OPERATION: NOVOROSSIYA Part 6 of 6 , Azov: The Curious Case of the Boatsman
Part 6 (Azov cont...)
Azov: The Curious Case of the Boatsman
Out of the whole world of Russian Extremism and Ukrainian Nationalism, nothing strikes more fear in the minds of Neo Nazi’s than the word “Botsman”.
Sergei “Botsman” Korotkikh aka "Shorty" call name "Mayluta", who commanded (and co-founded) the recon regiment of the Azov Battalion, later to become the Azov Movement and adopted by the Ukrainian military as the "cleaned up" Azov Brigade. Botsman is an enigma wrapped in a riddle, lost in a puzzle, inside a fortune cookie. For years his past has been a source of controversy, confusion, and just plain mystery. It seems every few years new information gets leaked out that shines a new light on what from the outside looks like a clear-cut case of a corrupt, mentally unstable soldier of fortune with extremist Neo-Nazi beliefs. Any talk or reporting on his questionable biography has landed many journalists, nationalists and even politicians either dead or fearing for their lives. Even people associated with Azov and other right-wing National Militias, try to avoid talking about him, calling it “dangerous to their health.” And they have good reason to fear him: Sergei Korotkikh’s biography is closely intertwined with the Belarusian KGB, the Russian FSB, Vladislav Surkov, not to mention murders, kidnappings, and big money. Even for us writing about him is an uneasy but necessary affair.
In 2020, the author of his Dossier for the National Policy Institute: Ivan Beletsky, a Russian Right-wing lawyer (who fled from Russia to Ukraine) was kidnapped and badly beaten near Kyiv by a suspicious crew of Botsman loyalists. In 2015 when Azov’s main ideologist and lawyer Yaroslav Babich was found dead, hung from a rope, the finger clearly pointed at Botsman as the main suspect, but for some reason, nobody was interested in investigating. In fact, the SBU and police ruled it a suicide and closed the case. This was the first murder in Ukraine linked to Botsman but it wouldn’t be his last. He would later be linked to several murders spanning 2 decades, from Belarus, Russia to Ukraine, and mysteriously, he was never even questioned let alone accused. Something definitely nefarious was at play.
In January of 2021, Zabrona media interviewed Beletsky regarding the Dossier he published that set off a shitstorm from within Putin’s nationalistic circles as well as Russian FSB and Ukrainian SBU.
(*VIA Zaborona Media)
*On December 28, 2020, Beletsky was kidnapped and severely beaten near Kyiv. As Beletsky explained:
“For the last three months, I’ve been receiving threats from Korotkikh’s men,” he told Zaborona. “Around the same time, we started actively compiling the dossier on Sergei. They tracked my connections in Russia, my past, my closed businesses. We were terrified they would catch us at home. Or dig my mother up [from her grave – she died long ago],” he explained
On December 28, he decided to meet with his pursuers in a crowded place. They chose a supermarket off of a highway. But when Ivan arrived, no one came to meet him, so he waited a few minutes before deciding to call a taxi. “For some reason, my Uber app stopped working, and suddenly a silver car with an “Uklon” [a Ukrainian ridesharing app] sticker pulled up. I was glad and I hopped in. An athletic-looking guy was sitting next to the driver. I asked who he was, and the driver said he was just another rideshare passenger with a different address. I was confused — I wasn’t expecting that.” They took Ivan to the middle of nowhere on Sofievskaya Borschagovka and beat him up. When he came to his senses, the car and the attackers were gone. Ivan went out onto the road, where people called an ambulance and the police. He was diagnosed with a fractured jaw, numerous hematomas, and abrasions.
“When they were threatening me, back before the kidnapping, they said that they had raised my case in Russia in 2009,” Ivan Beletsky told Zaborona. “And they knew it in detail. Where did they get access to information kept in the Russian Investigative Committee and FSB offices? “
He was again kidnapped on February 9, 2022. At that point, he was tortured – choked into unconsciousness and was beaten with pillows. His assailants demanded that he apologize for his publication against Botsman and his people, and to stop publicly talking about this topic.
FEB 2023 UPDATE: It is confirmed that Ivan Beletsky has been murdered. Word of his death has been kept out of the media. Though we have some idea on what has happened. We will get details on this soon.
 |
| The author of the Botsman Dossier: Ivan Beletsky aka Ivan Timoshenko, after his first beating. A lawyer and a Russian extremist himself, Beletsky operated with Slavic Union in Russia and was initially approached by FSB to become an informant inside Ukraine, he rejected the offer however and in 2017 would be granted asylum after approaching the Poroshenko administration with information on moles within Azov and Ukrainian Security Services. |
Sergei "Shorty" Korotkikh whose first call name was Mayluta but received his current nickname Botsman after the Boatswain/Boatsman knot used to hang his victims (a popular nickname in Eastern Europe) was born in Togliatti, Russia (Soviet Union) and later moved to Belarus with his family and where his mother currently resides. Growing up, he never showed any signs of radical beliefs, rather an avid reader of Science Fiction and KGB Spy Novels, enjoying Western movies of James Bond and Rambo. His infatuation with the military landed him in an elite recon unit in the Belarusian army at the age of 18, eventually transferring to their Intelligence unit. He was recruited by the Belarusian KGB in 1994 in which he spent the next 2 years learning tradecraft. However in 1996, with a scene right out of a Scorcese movie, Botsman was expelled, with the KGB citing his radicalization and participation with Neo-Nazi organizations as the reasoning behind the expulsion. In reality, he was sent undercover to report on the activity of an anti-Lukashenko opposition group called Popular Front. Botsman found himself embedded within a Neo-Nazi far right group called the Russian National Unity “RNE” (or RNU). RNE was a KGB financed militant group that was used primarily as the KGBs off the book muscle for Lukashenko, as well as a source for informants and human intelligence. According to open sources, "RNE" in Belarus was a KGB-supervised political organization, and one of its goals was the struggle against liberal and democratic opposition to Lukashenko's regime.
Botsman’s cousin and best friend was a madman named Valery Ignatovich, who served with GRU in Russia and as a Spestnaz officer within the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs MVD, the agency that oversees everything from state security to military police and even the personal security of the President himself. Ignavitch was the go between the KGB and RNE and was in charge of the groups' political missions. Ignavitch along with Botsman were part of what the media described as the Lukashenko “Death Squads” a group of unknown masked thugs and hitmen that were part of the Seventh Department of the KGB’s Alpha Group, responsible in numerous murders of opposition group leadership, ant-Lukashenko journalists and political opponents. In August 2000 Ignavitch and the Death Squad would eventually be blamed for the kidnapping and murder of popular Belarus journalist Dmitry Zavadsky. Zavadsky who also worked as a cameraman for Russian state-controlled ORT was apparently working on the connection to Lukashenko and missing opposition members and journalists. Fearing his life was in danger, he would be kidnapped on the way to the airport to meet a colleague. He was listed missing on July 7th and eventually Ignavitch and 4 other RNE members were charged and convicted for the murder and sentenced to life in prison, at which the Lukashenko regime and KGB quickly distanced themselves from RNE. Botsman however, would walk away without even a charge.
 |
| Botsman (bottom left) or Mayluta as he was known then, with the RNE/RNU in Belarus |
Interestingly however before the death of Zavadsky, Botsman would find himself in the war in Serbia fighting alongside a mercenary group against the Croatians. The Russian Defense Ministry was in charge of sending Russian troops from Russia to Serbia, and the Russian State General Staff was in charge of recruiting mercenaries and organizing their combat units under the supervision of the Military Counterintelligence Department of the FSB of Russia. Botsman it seemed made an impression and was sent by the FSB to participate in the war in Chechnya. Botsman would lead a recon group as well as units of low-level contract soldiers (The kontraktniki) who were used for the dirty jobs of questionable legality not to mention straight kidnapping torture and mass executions. Botsman would work with other like-minded nationalists from Russia including a young Igor Girkin who would later be outed as a Colonel in the FSB. Their intel gathering and interrogations would be instrumental in Russia's initial success of quelling the counter-insurgency. Naturally, Botsman was under the close supervision of specialists from the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (and the FSB) of the Russian Federation. The Belarusian KGB and the Russian FSB work in very close cooperation and are bound by various agreements of cooperation, in particular, within the framework of the CIS and CSTO, in which informal arrangements allow the transfer of citizens or in this case; Intelligence operatives to reside in participating countries. After KGB in Belarus shut down RNU operations. Botsman would make the move to Russia and begin training with the FSB.
