The first among Russians

The Russian National Socialist Roman Zheleznov, who asked for political asylum in Ukraine, was listed in the Azov battalion, claims that a search was held in his Moscow apartment as part of a criminal case of mercenaries. Perhaps we are talking about the first criminal case against Russian citizens for participating in an armed conflict in the southeast of Ukraine. Among the potential defendants in the case are a neo -Nazi from Samara, who also joined the Azov.

Witnesses of Zuhel

In the apartment where Roman Zheleznov lived with his parents before leaving the country, investigators came at seven in the morning on Friday, October 3. At the same time, the second investigative group searched the apartment of the suspect’s grandmother, in which he is registered, the neo -Nazi says. A search at the place of actual residence of Zheleznov, known in ultra -right circles under the nickname Zuhel, lasted two hours. The apartment was examined by the investigator of the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee (GSU SK) and two employees in civilian clothes, presumably operatives of the Center for Countering Extremism at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (ED Center). People in civilian clothes did not present documents.

Investigative actions took place as part of an investigation of a criminal case, initiated under Part 3 of Art. 359 of the Criminal Code ("The participation of the mercenary in the armed conflict or military operations"). The note to this article of the Criminal Code says that a citizen of Russia is considered a mercenary who is fighting for money in the territory of another state, with the exception of cases provided for by his official duties. The accused under this article of the Criminal Code threatens to seven years in prison.

“They took a little. Letters, some stripes, business cards, photographs of a hundred years ago, stickers, packaging of pure CD-R discs, a couple of books, something else on trifles. Everything fit into one small package, ”one of the members of the National Socialist family told Mediazone.

After the search, the investigators left the parents and sister of Zheleznov a summons for appearing for interrogation as witnesses in the case of mercenaries. Another agenda was discharged in the name of the neo -Nazi himself, since the summer of this year living in Ukraine.

Zheleznov claims that investigators have the testimony of certain people who saw him with weapons in the anti -terrorist operation zone (ATO), which Kyiv has been conducting against the armed groups of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics since the spring of this year. He refused to comment on his participation in the hostilities and location in Ukraine.

Zheleznov noted that in Azov, he, like other foreigners, has a volunteer status, but did not specify his occupation.

“I do not pursue any material interest either here or in Russia. There are many orders of order for self -realization than in his homeland, ”he explains.

Probably the reason for suspicions of mercenaries was the plot of Ukrainian TV about the Russian volunteers of Azov and the beginning of the investigation of the Criminal City Criminal case on the fact of the Russian -speaking population genocide in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine, Zheleznov believes.

"We want to stay here"

The report on the Russians in Azov at the end of September showed the Ukrainian “Novi Canal”. It is based on an interview with three far -right Russians. They walk along the Maidan of Nezalevniy and talk about their political views, the reasons for moving to Ukraine and the desire to obtain citizenship of this country. All three television channel in the credits indicates as Azov fighters.

“We do not call ourselves the Russians, our word“ Russian ”is considered an insult. We call ourselves Russian. A Russian is a person who lives in Russia, roughly speaking, just a citizen, and a Russian person is a Slav and considers the Russian culture of his native, ”explains the subtleties of the subtlety with ultra -right vocabulary.

National Socialist is dressed in a civilian-in a dark sweater, camouflage pants and red sneakers of New Balance. In an interview, the right -handed does not affect the topic of hostilities. He says that he wants to stay in Ukraine, since the country has a "huge field for legal activity."

“We want to stay here <...> Here we can do what we cannot do in Russia due to repressions,” says Zheleznov.

A sunsid voice clarifies that the repression must be understood as the first prison term of Zuchel. At the end of the summer of 2009, the National Socialist was sent behind bars for shots from traumatic weapons in the back of the anti-fascist. Ironov received the next term in November 2013 for stealing beefs from the Metro supermarket, but soon released.

The second hero of the report of the New Channel is the right -handed from Samara Artem. In February of this year, he went to Kyiv to support the protesters on the Maidan of Nezalevo. Since the beginning of May, Samara, whom the Russian neo -Nazi portal Wotanjugend calls “Yesenin”, is fighting in “Azov”.

Like Zukhel, he is dressed in everyday city clothing with a correction for a radical subculture - a gray hoodie with stylized runes.

The only hero of the report that wears camouflage with the distinguishing signs of Azov is Muscovite Yuri (Wotanjugend claims that he is known by the nickname “Taxi driver”). According to sources in the anti -fascist environment, a taxi driver is not a citizen of Russia. He was born in Lugansk, moved from there to Moscow. In the capital, the future fighter of Azov earned the sale of clothes from the second-hand on the Internet.

