# "Russian" Collaborationism: What the Kremlin Hides

> A mirror to the "Ukrainian Nazis" myth: Russian collaboration with the Nazis was massive — Vlasov's army, Kaminski's RONA, ~1.5 million police auxiliaries; the tricolor was a collaborator flag.

Canonical: https://holospravdy.com/en/russian-collaborationism
Period: druha-svitova | Type: spoke | Updated: 2026-06-18

**TL;DR.** The Kremlin justifies its war against Ukraine as "denazification" and portrays Ukrainians as "collaborators with the Nazis." Yet it was **Russian** collaboration with the Third Reich that was among the largest in occupied Europe: Vlasov's army, Kaminski's RONA brigade, hundreds of thousands of police auxiliaries and "Hiwis." And the white-blue-red tricolor — **the flag of today's Russia** — was at the same time a flag of Russian collaborators.

## A scale the Kremlin erases

By the estimate of historian Lado Khvedelidze, no fewer than **1.5 million** people served as police auxiliaries on the occupied territories, and the "Hiwis" (voluntary helpers of the Wehrmacht) numbered from 800,000 to a million. The Soviet Union and the Russians turned out, in his words, to be the ethnic group "most saturated with collaborators" — a higher percentage existed neither in France, nor in Belgium, nor in the Netherlands[1].

The figures on collaboration are debated. The modern historian Mark Edele counts only **voluntary defectors** among Soviet prisoners of war at 117,000–318,000, and the total number of those who served the Germans (Hiwis, police, military formations) is estimated at about a million. But even by cautious calculations, the figure is in the hundreds of thousands — a scale incompatible with the myth of "the Russian victor-people without a single stain."

## The myth and reality of "Vlasov's army"

The most famous symbol is General **Andrey Vlasov**. The widespread image of "Vlasov's almost million-strong army, fighting since 1941," is a myth: Vlasov, a lieutenant general of the Red Army, went over to the Germans **only after being captured**, and the Russian Liberation Army (ROA) as a real force took shape late, closer to the end of the war[2]. The ROA fought under the **white-blue-red tricolor** — the very same flag that is today the state flag of Russia.

## The Lokot "republic" and the RONA

The largest center of collaboration was the **Lokot "republic"** in Oryol region (more than 2 million people). Its core was made up of former Red Army soldiers, collective-farm chairmen, and even members of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks); Voskoboinikov founded a "Russian fascist party" there. Its armed forces — the **RONA** (Russian Liberation People's Army) — numbered more than 25,000, and the Germans recognized Lokot as a "republic"[3].

When German tanks entered Lokot, they were met with bread and salt — but not under red banners, but under the **white-blue-red tricolor, the flag of today's Russian Federation**; the honor guard stood in Soviet uniform with RONA insignia[4].

## Kaminski: from "hero" to perpetrator

At the head stood Voskoboinikov and **Bronislav Kaminski** — former members of the All-Union Communist Party. Kaminski, who had earlier taken part in suppressing the Tambov uprising as a "hero" of the Red Army, took command of the RONA[5]. Later his brigade was incorporated into the Waffen-SS; it became notorious for atrocities that shocked even the SS men — in particular the **massacre in the Ochota district during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944**. The Germans themselves eventually court-martialed Kaminski and shot him. These were not "liberators," but perpetrators.

## What this means

The history of "Russian" collaborationism is a direct **mirror** to the Kremlin myth of [“Ukraine = Nazis”](/en/is-ukraine-a-nazi-state). Collaboration existed in every occupied country; the question is who speaks of it, and why. Russia, which has made "victory over Nazism" the core of its state ideology, has at the same time **raised the flag of its own collaborators** and concealed the scale of its own collaboration with Hitler. "Denazification" in the mouth of a state with such a past is nothing other than projection.

## Citation sources

[1] summary: «По оценке Хведелидзе, в полицаях служило не менее полутора миллионов человек, а «хиви» (добровольные помощники вермахта) — от 800 тысяч до миллиона. Именно Россия (Советский Союз) оказалась самым «коллаборационистски насыщенным» этносом — большего процента коллаборантов не было ни во Франции, ни в Бельгии, ни в Нидерландах.» — Historian Every Saturday: Lado Khvedelidze. 'Russian' collaborationism during the Second World War (25.05.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PhsMi27cCs (timecodes: 1:02:47, 1:03:09, 1:03:28)

[2] summary: «Распространённый образ «чуть ли не миллионной армии Власова, воевавшей с 1941 года» — миф. Андрей Власов, генерал-лейтенант РККА из крестьянской семьи, перешёл на сторону немцев лишь после пленения, а Русская освободительная армия как реальная сила сложилась поздно, ближе к концу войны.» — Historian Every Saturday: Lado Khvedelidze. 'Russian' collaborationism during the Second World War (25.05.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PhsMi27cCs (timecodes: 18:38, 19:14)

[3] summary: «В Локотской «республике» (Орловщина, более 2 млн населения) костяк коллаборационизма составили бывшие красноармейцы, председатели колхозов и даже члены ВКП(б); Воскобойников создал «русскую фашистскую партию». Её вооружённые силы — РОНА (Русская освободительная народная армия) — насчитывали более 25 тысяч человек, и немцы признали Локоть как «республику».» — Historian Every Saturday: Lado Khvedelidze. 'Russian' collaborationism during the Second World War (25.05.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PhsMi27cCs (timecodes: 1:01:19, 56:29, 59:06)

[4] summary: «Когда немецкие танки вошли в Локоть, их встречали хлебом-солью под флагами не красными, а бело-сине-красным триколором — флагом современной Российской Федерации; почётный караул стоял в советской форме с нашивками РОНА.» — Historian Every Saturday: Lado Khvedelidze. 'Russian' collaborationism during the Second World War (25.05.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PhsMi27cCs (timecodes: 55:59, 58:05)

[5] summary: «Во главе Локотской республики стояли Константин Воскобойников и Бронислав Каминский — бывшие члены ВКП(б). Каминский ранее участвовал в подавлении Тамбовского восстания как «герой» Красной армии, а затем возглавил коллаборационистское движение РОНА.» — Historian Every Saturday: Lado Khvedelidze. 'Russian' collaborationism during the Second World War (25.05.2024) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PhsMi27cCs (timecodes: 58:50, 59:06)