Former GRU agent Valeri Ignavitch, Botsmans cousin
The Chechen Connection
With the large amount of Chechnya war veterans, (jaded by brutal conflicts first in 94 and then again in 99) coming back from the conflict with large amounts of mental baggage, a seismic shift in violent nationalism started beginning to take hold. Undiagnosed PTSD mixed with alcoholism created a popular dark underbelly in Russian society with a main theme of Islamaphobia and antisemitism. Mix that with Chechen rebel attacks and terrorism, anti-Chechen sentiment was quickly becoming a viral common denominator. Neo Nazi ideology and open racism was not only accepted but the norm in Russian society in the early 2000s, corrupting not only public life but politics as well. By 2003 it was estimated 100k Chechens fled the war, ending up in metropolitans like Moscow and St. Petersburg. Paranoia and altercations started becoming commonplace and thoughts within the Kremlin were beginning to follow suit. The shock of the collapse of the Soviet Union did not turn Russians into nationalists overnight, but the wars resulted in many Russian civilians, hundreds and thousands of miles away from the Caucus battlefield, starting to view all Caucasus people and by extension all Russian Muslims as aliens rather than compatriots.
Putin, along with GRU and FSB would use this opportunity to come up with a new asymmetrical operation whose main goal was to install draconian arrest laws and state overreach unlike anything the new fledgling “Democracy” has ever seen and would be the first step in Putin's chess game of authoritarian rule and total control of the information sphere. Putin realized another unpopular Chechen conflict, instability in Georgia, and the changing political climate that would bring upon the Color Revolutions, would ruin his blossoming legacy and perhaps cripple Russia's global standing. Putin would need the best minds around him in order to achieve his end result. Putin's long-serving Svengali and creator of modern 'Russki Mir' Reflexive strategy; Vladislav Surkov, would be brought on as Putin's "official" Presidential aid in 2004, and modern Russian Union would be born and the political ideology known as Putinism would begin to take hold.
An shocking Australian documentary made in 2004 on how the Chechen War created the sudden rise of violence and murder linked to Russian Neo Nazis. The video features a young Tesak and various other actors and elements of far right Russia. Including a familiar face, future Roscosmos Director Dmitry Rogozin, who would end up overseeing the referendum in Crimea in 2014 and promote the denazification of Donbas
Fearing political instability and a blossoming liberal undercurrent within Russian society, Surkov came out with a detailed plan of Active Measures, not only to control the Russian society at large but every former Soviet state as well. Surkov, who was born in Chechnya, knew that stability in the Caucasus could only be achieved through authoritarian heavy-handed rule. by a Moscow friendly puppet. The Kremlin partnered with a former rebel: Akhmet Kadyrov, who was indeed a reliable and well-compensated ally but not the trustworthy stalwart Surkov had in mind. Chechnya would need somebody young and impressionable that they could mold into the ultimate Moscow cheerleader.
On 9 May 2004, an explosion ripped through the VIP seating at the Dinamo football stadium during a mid-morning Soviet Victory day parade in the capital city of Grozny, instantly killing Kadyrov. Two of his bodyguards, the Chairman of the Chechen State Council, a Reuters journalist, and as many as a dozen others were also killed (a later report stated that more than 30 people had died). Though Shamil Basayev admitted he was paid $50k in cash for the attack, its not out of the realm of thinking to believe the Kremlin could have been behind the bombing.
Sensing problems, Surkov along with FSB and GRU would set in motion a wave of propaganda around the assassination of Ahkmet Kadyrov in order to eventually install the leader of the Kadyrov militia, his son Ramzan, (whom Surkov was very close) to take the control. However, due to his age, he would not be able to take the reigns for another 3 years. A Putin loyalist and career bureaucrat Alu Alkhanov would be installed as Chechnya’s president, a placeholder until Ramzan would turn 30 in 2007, the minimum age for the post.
Kadyrov and the men under his control had just crushed another armed group trying to take control of Chechnya, led by the two brothers, Ruslan and Sulim Yamadayev. That battle was also a proxy war between the two Russian intelligence services, the civilian FSB backing Kadyrov and the military GRU. The Yamadayevs were pushed out of Chechnya. In 2008 and 2009 each was assassinated, in turn in Moscow and Dubai. Ramzan Kadyrov then claimed that he was “70 percent certain” that Sulim Yamadayev (and by implication the GRU) had organized the assassination of his father. In reality, the FSB was in charge of the construction security of the stadium, to quote Chechen Colonel and member of Parliament Hussein Ishkanov: "Every day FSB was at the stadium with bomb-sniffing dogs, there is no way anyone other than FSB was responsible in the death of Kadyrov", meaning that it's certain that Ramzan not only knew about his father's assassination but in fact had a hand in it as well.
Draconian rule
In Moscow, Surkov and GRU (following up a successful Active Measures Psyop and the FSBs false flag Apartment block bombing terrorist attacks in 1999 that gave Putin his overwhelming popularity among the Russian public) would publicize the additional terrorist attacks by Chechen rebels, along with centralized Firehose propaganda to build fear and paranoia among the Russian public, allowing the Kremlin to install new counter-terrorism legislation in 2006. The new law gave Vladimir Putin full authority to send Russian special forces beyond Russian borders in order to combat terrorism for any reason and at any time. The language in the bill, fraught with vagueness, ambiguities, and definitional problems that destroy any meaningful checks and balances on Presidential power. That may be legal within the context of domestic law, Internationally, however, it clearly violates any legal norms. The statute envisions an extremely expansive scheme for extra territorial police power that fringes on state sovereignty. The wording essentially gave Putin full justification for targeted killings and military strikes, violating the legal foundations of every internationally accepted norm. Putin would use this vague legislation to justify intervention in states that he claimed fostered Muslim extremism. In Ukraine however, Surkov would declare the threat of Neo-Nazis as terrorists and Ukraine a harborer of this terrorism.
The GRU unit 54777 propaganda and Psyop machine was hard at work convincing the world of this narrative. On top of the Chechen terrorist attacks, the 2006 Neo Nazi terrorist bombing of Moscow's Cherkizovsky Market would magnify the Russian Neo Nazi movement, and would begin a string of violent and highly publicized attacks and murders on the unsuspecting Russian Muslim minorities, leading to his "tough on crime" platform for the Putin backed; Dmitry Medvedev 2008 Presidential campaign.
In December 2007 150 grams of TNT blew out the entrance to one of the floors of the underground trade centre in Manezhnaya Square, the explosion was the work of Botsman himself. Coincidentally in 2008 arrests were made regarding a seperate 2006 terrorist attack, in which members of “The Savior” Neo Nazi militia were indicted. The leader of Savior happened to be an FSB officer named Nikolai Korolev who was co indicted with 6 other members (including a police officer) of his gang. Neo Nazi gangs were let to run unchecked with impunity for years with the direct help of the police and prosecutors, however, the brutality of this particular attack was different. The bombing killed 10 and injured 55 due to the result or mixup in the amount of TNT used. Savior was linked to numerous explosions before, without any victims, blowing up Azerbaijani-owned stores, an Armenian refugee hostel and an office of a Georgian-born fortune teller. But the Kremlin fearing public backlash, would make examples of these runaway agents of chaos, and a warning to the numerous other Neo Nazi gangs the FSB was funding and protecting for years prior, the game was up and it was time to move shop.
