On the morning of December 27, the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) — a unit formed from citizens of the Russian Federation and fighting on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — reported the death of its commander Denis Kapustin, also known under the aliases Nikitin and White Rex, reports Baltimore Chronicle. According to the unit, Kapustin was killed while carrying out a combat mission as a result of a strike by a Russian unmanned aerial vehicle.
Denis Kapustin was born in Moscow in 1984. In 2001, his family moved to Cologne. As reported by Der Spiegel, the Kapustin family relocated to Germany as Jewish refugees, and several months later Kapustin obtained permanent residency. While living in Germany, he became involved in mixed martial arts and football hooligan subculture. Kapustin later stated that in his youth he had been a skinhead and participated in street fights.
He subsequently returned to Russia, where he joined the fan movement of the football club CSKA Moscow. During this period, Kapustin organized mixed martial arts (MMA) tournaments that involved representatives of far-right movements. He also held similar events across Europe. Participants in these tournaments included members of Germany’s National Democratic Party and Italy’s neo-fascist CasaPound movement. Researcher of far-right movements Robert Claus described Kapustin as a key figure among right-wing extremists in Europe and one of the continent’s most dangerous neo-Nazis.
In 2008, Kapustin founded the clothing brand White Rex. Its products featured items with concealed Nazi symbolism, including the “Black Sun” emblem and the numerical combinations 14/88. According to the outlet Zaborona, Kapustin publicly expressed views supporting white supremacy. In 2016, he was among the organizers of a mass brawl between Russian and English football fans in Marseille during the UEFA European Championship.
In 2017, Kapustin moved to Ukraine, where he continued organizing MMA tournaments. He maintained close contacts with representatives of the Azov Regiment. In particular, the secretary of the regiment’s international department, Olena Semenyaka, stated that Kapustin helped establish ties with far-right groups abroad and in some cases represented Azov’s interests at international conferences. In 2019, Kapustin was banned from entering the European Union for ten years. Der Spiegel also reported that Ukrainian police had detained him on suspicion of drug trafficking, though this information was never officially confirmed; Zaborona noted that the relevant data were classified.
Kapustin was in Kyiv when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2022, he announced the creation of the Russian Volunteer Corps, a unit formed from ethnic Russians intended to fight on Ukraine’s side. The exact size of the RDK has never been disclosed. Kapustin explained that the unit was established as various national battalions of foreign volunteers were being formed in Ukraine, while Russian citizens lacked a separate structure.
In August 2022, Kapustin said the RDK was cooperating with the Armed Forces of Ukraine but was not formally recognized as an official Ukrainian military unit. He claimed that direct contact with the President of Ukraine was required to secure permission for official participation in combat operations. In October of the same year, the RDK published its own manifesto declaring that it was part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the same time, Kapustin emphasized that the corps did not cooperate with another Russian unit affiliated with Ukraine, the Freedom of Russia Legion, citing ideological differences.
In March 2023, the RDK carried out its first high-profile cross-border operation, entering the villages of Lyubechane and Sushany in Russia’s Bryansk region. Fighters of the corps temporarily took control of administrative buildings in those settlements. Regional authorities reported that two civilians were killed as a result of shelling. In the following months, similar raids became a defining tactic of both the RDK and the Freedom of Russia Legion, including incursions into Russia’s Belgorod region. Kapustin stated that he attempted to arrange a meeting with Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov to hand over captured Russian soldiers, but face-to-face talks never took place.
Russian security services accused Kapustin of attempting to organize the assassination of businessman Konstantin Malofeev, who is regarded in Russia as one of the sponsors of proxy aggression in Donbas in 2014. In late March 2023, Kapustin was placed on Russia’s wanted list, arrested in absentia, and in November he was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment in a maximum-security penal colony. One month later, the Russian Volunteer Corps was designated a terrorist organization in Russia.
In late June 2023, Kapustin publicly supported the mutiny led by Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. After Prigozhin’s death in a plane crash, Kapustin called on Wagner fighters to defect to Ukraine.
In 2024–2025, the RDK and its commander appeared less frequently in the media as organizers of high-profile operations. In September 2024, Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate mentioned the unit among participants in the operation to liberate the Vovchansk Aggregate Plant in the Kharkiv region from Russian forces. In November of the same year, Kapustin was again sentenced in absentia in Russia to life imprisonment.
In 2025, the RDK intensified its political activities. On March 1, fighters of the corps took part in an anti-war rally organized by the Russian opposition in Berlin. Ahead of the demonstration, Kapustin threatened violence against participants who would appear carrying the Russian tricolor. On December 19, the RDK announced its intention to join a Russian platform operating under the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
According to the corps’ Telegram channel, Kapustin rarely appeared at public events in the months preceding his death. His last public appearance was in October, at the presentation of a film about the operation to liberate the Vovchansk Aggregate Plant. During this period, the unit focused on combat operations in some of the most intense areas of the front, including the Kupiansk and Pokrovsk directions. At the same time, Kapustin remained active on his personal Telegram channel, where in the days before his death he paid particular attention to conflicts among pro-war Z-activists and the killing of former Española Brigade commander Stanislav Orlov.
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