Deputy commander of Russian Volunteer Corps abducted, released, but questions remain over SSU role

The deputy commander for combat operations of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), Stepan Kaplunov, was abducted in late August and released on 2 September, his lawyer has confirmed. But the circumstances – and the involvement of Ukraine’s Security Service (SSU) – remain murky, raising questions about Kyiv’s relations with the Russian volunteers fighting in its ranks.

Kaplunov was seized in the courtyard of his home around 23 August, according to the RVC’s chief of staff, Aleksandr Fortuna. The unit alerted the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), the SSU and the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) – but received no clear information about their commander’s whereabouts or any charges (Ukrainska Pravda, 1 September 2026).

On the night of 1–2 September, a standoff broke out between SSU officers and DIU servicemen in Kyiv’s Dniprovskyi District. Three DIU personnel were wounded, two seriously, said Taras Borovskyi, Kaplunov’s lawyer, who was at the scene (Ukrainska Pravda, 2 September 2026).

By the morning of 2 September, Borovskyi told Ukrainska Pravda that Kaplunov had been released – but his location was unknown. “I do not know where he is,” the lawyer said (Ukrainska Pravda, 2 September 2026).

Borovskyi has been blunt about what he believes happened. In comments to RBC-Ukraine, he described the SSU’s official account – that officers had prevented an assassination attempt on the leader of a Russian opposition movement – as a “PR stunt.” He claimed Kaplunov had actually been abducted by SSU personnel in violation of criminal procedure, including a night-time search of his apartment without a lawyer or court order, conducted ten days after the detention. “It is stupid,” Borovskyi said, “because why conduct an urgent search if you detained the person ten days ago?” (Ukrainska Pravda, 2 September 2026).

The lawyer later added: “We have accepted that this version of events may be acceptable to the public, and we will not continue to make any waves around this topic” – a statement that suggests a deal may have been struck to end the standoff without public escalation (Ukrainska Pravda, 2 September 2026).

The RVC, formed in 2022 by Russian nationals who have been fighting alongside Ukraine’s armed forces since 2014, has a complicated relationship with Ukrainian security bodies. Its former commander Denis “WhiteRex” Kapustin was reported killed in December 2025, only for Ukraine’s DIU later to reveal the report was part of a special operation and Kapustin is alive (source 2).

The SBI confirmed it had received a complaint from Kaplunov’s lawyers and was reviewing it for a possible pre-trial investigation (source 2). Neither the SSU nor the DIU have issued detailed public statements as of 2 September.

Why it matters The abduction and subsequent standoff expose a fault line between Ukraine’s mainstream security apparatus and the foreign volunteer units that have been incorporated into its defence. While the RVC and similar groups are valued for their battlefield contributions and propaganda value – Russian exiles fighting Moscow – they operate under Ukrainian command but with their own chains of loyalty. Any perception of arbitrary detention or score-settling by the SSU could damage trust with these units at a time when Ukraine needs every fighting hand.

With Kaplunov now free but his location unknown, the immediate crisis has passed. But the unanswered questions – who ordered his abduction, what was the original allegation, and why did it take a shootout to get him released – suggest the story is far from over.