In 2010 authorities in Orel detained members of Neo Nazi gang Primorye Guerillas who was headed by an FSB agent. An autonomous group, the Orel gang engaged in subversive and terrorist activity that targeted both government agencies and the property belonging to “ethnic aliens” (in this particular case it was a cafe, but could also be a shop, a car, etc.) These actions were clearly intended as a demonstration: the leaflets, confirming their neo-Nazi agenda and declaring the group’s connection to the anti-state terrorist movement, were left at the crime scene.
From 2004 to 2012 - 509 people were killed and 3436 were injured or wounded by far right/Neo Nazi violence, however according to SOVA Center, those are only “official” numbers, the actual number is actually 3 times that. Yet only 68 perpetrators were convicted
The Kremlin fearing public backlash, would eventually make examples of these runaway agents of chaos, and a warning to the numerous other Neo Nazi gangs the FSB was funding and protecting for years prior, the game was up and it was time to move shop. For Surkov, it was time to move this Nazi powder keg of violence away from Moscow and on to the streets of Ukraine, and in Donbas.
The FSB apartment bombings were a series of explosions that hit four apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynansk, Moscow and Volgodonsk in September 1999, killing more than 300, injuring more than 1,000, and spreading a wave of fear across the country. The bombings, together with the Invasion of Dagestan, triggered the Second Chechen War. The handling of the crisis by Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister at the time, boosted his popularity greatly and helped him attain the presidency within a few months.
Surkov's Nationalists
Vladislav Surkov's idea of funding and directing football hooligans and Russian nationalists to attack Russian oppositionists began sometime in the late 90s and built a complicated power structure of siloviki backed extermists. Some of them were especially bloody and overt. Surkov formed and financed Russkkii Obraz, in which famed murderer and mastermind Illya Goryachev got his start. Russki Obraz collaborated closely with Pro-Kremlin youth organizations linked to Surkovs Nashi (organized by Neo Nazi group OB88) and FSB run SPAS cable TV station dedicated to the promotion of Orthodox values, The Kremlin's goal was called “Managed Nationalism”, basically switching the symbolism from Nazism to "Nashism". The same racist ideology and white supremacy rhetoric but packaged in a more palatable Russian Orthodox symbol. Not a coincidence the ROC & Kirill himself would bring on Neo Nazi gang members under the protection of the church in order to promote Orthox recruitment. Named the Sorok Sorokov (40 40s) or the SS, Kirill would make them his official bodyguards and security of the ROC, as well as the new face of Ortho Fascist Imperialsm.
SPAS TV would become a platform for famous Anti-Ukrainian Russian racists Alexander Dugin and Nataliya Narachinitskaya. SPAS also integrated and hired Russkii Obraz members. Outside of internal managed nationalism, it would also work with Ukrainian immigration services and Russian diaspora already relocated to Ukraine. Russkii Obraz worked to create a trojan horse of Russian nationalism in Donbas, a brilliant tactic to fill Ukraine with more pro-Russian and Pro Putin immigrants. It also served essentially as a recruiting station for FSB informants sent to Ukraine. Ilya Goryachev who would eventually give birth to the Military Organization of Russian Nationalists (BORN) in which he served as their leader from 2007-2010.
BORN’s kill list includes Federal Judge Eduard Chuvashov, antifascist activists Ivan Khutoskii and Ilya Dzhaparidz, Thai boxing world champion Muslim Abdullaev, the lawyer Stanislav Markelov, and Novaya gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova, directly linking Surkov and the Kremlin to many high profile murders. It would be BORNS co-founder Nikita Tikhonovs' testimony in 2014 that would provide this link. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2011, however appeals from the lawyers of Tikhonovs victims in 2021 would go public asking the courts to re-open the cold cases. Goryachev would also be found guilty in 2014. Some of the remaining members of BORN including FSB informant Roman Zheleznov aka Zukhel would end up in Ukraine fighting for Azov, while others, would join Wagner and even started Rusich Battalion. It can be easily deduced that BORN and their political wing Russki Obraz would be the main source of right-wing extremists that gave rise to Separatist movement in Eastern Ukraine in the occupied Donbas region. Separatist commander Alexander Matyushin who was responsible in the kidnapping and murders of over 100 pro Ukrainian civilians in Donbas, was quoted saying his goal was to create a pro Russia militia equivalent to Al Qaeda and to create a new Russia or Novorossiya in Ukraine.
 |
| Dmitry Demushkin the former leader of Neo Nazi gang Slavic Union and was serving as mayor for the Communist party, was raided by FSB in November of 2022. Demushkin was one of the sources for this Operation Novorossiya series. He has been detained and all his electronic devices have been confiscated, charged with cooperating with media. Our Twitter account was attacked and shut down around the same time |
 |
| Former Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who even served as Ambassador to NATO, who spearheaded the denazification narrative in Donbas before almost being assassinated in Dec 2022 |
A Credit For Murder
In 2001, after the Belarus chapter of RNU would be disbanded, Botsman would end up operating in Russia. According to new evidence we can confirm he was being trained as a part of the FSB Alpha Group, Special Purpose Center from 2001-2003 all while organizing and training militant extremists, and in 2004 forming his own militia “National Socialist Society” (NSO) whose members would later be convicted for dozens of Murders, kidnappings and terrorist attacks. Skinheads were recruited from all over Russia. The fighters received training similar to that of the army special forces, with paramilitary units that promoted the ideas of National Socialism, with a affinity for Hitler and odd neutrality to Vladimir Putin. NSO believed Putin has made strides for Russia, but has been corrupted by Western influence and Jewish politicians. They were advocating for a more Nationalist hard line President, who would empty Russia of Jews, Muslims, and dark skinned minorities, while bringing back the glory of a Russian superpower.
Botsman would start the group with Dmitry Rumyantsev who worked for his brother Oleg Rumyantsev, a high ranking Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation with direct links to Vladimir Putin and the Siloviki. The NSO would stand apart from all other Neo Nazi groups due to their deep pockets, in which Botsman was running the financial operations and salaries to the organization. Open sources estimated the NSO would go through 55 million dollars throughout its existence, giving reporters the assumption that the NSO was indeed a pet project of Surkov and funded by the Kremlin. NSO’s benefactor was Maxim Gritsay, who funneled money through an aid organization for disabled Russian veterans. He also ran the All-Russian Public Organization of Disabled Persons, "Fakel” which was engaged in funneling money from recieved grants directly from the Putin Administration.
Who is Gritsay? On the one hand, Maxim Gritsai is the president of the All-Russian public organization of disabled people "Fakel", a humanist and public figure, a fighter for the civil rights of socially vulnerable citizens. Marked with gratitude from the President of the Russian Federation. Who was is known for his philanthropy and public charity work for children. On the other hand, thanks to open sources, we now know he also ran the FSB veterans fund, listed as the main contact for FUND FOR VETERANS OF 3 DIVISIONS OF MILITARY COUNTERINTELLIGENCE BODIES. Location: Pokrovskoye-Streshnevo, Moscow. Gritsay it seems would be involved in funding black ops and off book FSB operations for years. He would be directly traced to Botsman's bank accounts in Russia, up until Botsman was already in Ukraine working directly under the tutelage of Arsen Avakov after the Azov Battalion disbanded by 2015.
On August 12, 2007, a video titled “Execution of a Dag and a Tajik” appeared on the Internet. In the video, two tied-up men say to the camera that they’ve been “arrested by Russian National Socialists,” then several unknown persons in balaclavas cut off one prisoner’s head with a knife and kill the other with a shot in the back of the head, all in front of a flag with a swastika. In an online statement, The killers identified themselves as members of NSO who claimed they were operating under the direction of Rumyantsev, who they demanded be installed as President.However the statement was obviously created to hide the actual killers identities and to put pressure on Rumyantsev in the media. A month later, a different statemt was released by a an unknown gang (NSDR) who claimed it was not NSO but them behind the murders. However the police refused to investigate it and the FSB, who ignored the murders for months, eventually arrested members of Slavic Union, who had nothing to do with it.
