence Agency, see:  Adam Entous and Michael Schwirtz, “The Spy War: How the C.I.A. Secretly Helps Ukraine Fight Putin,” The New York Times, February 25, 2024; Patrick Reevell, “How the CIA and Ukrainian intelligence secretly forged a deep partnership,” ABC News (online article), January 17, 2025; Antonia Langord, “Zelensky picks ‘god of the poker face’ as new right-hand man; Gen Kyrylo Budanov, CIA-trained spymaster and 39-year-old veteran, replaces aide ousted in £75m bribery scandal,”  The Telegraph, January 2, 2026.  

Ukrainian historian Dr. Marta Havryshko (Clark University), a genocide studies scholar and expert on the Ukrainian far-right, argues that “Budanov is the grandmaster overseeing all the neo-Nazis in Ukraine” (X: @HavryshkoMarta, January 7, 2026), given his white supremacist ideological orientation and deep ties to the fascist networks that operate in Ukraine’s military, intelligence apparatus, and broader civil society. 

[3] See Susann Witt-Stahl, “Russian fascists march in Berlin: First major appearance of Russian RDK fighters in Germany at ‘anti-Putin demo.’” Translated by Helmut-Harry Loewen. The Left Chapter, 4 March 2025. 

~ Original article: ‘Neonazi »White Rex«. Unter den Lebenden. Ukraine: Vermeldeter Tod von RDK-Kommandeur Kapustin war Finte des Militärgeheimdienstes. Faschist sei Ziel russischer Agenten gewesen.” By Marc Bebenroth. Junge Welt, 7 January 2026 (p. 15). 

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PHOTOS: 

Junge Welt screenshot: Denis Kapustin (centre) holds a press conference near the Ukrainian border after an advance on Belgorod in Russia (May 24, 2023). IMAGO/ABACAPRESS  

Denis “White Rex” Kapustin and the Russian Volunteer Corps