There are no statistics on how many Russian Nazis are fighting in Ukraine, but according to the research center “Sova”, which maps Russian nationalism, it is about hundreds of people. It is a mixture of football hooligans, nationalists and outspoken Nazis.
Rusich is the most famous Nazi group participating in the war in Ukraine. Recently they undertook the largest execution of prisoners of war to date. It is directed by Aleksey Miltyakov who became infamous after posting pictures of him killing and dismembering a puppy.
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– At the beginning of the full-scale war, Miltyakov published instructions on how to torture Ukrainian prisoners of war and what ransom money to demand from their relatives in order to buy war equipment, says Natalia Judina, expert at “Sova”.
Russian Nazis on both sides
The Kremlin doesn’t need to explain why Russian Nazis are fighting in Ukraine, officially they don’t exist.
On the other hand, Russian extremists who have switched sides and are fighting for Ukraine are often mentioned. It is about the resistance groups Freedom for Russia and the Russian Volunteer Corps who are currently carrying out an attack in Russia.
– They are described as traitors, but are in fact the same kind of Nazis who fight on the Russian side. The difference is that they believe that Ukraine should be allowed to be an independent country, says Judina.
Controlled by the power
At the same time as the phenomenon is silenced, the Russian government controls its Nazi groups. Among other things, they are not allowed to form their own battalion, as Yevgeny Prigozhin did with Wagner’s soldiers. Instead, the Nazis serve on contract under the armed forces with the same conditions as other Russian soldiers.
– I think that power is afraid of forces that it cannot control and history has shown that Russian Nazism often runs amok. It’s about aggressive young people who don’t want to obey anyone. Therefore, the authorities prefer to control everything themselves, explains Natalia Judina.