In reality, the murder allegedly involved members of "Format-18" and members of the NSO, who cooperated at the time. Directly involved in the murder were "Tesak" Martsinkevich, Botsman and the Kremlin connected Dmitry Rumyantsev. The video, originally thought to be a fake, showed that the murders were different than other hit and run assaults. This one was calculated and well rehearsed and instantly propagated, making it seem it was made purposely for propaganda or psychological manipulation purposes. Even more it seemed it was done to expose Kompromat on Rumyantsev and his politician brother and Duma member Oleg, forever putting them under the thumb of Putin and the Kremlin. At the time, police investigators were silent, the video was one of the first viral pieces shared on the internet, giving the Kremlin a wider and more broad playing field, no longer were they handcuffed to news agencies and shill reporters. Now, a video, a quote, a narrative, could be shared by millions without any filtration or oversight by an institution.
.png)
Oleg Rumyantsev, Dmitry's brother. Who in the past decade has been trying to scrub his relationship with his brother off the internet
The video sparked a wave of targeted attacks and killings of minorities, released specifically to coincide with Putin/Medvedev campaign rhetoric in March 2008. Copycat videos were popping up everywhere, proving the timing of the release was done strategically, taking advantage of the new technology and unregulated internet.The new concept of social media was just in its infancy in Russia as well. Narratives quickly sprouted that the Neo Nazi problem was getting out of control and more laws needed to be installed to curb this problem. The future laws would prohibit any political groups of people from conjugating together, any political group or Liberal opposition the Kremlin would disagree with would be called a Nazi or fascist.
Eventually, after a 2015 movie (Credit For Murder by Israeli director/investigator and former IDF Special Forces sniper Vladi Antonevicz), about the 2 still unsolved murders was released, highlighting all the parties involved. Antonevicz (who has jokingly denied he is Mossad), pretended he was filming a documentary for an American Neo-Nazi organization, spent years undercover, embedding himself with Russia's most notorious Neo-Nazi gangs. He uncovered corruption, cover-ups, and proof of Kremlin involvement in the actual murders themselves. However, despite the evidence, nobody would ever be charged. Russian police arrested Tesak in 2009 on a completely unrelated charge of making racist comments in a public setting, he would serve over 4 years. Botsman who was believed to be behind the camera was never even mentioned. (Though Tesak testified the day before he was murdered, claiming it was Botsman on camera) The murder was continually used to ramp up public paranoia and to garner public trials of violent criminals leading up to the Presidential elections in 2008 and beyond. in 2020 Tesak was found dead in a detention facility, listed as a suicide, it was revealed that Botsman arranged the killing of his former best friend due to the fact Tesak was testifying against Botsman and revealing the truth about the whole incident. Despite Botsman's denials, audio surfaced on YouTube of Botsman speaking with FSB handlers, bragging how it was he that set up Tesak. Despite the evidence, Botsman continues his denial of any involvement in Tesaks murder, calling it FSB propaganda and digitally edited. It is believed that the murder of the 2 young Muslims was organized by the Grey Cardinal himself Vladislav Surkov personally. Surkov created a huge fervor in the Russian public around the “out of control” Nazi problem to justify the expansion of the security services and budget increases for the FSB and GRU.
The Vanishing
The 2009 trial of 13 NSO members would dominate Russian media. Charged with 27 gruesome murders, including the videotaped dismemberment of one of their own, would unearth a highly complex organization, run more like a corporation and private military company, than the gang of thugs and skinheads the public was expecting. A video was played, a whistling man grabs a corpse and begins whittling off its left ear. Then he starts sawing at the neck, beginning an hour-long process of dismemberment. The video, was a recording of the gruesome torture and execution of Nikolai Melnik, a NSO member who had run foul of the NSO gang code: “He didn’t belong fully to our group, didn’t share our ideas and goals and wanted to play us against each other,” according to the testimony of one of the alleged killers, Vladislav Tamamshev.
NSO knew they had a rat, unfortunately for Melnik, the real rat was their beloved and highly respected leader (Botsman) who disappeared months before. NSOs current leader, Maksim Bazilev, (who took over after Botsman and Rumyantsev left in 08) would be found dead in his cell with his wrists slit, the day before he was supposed to testify on how he ended up with over $5 million dollars in a bank account, with a payroll of NSO members, that received $750 a month. However this was no ordinary jail cell. He was in a highly guarded holding facility of the FSB at Petrovka Street 38 – the Interior Ministry’s Moscow HQ. It was listed as a suicide. Though the security footage vanished as well. The prosecutors painted Bazilev as the leader and mastermind of the organization, in reality, he was one of the few NSO members who figured out Botsmans true identity and split off from NSO to start his own organization NSO-North in 2006. A few days later Dmitry Nestorov, a close friend of Basilev, committed suicide. According to to other NSO members statements, at one point Nestorov and Basilev were planning on getting rid of Botsman before Botsman vanished and its can be assumed Basilev intrusted Nestrorov with the details about the rat inside NSO.
“If you were told that I hanged myself after my arrest, do not believe it. I am not capable of suicide and will never commit suicide. I never had such plans." M. Bazylev
 |
| The 2009 trial of NSO shocked the Russian community with the utter bloody carnage of the group and Russian Neo Nazi movement altogether. The truth of Botsman wouldn't come out till 12 years later |
The only 2 members of NSO that didn't end up dead up or in jail were its 2 founders. Botsman would vanish, Rumyantsev, with his Duma connections and protection from the Siloviki of the FSB, was never even mentioned in court. In an 2010 Financial Times (FT) interview he distanced himself from Bazilev, claiming that he had no idea how the finances worked, and that Bazilev was brought in by Botsman, who appeared from nowhere after Rumyantsev founded the organization in 2004: “He simply showed up to our first meeting and expressed a desire to participate.” Botsman was involved both in the leadership and running the training programs the NSO was notorious for – hand-to-hand combat, knife-fighting and marksmanship. They practised at an abandoned construction project in Moscow’s Khorvino neighbourhood, learning special forces-style fighting techniques. “I don’t know where Malyuta (Botsman) learned these skills,” said Rumyantsev. “There is a lot about his biography I don’t know.” Rumyantsev also said that Botsman had introduced him to a friendly businessman who offered the NSO free office space and a training room.
Dmitry Rumyantsev
In 2008, just as suddenly and mysteriously as he had appeared, Malyuta/Botsman vanished. “I don’t know if he is still alive, or any information about him,” said Rumyantsev. “I wanted the NSO to be a political organization, not a military one,” but gradually, he complained, the radicals got the better of him. “The NSO stopped being a political organization and simply became a bandit gang.”
The 2010 FT investigation into NSO concluded that "they emerged not only as a terror group with a significant propaganda function, but most importantly, one with numerous and not altogether transparent relationship with Russia’s political and law-enforcement establishment." Little did they know the level of involvement and operational oversight linked to Surkov and the Kremlin, however it is believed Putin had very little knowledge of the operations.
 |
| NSO with Tesak |
Tesak
Botsman would be involved on a few other terrorist attacks in 2007 after the murders, however, due to the heat from the killings, Botsman high-tailed it to Belarus, in where he started checking back in with the KGB, eventually ending up in South America in 2009, operating with mercenary groups set up by the GRU, subordinated directly to Chief of Staff Nikolay Makarov. These mercenaries were a precursor to Wagner and opened up a new method of operations, giving the Kremlin plausible deniability in any and all military action across not only S. America but Africa and Eastern Europe as well. In 2013 Botsman would reconnect with his old colleague Tesak, who was out of jail from charges unrelated to the murders. Unbenounced to Tesak, it was Botsman who instigated the arrest in order to take control of Tesak's organization Format 18.