In an interview, the taxi driver says that he came to Ukraine in order to join the volunteer battalion and talks about the persecution of his relatives who remained in Russia.

“When it all just started, I had already gone here to the mobilization center to get in Azov, and my grandfather was abducted literally a week later,” says Ultrapravaya.

"Russian Corps"

The New Channel is not the first media that reports the warring or those who want to fight on the side of Kyiv by Russian citizens. The activity of Russians monitors the anti -fascist resource Streetmob. Its participants recognized the ultra -right Russian from Pyatigorsk, Yulia Topolov, as part of the Aidar battalion. Sources of the Mediazones in the Armed Forces of Ukraine talk about the Russians in the battalions of Shakhtarsk and Dnipro. In one of the volunteer battalions on the side of Ukraine, the ex-employee of the FSB Ilya Bogdanov is fighting. However, before Friday, criminal cases of mercenaries, initiated on the fact of the participation of Russians in the ATO, were not known.

The arrival of Zheleznov in Kyiv in the summer was reported by Russian and Ukrainian media. The neo -Nazi was forgiven the post of head of the Azov - Russian Corps battalion, where the far -right ones were supposed to fight from Russia.

“He (Zheleznov - MZ ) will engage in social activities, will fight,” Igor Krivoruchko, one of the leaders of Azov, promised on the air of the Ukrainian television channel 112. He personally arrived at the Kiev airport “Borispol” and brought from the battalion an invitation to Zheleznov to enter the country, since the customs officers at first refused to miss him.

To prove his pro -Ukrainian position, Zheleznov presented the airport to the airport to the reports of the reports about his political activity. Unlike many Russian ultra -right, supporting in the Ukrainian crisis unrecognized and pro -Russian -minded DPR and LPR, he spoke out in the support of Kyiv. For example, on May 1 of this year, during the demonstration, neo-Nazis, led by Zukhel, carried a banner with the slogan of Ukrainian nationalists “Glory to the Heroes”, and after it were photographed with the yellow-blue flag of Ukraine and the red-black flag of the UPA.

In Kyiv, Zheleznov decided to fly after a search of his apartment as part of an investigation into the activities of activists of the now non -acting right -winging movement "Restructure". According to investigators , the neo -Nazis suspected the Azerbaijani Zaura Alyshev in the trade in narcotic smoking mixtures and severely beat him. Alyshev died in the hospital. Zheleznov denies his participation in the crime, his legal status in this case is unclear.

Another hero of the Television Agent about Russian volunteers, Artem from Samara, can also wait for problems in their homeland. In the July interview with Samara24, he admits that he receives a salary for participation in hostilities, however, a small one.

“The battalion is located under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. Salary is paid to the fighters. Since the creation of the battalion, I was paid 4 thousand hryvnias (11.5 thousand rubles). Many fighters did not receive such an amount, ”the volunteer reveals the accounting department of the battalion. He does not speak about military everyday life in great detail, but does not hide that he had already been in battle.

The State Duma deputy from United Russia, Alexander Khinshtein, sent requests to the IC of the Samara Region and the regional prosecutor with a request to bring the ultra -right to criminal liability. The deputy in Samara Mediazone said that the deputy had not yet received an answer to the request.

In the IC of the Samara region, Mediazone was informed that the criminal case is in the production of the federal SK and offered to apply there for comments. In the Investigative Committee, they replied that it was necessary to send an official request to receive information.

On the other side of the front

Obviously, the number of Russians fighting in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of Kyiv compared to their compatriots who defend the independence of the People’s Republics of Donbass is small. In Russia, for the militias of the DPR and the LPR, the efforts of various organizations have been established by the work of prefabricated points, and Russians - participants in the fighting fighting against the Ukrainian Armed Forces are much more famous.

For example, in the largest armed formation of the LPR militia - the Zarya battalion - supporters of Eduard Limonov are fighting. The ultra -rights who decided to fight against Ukraine from Peter Alexei Milchakov and Kirill Rimkus received positions in the special forces of the self -proclaimed republics. The supply of militias by Russians Oleg Melnikov and Alexander Zhuchkovsky are engaged in the supply of militias. The reliable information that one of the militias from Russia participated in the conflict in the Donbass for money had not yet appeared. For the mercenaries of the volunteers who returned to their homeland, they are also not yet pursued.