Tesak and Botsman would be found promoting a new Russian nationalistic project movement named Restrukt. The organization, which was the brainchild of Andrei Viktorovich Loginov, a long time Kremlin string puller who served as Chief of the Directorate of the President of the Russian Federation on Domestic Policy from 1997-2000 and then Appointed Deputy Chief of the Government Staff (Russian federation in the State Duma) in 2012. Under the direction of Surkov, It was Loginov (and Restrukt) who planned out the operation of funneling Russian Neo Nazis into Ukraine with the end goal of forming an influential Ukrainian militia. Under the direction of Loginov, Restrukt and Botsman would transport Russian nationalists to Ukraine to participate in military actions on the side of Right Sector and eventually the Azov militia. Due to strict Ukrainian laws banning Russian nationalists and criminals from entering the country, Restrukt would use its network of Kremlin collaborators in Ukraine from within its security services (SBU) to work around unsuspecting border and immigration officials.
In Dec 2013 Tesak and Botsman would escape to Ukraine where they would vandalize EU buildings, desecrate NATO/EU flags and attack gay men on the streets of Kyiv. However, he was too much of a loose cannon and a liability for Surkov. An International arrest warrant would be issued on Tesak, they would travel to Cuba in January 2014, where both of them were arrested by local authorities and deported back to Russia, while Botsman eventually traveled back to Ukraine to join Right Sector. It would later be discovered that Botsman, under strict orders from the Kremlin, actually tipped off the FSB on Tesak's location and coordinated the arrest with Cuban Secret Police. After Surkov decided to shut down the Neo Nazi Psyop in Russia, Tesak had no clear ambition or goals, so he would become famous for his anti-LGBT violence, he would kidnap homosexual men and torture them on camera for Youtube, and his Occupy Pedophilia movement was used as an excuse to attack gay pride events and made him a popular name in the Right-wing extremist groups around the world.
 In 2007, Tesak along with Botsman interrupted a debate led by Aleksei Navalny with the journalist Yulia Latynina in the Moscow club “Bilingva”. Tesak was accused of “incitement to hatred with the threat of violence” and was sentenced to three years in a penal colony settlement. While in prison, another eighteen months were added to his sentence due to a video in which members of “Format” were seen enacting the hanging and dismemberment of an immigrant.  Tesak "suicide" photos, leaked purposely as a warning to anyone who dares to talk. Before his death it is confirmed he was cooperating with authorities and incriminating Botsman for many high profile murders. Proving some very important people at the highest levels were protecting Botsman |
Easy to be Ukrainian
To quote a source from the GRU “the (Russian Presidential) Administration was interested in having Russian-speaking right-wing radicals on the side of Ukraine during the military aggression for propaganda purposes inside the Russian Federation in order to cause hatred and aggression against the Ukrainian side through the Russian media. The mission was clear and the connection is direct: the Administration (of President Putin) through Loginov, (who oversaw operations of the Center for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation) supplied the Russian nationalists, in which one of the leaders of Azov (Botsman) would receive the nationalists on the territory of Ukraine”.
In Ukraine, after originally joining Right Sector, Botsman would connect with Andrey Biletski and the Patriots of Ukraine opposition group, (which later would become Azov) under the direct instructions of Arsen Avakov (Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine) he would be recommended to Avakov by the SBU, who at the time was still operating in cooperation with FSB (due to prior policy for ex-Soviet State communication). He would stand out in the battlefield, providing pivotal intelligence that turned the tied of the combat operations in Mariupol, then in November, Botsman would negotiate with FSB agent Alexander Usovsky, (who organized pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian demonstrations in Eastern Europe) who operating clandestinely in Ukraine drumming up support of a new coup d'etat against Poroshenko, in which Botsman was against, but mentions that he is an opponent of Ukraine's accession to NATO. It was clear that Usofsky was the go-between for the FSB high command, who were interested in manufacturing a Third Maidan. Botsman also made statements to suggest he was in possession of classified information that he was sending to Russia, and suggested that he had access to a cache of documents from the General staff of Ukraine that he was willing to provide for money. In February-March 2017, the Ukrainian Cyber Alliance published letters from Usovsky to Botsman, in particular, leaked his November 2014 Facebook correspondence with Sergei Botsman Korotkikh, who kept an account under the pseudonym “Zakhar Lavrentiev.” Usovsky suggested carrying out a new coup d’état, but Korotkikh refused:
“Sasha, we are already a regiment. We are already the leadership of the militia of the Kyiv region. Why do we need a revolution if we’re coming into power without slaughter?” -wrote Botsman
“I’m driving more contraband into the Bessarabia region right now.” “[The Russian leadership] constantly makes mistakes. They invested in Tyagnibok*, and that was a dead project, they thought and walked around [Dmitry] Yarosh** [Right Sector], and I told Denis in May that he was a soap bubble and was right,” Korotkikh wrote to Usovsky.
In total, the name “Denis” appeared 885 times in Usovsky’s messages with various people. This name almost always appeared next to the surname “Loginov,” which is mentioned 786 times.. Denis Loginov was the son Andrey Loginov and headed the Restrukt branch in Moscow with Maxim Tesak Martsinkevich. The hacked emails also unearthed evidence that Botsman was privy to classified intel and access to documents of the General Staff of Ukraine.
What's also interesting is the uncovered interviews with Botsman, he was clearly proud of his support of Putin, even stating the the real enemy of Ukraine is "Biden, Soros, and the Democratic Party" and that there was no reason in joining the EU. It was clear Botsman's motives contributed to the rise in power of the so-called “Dnepropetrovsk clan”, which would turn Ukraine’s political course away from the EU and the USA towards the Russian Federation. He would even support the election of Zelensky in 2019, as it was first thought that Zelensky would be a favorable candidate for the Kremlin due to his links to to Kholomoisky and the "Dnepropetrovsk clan", who at the time were financing Zelensky's run for office
* A 2016 investigation uncovered Oleg Tyagnibok/Tiahnybok of Svaboda was receiving payments from Paul Manafort and Yanukovych under the directions of FSB
** The GRU hacked the 2014 election to try and install Dmitry Yarosh of Right Sector as President in order to delegitimize Maidan as a fascist uprising
 |
| Example of the hacked deleted correspondences via Ukraine's Anonymous community (Cyber Alliance) Most of the data is still available online |
Noteworthy that upon his arrival to Ukraine, with his vast military experience, Right Sector refused to accept him and his presence in Ukrainian circles was met with contempt and distrust, he was left unwanted and looking for an insider introduction. His admission to Azov was met with disdain and pullback as well. The main battalion was still just forming and some refused to work with him, obviously because knowledge of his Moscow adventures would smell of Russian deception and corpses. So why, how, did he get in with Biletsky and the Patriots of Ukraine?
Botsman quickly realized that those who could not be cheated could be bought. The one main thing Botsman took out of his operations in Russia was his financial connections from the FSB, in which he took millions upon leaving Russia. The exact details of the arrangement are unknown, Botsmans' inclusion into the group that would become Azov would be purchased for cash and caches of weapons available immediately and desperately needed by the Patriots of Ukraine. One thing is for certain, all of Azov's financial troubles would disappear forever the day after Botsman arrived. The propagated myth of Igor Kolomoyski financing Azov would detract any suspicion, and the Russian media loves to run the story of the Jewish oligarch controlling a Neo-Nazi battalion, however, Kolmoyski's financial contribution was barely enough for uniforms, let alone military hardware.. In just 48 hours Azov went from being a few guys who just got out of jail, with not a penny to their name, to a fully financed militia, a Ukrainian version of Hezbollah, armed to the teeth, ready to beat back the 2nd most powerful army in the world.
Botsman would train this group of misfits, not only in the art of war, but also the art of looting, racketeering and smuggling. Ukraine had no real street crime, no cartel, nothing organized, just dumb soccer hooligans "Ultras" and mafia thug types, but nothing overtly brutal and gangster and organized. Botsman would fill the void, doing what he did for the FSB in Moscow when he ran the NSO; ramp up crime, organize corruption, payoffs, murder and pillage, all to benefit one person, himself, oh and in the long run, Putin. The Russian propaganda machine would magnify anything Azov, and almost immediately the press would run the stories of Ukrainian Neo-Nazi criminals.
Azov would stand out among all the other Ukrainian nationalist organizations, especially in the beginning. The Russians that joined Azov were promoting Russian Rodnover Paganism as opposed to Christianity, Hitler not Bandera, and were pushing pro-Russian immigration policies and openly recruiting Russian nationalists. The original members were majority ethnic Russian speakers, and half were actual Russian citizens and recent ex-pats. It is estimated throughout the years, hundreds of Russian-born citizens fought on the side of Azov Movement. Many, with criminal records that should of prevented them from leaving Russia, and some, suspiciously released early from prison altogether, somehow started appearing in Ukraine.
Nobody was immune to the corruption, not the police, especially not the Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, who was clandestinely monitoring some of the nationalist militias. Hailed by the corrupt few as a Ukrainian Nationalist hero, but in the clandestine underworld, nothing but a stooge, who would try and build his own private security force using Yanukovych's much despised ex-Berkut officers and Neo Nazis. Avakov would even give his son Oleksander to be Botsman's wingman in this new crimewave of terror linked to the Russian state mafia. So how did Botsman finance his crimewave? By none other than Donbas oligarch billionaire Rinat Akhmetov. Paperwork uncovered by investigative journalists, found payments to Botsman for the amount of $600k USD month. But why?
Akhmetov owned 30 businesses, so $600k USD a month was a drop in the bucket to guarantee security. A mafia-style protection fund that was really just a bribe to be left alone. It pays to profit from a problem that you helped create, Botsman learned this from his years in Russian underworld and intelligence training. creating problems and situations that he could easily manipulate. Putin and Surkov would be proud. This would be only one of the many examples of this mafia-style shakedown operation of Botsmans.
 |
| Sergey "Botsman" Korotkikh received his Ukrainian passport from president Petro Poroshenko personally on December 5, 2014. He worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine ( heading the Special Objects Protection Unit, but he left this post in late 2017. Along with his fellow Azov member Nikita Makeev, Botsman was suspected of involvement in the attack against Petro Poroshenko in August 2019. However, he never faced responsibility for this case. In the spring of 2020, he continued to act as a representative of the National Corps |
Boatsmans Knot
In July 2015, as we mentioned in the beginning of the story, one of the leaders of Azov was found dead, listed as a suicide. Yarolslav Babich, the lawyer, and ideologist for Azov was found hanging on a wall in front of portraits of his 3 children. According to Babich’s widow, the Botsman and Babich were at odds over finances and Botsmans smuggling operation in Odessa, however, sources believe it was Babich’s suspicion of Botsman’s ties to Russian intelligence that sealed his fate. The Police ruled his death by asphyxiation, however the rope used had a boatsman’s knot, or a “Boatswain” which was Sergey Kortkikh's long-time call name. Babich was categorically against Botsmans criminal schemes, especially when it came to light that Botsman was involved in targeted killings in Kyiv on behalf of the FSB. Information came forward that it was in fact confirmed it was under direct instructions from the Russian Federation of the liquidation of Babich.
The truth of what happened has reverberations still to this day. Botsmans criminal behavior was too much for Babich, who would approach members of Azov and plan a sit-down to put an end to the "angry dwarf's" (Babich's nickname for Botsman) criminal shenanigans which he felt was a betrayal of Ukraine: that robbing, stealing and terrorizing the Ukrainian people was not in line with Azovs ideological morals. Azov was getting bad press thanks to Russian reports of firehose propaganda, painting a picture of a criminal Ukrainian Neo Nazi Battalion, all while it was Botsman and his crew of Russian misfits from Azov's Misanthropic division who were behind the majority of the acts. Babich had police bulletins and newspapers piled up on his desk, including his connections to Russian intelligence. He would confront Biletsky, blaming him for this madness by bringing in Botsman into the fold, turning Azov into a mafia organization, robbing and stealing from the Ukrainian people they swore to protect. Babich would give Biletsky an ultimatum, "it's either Botsman or me". He would announce his splinter into a new organization, more patriotic and sincere, without all this criminal behavior. All of Azov's executive staff sided with Babich and resigned along with 14 other members, with the intention of breaking off into their own battalion, wanting to distance from Botsman and his Russian criminal ways.
 |
| One of the founding members of Azov and lead ideologist Yaroslav Babich, an attorney who was bothered by overt Neo Nazism and criminality was murdered by Botsman, while holding Kompromat on Botsmans FSB connections |
Babich was found dead the next day, hanging naked on the wall in front of his children's photos. All the files and dirt that Babich found on Botsman would go missing as well, his computer's hard drives were gutted or erased. The crime scene so gruesome and personal, Babich’s own wife would not be allowed in the room. Babich’s wife would file 10 motions, including signed confessions of injured members of Babich's security detail, witness statements, all would be ignored by the orders of Botsman's FSB connections inside SBU, including the Interior Ministry and Arsen Avakov. Whats worse is Biletsky would cover for Botsman and would parrot the police's initial findings that the death was sexual in nature: "accidental suicide by asphyxiation". Worse than that, it is that Biletsky himself double cross Babich by calling him prior to him being executed, asking Babich to let in 2 of his men to pick up paperwork. Paranoid, Babich was locked in his office like a fortress, and only let the men in because of his blind trust for Biletsky. Babich would be murdered, tricked by Biletsky, a man he trusted. By the hands of the Russian madman sent to Ukraine as an agent of chaos and madness. The biggest problem for any Ukrainian prosecutors is that Biletsky is culpable, so is Avakov. Both guilty of not only covering up for the Botsman, but sanctioning the murder. Several other investigations into Botsman would be derailed by the Minister of Interior and the First Deputy of the National Police; Vadym Troyan. Troyan who was the former Chief of Staff of Azov Battalion was a close personal ally of Avakovs' and even served as his Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs from 2017-19. Biletsky and Avakovs fear that a public backlash would reveal not only Botsmans link to the Kremlin, but expose their corruption could somehow be linked to him as well.
Botsman was also linked of the murder and kidnappings of prominent journalists. Including the popular Belarusian-born anti-Lukashenko/Putin critic; Pavel Sheremet, whose car exploded on the streets of Kyiv in July of 2016. Though arrests were made of 3 individuals in 2019 by the SBU, many believe it was the corrupt, Russian-friendly, splinter cell of FSB infiltrators within the SBU, under the direction of Botsman, who were the real culprits. In April of 2021 the National Police would announce that new evidence came to light in the form of audio recordings dating back to 2012, however, the evidence was thrown out shortly thereafter. The National Police along with the Interior Ministry would make a statement that the right culprits were arrested. In September 2021, the judge involved with Sheremet investigation; Vitaliy Pisanets was found murdered in a home in central Kyiv. Authorities were tight-lipped on the incident, but rumors that poison synonymous with previous FSB assassinations was the cause of death.
Throughout the years Botsman gained political popularity and influence due to appearances on Viktor Medvechuk and Tsargrad linked TV channels, which were inherently Pro-Russian. Botsman, though spewing anti-Putin rhetoric, would first and foremost repeat Kremlin narratives of anti-Nato and anti-West propaganda. Stating the real enemy of the Ukrainian people was Biden and George Soros as well as the Democratic Party of the US. Though his open stance on media was always pro-Ukrainian, the underlying tone of his support for Russia would be obvious, though his verbiage was in retroactive form, referring to the amazing Russian life in the 2000s. Despite his overwhelming denials, anyone today who would watch his old appearances on TV, would obviously notice the same catchphrases used by Russian propaganda and right-wing media today. Botsman in 2019 would set up protests and demonstrations against Poroshenko Bloc, trying to stir chaos and turn public opinion towards a group of Neo Nazi nationalists called the Dnepropetrovsk Klan, who were openly calling for more cooperation with the Russian Federation instead of NATO. The financier of the group is none other than much despised Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoyski, who partly funded the Azov battalion and other right-wing groups in 2014. Botsman and his Nationa Corp would also instigate open provocations with former MP and infamous turncoat Ilia Kyva and his Patriots For Life members, even though Kyva, for years would work as a deputy for Arsen Avakov, and Avakovs son, Oleksander was running illegal schemes (and close friends) with both Kyva and Botsman.
 |
| In all of Ukrainian politics no one is more controversial and confusing than the once loved, now universally despised oligarch Igor/Ihor Kolomoyski. The influential Svengali of Ukrainian politics, who partly funded volunteer units in 2014, felt he bought Zelensky the Presidency but has been forced out of influence due to pressure on Zelensky. Kolomoyski who for years was spewing ant-Russian and Anti separatist rhetoric did an about-face in 2019 after fearing US and International prosecution for his laundry list of financial crimes and corruption |
After the election of Zelensky in 2019, (of whom Kolomoyski was the main benefactor) the Zelensky Administration publicly started reaching out for US support and walking a fine line to appease the anti-West Nationalist backers, who were pushing for more cooperation with Russia, (to the point Zelensky was even called a Russian collaborator) After the election, “Servant of the People” actually did suspend European integration. Medvechuck who was a close ally of Putin, would even promote Zelensky on his media services prior to the election, promoting the mass struggle against American Influence. When it was discovered that Zelensky was actually working back-door negotiations with the US in 2020, the Russian Federation realized that Zelenksky was too unpredictable and was purging the SBU of FSB informants.
Botsman however predicted this and started open provocations with SBU. Botsman, like many Ukrainian Nationalists, was at the time an opportunist, but would easily fall under the category of "Agent Provocateur", with no clear belief system, other than chaos and instability, which was, in fact, one of Surkovs main goals in the Ukrainian Federation. The Kremlin knew that the eventual disintegration of political ideology would be the easiest way of gaining more influence in Ukraine, as long as everyone is fighting each other, Russia believed eventually they would be able to come in to pick up the pieces. The only objective Russia had was to make Ukraine so corrupt and unpredictable, a nation full of "Nazis" and corrupt administration, that no one in their right mind would accept them into the EU, let alone NATO. Their information war is still pushing the "Nazi" NATO enlargement", warmongering narratives in the media. The only problem was that Zelensky was Jewish, a hard sell for propaganda, but ironically the "Zionist" Jewish Nazis" was an active measure pushed by the KGB since the 60s.
Botsman would continue to try and manipulate his National Corp and other organizations in favor of relations with Russia, however, the Ukrainian public would grow tired of the Nationalist movement, and by 2021, right-wing groups were completely out of power and losing their political sphere of influence. Russia was quickly losing any chance to install a puppet regime, let alone control Zelensky.
The Belarusian House
In 2020 Botsman would also spend time promoting Belarusian House with Belarusian exile Vitaly Shyshov and popular MMA fighter and ex-Azov member Rodion Batulin . What is the Belarusian House? Well, after Alexander Lukashenko falsified the results of the Belarusian presidential election in the summer of 2020 and illegally seized power in the country, hundreds of thousands of Belarusians took to the streets to protest his regime. They were met with harsh repressions, prison sentences for protesters, and even murders of activists. As a result, many Belarusians have fled the country, including to Ukraine. During that time many organizations started popping up all over Eastern Europe in direct response to the influx of political asylum seekers. Organized by Belarus dissidents, they would work on initiatives, demonstrations, and provide information about events in Belarus as well updates on the life of the Belarusian diaspora in Ukraine. They would work with Human rights organizations and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties and provide foundational aid for Belarusians who immigrated to Ukraine. The popular Belarusian House was one of these organizations.
Vitaly Shishov arrived in Ukraine as part of the wave of Belarusians fleeing the Lukashenko regime. He began actively taking part in demonstrations held in Kyiv in support of Belarusians, and at one of them he met Rodion Batulin. Batulin is an MMA fighter from Latvia who has been living in Ukraine for several years. Together, the two decided to create an initiative that would help Belarusian refugees in Ukraine with many facets of absorption, including offering temporary lodgings in the hostel connected to the organization, for those in need. Batulin became a visible person in Botsman's circle. During the presidential campaign in 2019, he attacked the bodyguards of then-president Poroshenko. This campaign against Poroshenko was, at the time, driven by the right-wing National Corps organization, rumored to have links to Arsen Avakov. Batulin also participated in skirmishes against the far-right organization "Honor" – they were direct enemies of Botsman even though they too spun off the Azov Battalion structure. Batulin was also present at the attack against the ‘pride rave’ held near the Office of the President in Kyiv near the end of July 2021.
Shishov, the face of the organization, would be a popular name within the Belarusian and Ukrainian civil rights communities. However, Like many things related to the far right in Ukraine, nothing is at it seems. Botsman who had no official role in the organizations, would work with Batulin in gathering personal information on all members coming in from Belarus. Using forms that gather a large amount of personal data: full names, dates of birth, passport data, even information about prior convictions, religious beliefs, political views, all the way to participation in other civil organizations. Several people who filled out the form have been blackmailed by Belarus House management, demanding that they support some chosen political demonstrations. Botsman and Batulin would also shake down immigrants for money in order to get them residency and sell their information to anyone willing to pay. They also used the NGO to recruit members into Botsman-related right-wing organizations. This was also a great way for the FSB and Belarus KGB to keep tabs on opposition groups and Belarus citizens..
On August 3, 2021, Vitaliy Shyshov(or Shishov), the head of the Belarusian House in Ukraine, was found hanged in a popular park in Kyiv during his daily jog. The police first ruled it a suicide but quickly changed the narrative. almost instantly. Belarusian human rights center Viasna confirmed that before his death, he would file 2 separate police reports stating he was being followed by suspicious people speaking Russian, even parking outside his house. The reports would never be looked into. Shyshov was found hanged and again a Boatsmans’s knot was used, however, this time the police changed their tune and would officially rule this death a homicide, just hours after a suicide report was torn up. Even publically stating that they warned Shyshov that he was being watched. Belarusian House Ukraine (BDU) representatives would contradict this statement and said it was in fact it was Ukrainian police who were surveilling and following Shyshov and that they were covering up the murder, insinuating that the Belarusian KGB was behind the murder. In a strange development, the Lukashenko regime would announce charges against Shyshovs wife for "inciting riots" pouring more fire on to the backlash against the regime. However, sources within Russian intelligence would explain that it was in fact backlash and riots the Lukashenko regime was trying to incite, with the end goal of creating an excuse for furthering clampdowns and restricting freedoms. It is claimed Shyshov was completely unaware of Botsmans and Batulin's role in the shakedown of the Belarusian diaspora linked to BDU. But more likely he was aware of the shakedowns but not the transfer of personal info to the FSB and KG which Botsman was providing.
After Shyshov’s death, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) banned Batulin from entering Ukrainian territory for three years. The SBU’s press service noted that he may pose a threat to Ukraine’s national security, though the agency didn’t expand on exactly what sort of threat Batulin poses. Batulin, who was residing temporarily in Poland, seems to suggest it was in fact the SBU friendly to Zelensky that was behind the murder.
On August 3, shortly after Shyshov's death was announced, Botsman wrote on his Telegram channel that he was convinced that Shyshov had been killed by "the West" (NATO) and Belarusian Antifa, however, the post was deleted after a few minutes, then 2 hours later he reposted, saying it was Lukashenko and the KGB death squad behind the murder . On August 6, A video was posted through Russian TG and Youtube, showing Botsman checking in with his FSB handlers, as well as his signed contracts showing direct cooperation with FSB. Leaked audio with Russian Law enforcement and members of Russian NSO would come out, proving his involvement in the killing of Tesak. It could be plausible the Russian Federation believed Botsman was a loose end and acting of his own influence and this FSB leaked the footage as a shot across the bow statement to Botsman, a reminder to stay in his lane and figured openly outing him officially would delegitimize him within the Ukrainian nationalist community and perhaps even sign his death warrant.
 Batulin was banned from entering the country after the death, The fact they were actively assisting Belrusian KGB in providing info on the dissidents could have been the reason. However Batulin would sneak into the country in late 2021 |
 |
| The death of Vitaly Shishov became a huge international headline, Nobody could ever predict his death on August 3 of 2021 would set off a series of events that would forever change the world as we know it |
Hours after the leaked Botsman video, SBU would carry out multiple raids focusing on Azov Movements Kharkiv leadership and criminal element linked to departed interior minister Arsen Avakov. The group ran various schemes and has been accused of racketeering and extortion. Avakov, who essentially has been the second most powerful man in the country, outlasting 4 previous administrations, submitted his resignation without explanation. His departure would be linked to American pressure on Zelensky to flush out corruption and to distance his relationship with Kolomoysky. Avakov has always operated in his own best interest and was subservient to Kolomoysky even after changing his views on Russian cooperation. Avakov's replacement was Denys Monastyrskyi, a no-nonsense law and order, an incorruptible hawk that was heavily vetted by CIA and Ukrainian SBI (assasinated in 2022). Now that more information is coming out on the Kremlin's influence over Ukraine’s Neo-Nazi movement, it explains why pro-Russian oligarchs were financing the annual torch march down Khreshchatyk, Kyiv's main thoroughfare. Surkov's original idea of funding both sides of political influence would be exposed in the marches, while Kremlin dark money pushed the right-wing narrative, Russian lobbyists were pressuring leaders like Poroshenko to publicly denounce groups like Azov to the West. The end result being a fractured state in the eyes of Russian and global media. Faultlines eventually emerged in the Ukrainian far right, exposing the racketeering elements in Azov Movement leadership.
The FSB who was well aware of the upcoming crackdown, and felt that perhaps cleaning house would work to further destabilize the Zelensky administration. In 2020 Russia no longer had any influence within Azov Movement and their out-of-control leadership with their switching loyalties and unpredictable actors.
 |
| August 7 2021, majority of Azov's racketeering leadership was arrested by SBU. The remaining Azov Movement leadership would be forced to officially distance themselves from any open criminal activity related to Botsman. After the failed coup in 2022 FSB informants would be transferred under the GRU, as Putin no longer had trust in FSB Foreign Office. It must be stated the majority of the violent criminal element in the Ukrainian far right is almost entirely Russian. The majority do not have citizenship, have criminal records, and are sociologically and psychologically inept to live normal lives. Botsman was scheduled to be arrested on August 9th, but the raid and the investigation into him were scrapped. |
After the arrest of many of their top leaders on Auguist 7, On August 9, a warrant for Botsmans arrest would be signed and the Azov Movement leadership claimed that the SBU was planning a raid on its main base at Atek plant in Kyiv, which houses a recruitment centre, barracks and Azov’s own sergeant school of dubious legality. However, the promised raid failed to materialize and Botsmans warrant disappeared.
How is this related to Shyshov you might ask? It is believed FSB moles within SBU would assist in covering up the murder of Shyshov and effectively insuring that nobody would risk investigating it. But why FSB? What could Russia possibly gain by the death of a Belarusian dissident with far-right ties that ran a hostel for refugees in Ukraine?
It's clear that the FSB had Shishov and Batulin on their radar and targeted in the upcoming (Azov)raids and investigations. By eliminating Shishov it would throw a wrench in the overall plan for the surprise raids of the SBU by shining a media spotlight and a positive narrative around Shishov and Belarusian House, even more, it would cement the narrative of an illegal Lukashenko execution across borders, which in turn would bring huge condemnation by the international community and blast global headlines on top of the already bad press Lukashenko was receiving due to the rigged election and violent crackdown on protestors and political opposition. The murder would further isolate Belarus internationally and open up strict sanctions on Lukashenko. Western sanctions indeed would go into effect on August 9, forcing Lukashenko to respond in retaliation against the West. As expected, it was that day August 9th, that Lukashenko, after almost 8 years of avoiding the Crimea annexation, Belarus would finally recognize that Crimea is in fact part of Russia. It was on that day August 9th, a week after the death of Shyshov and the leaked Botsman videos and 2 days after the high-profile arrests, on the same day of the canceled raid against the rest of Azov leadership. It was that day August 9th, that Lukashenko gave Putin the green light to launch the invasion of Ukraine from the borders of Belarus. These random events, which would seem unrelated, were a domino effect strategy of the Kremlins to cement Lukashenkos' support for the Special Operation and the Russian military would begin the troop buildup a week later.
Shishovs death was more a media circus against Lukashenko than it was about the death of a dissident
On August 14th Arsen Avakov would further pour fuel on the fire in Ukraine as finances linked to anti-West oligarch Igor Kolomoysky would fund the violent demonstrations in Kyiv. Police officers and a National Guard serviceman were injured after they tried to halt a group of Azov protesters moving toward Bankova, the presidential offices in Kyiv. They tried to search the members of Azov but were assaulted by the protesters. Several police officers were injured and taken to hospital for treatment. Azov movement began to publicly accuse President Zelenskiy of “mopping up patriots and veterans” in preparation for signing a humiliating peace deal with Russia, although no deal is anticipated and Bankova and the Kremlin have little direct reported contact. Nevertheless, Azov announced a protest action outside Zelenskiy’s office where the bloody clash with police took place. More interesting is that the Deputy chief of the National Police was Vadym Troyan, a former commander in the Azov Battalion and a self-described “reformed” neo-Nazi. His handling of the protest and links to Avakov were too much to ignore, he was forced to resign by Monastyrski a few weeks later. Previous public demand for the termination of Troyan went silent, Avakov would protect Troyan who would be forever linked to the coverups of Botsman and Biletsky's crimes.
On August 24th, 2021, Russia announced charges against Botsman for hate crimes, as well as for the murder of journalist Pavel Shermet in 2015.
“Russia’s Investigative Committee decided to congratulate me in an original way on Ukraine’s Independence Day by spreading a new batch of fake news,” Botsman wrote on Telegram on Aug. 24. “I think it’s too early to explain that any independent investigative (news) agency will expose these fakes immediately.”
Shortly thereafter he would be taken off the streets by Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR) and de-briefed by CIA and Ukrainian Intelligence which provided Botsman classified details of the Kremlin's Burn Notice on him and confirmed the contracts taken out on his life, according to GRU sources the contract on Botsman's life was as much as $200k dollars. Botsman deleted his social media and would go dark shortly thereafter.
The Boatsman's knot used for the Shyshov murder and the leaked details would be a perfect way for the FSB to shift the blame on Botsman, however to this day no arrests have been made.
Botsman started magically popping up again only after the Russian invasion in February, alive and well (not surprisingly) armed to the teeth claiming to have his own private unit of 200 active and 400 reserve soldiers calling themselves the "Boatsman Boys" A unit comprised of former militia members including Azov, ex SBU, ex Spestnaz and police. However, no proof of such a large regiment existed, leading to Botsman's own men to call him out for refusing to actually fight, instead, sitting in his home in Kyiv and just posting on his Telegram channel and only showing up after fighting ends, to scrap military equipment. His Boatsman Boys has since been disbanded
 |
| After the invasion Botsman reappeared on Social media, bragging that he was off to kill every last Kadyrovite in Kyiv. However, critics note that he is nowhere near the front line, posting on his Telegram channel and taking pics of himself eating at restaurants. The majority of his old comrades from Russia and Ukraine have called him out for avoiding combat and certainly question if he actually is willing to fight against Russia at all. |
 |
| On August 13, GUR thwarted the FSB plans to assassinate the head of Ukraines military Intelligence Kryl Budonov and the Head of the Interior Ministry Denys Monastyrsky (who replaced Avakov) Botsmans name was also on the 4 man hit list, which was a direct kill list of Vladimir Putins. Botsman it would seem, still has many secrets that the Kremlin does not want to come out. UPDATE: 1/2023 Monastyrsky and several of his colleagues were assassinated as their helicopter was sabotaged and exploded mid air. Killing everyone on board |
With active right-wing radical activity, participation in attacks, street riots and provocations, alleged murders, smuggling, and raiding of businesses, Botsman has never had criminal prosecutions (as a defendant) in any country. After his outing in 2021, Botsman would disappear from Social Media and the public spotlight, with a price on his head by former Azov leaders including Andrey Biletsky and other right-wing organizations. 2021 would be a pivotal year for turning the tide of chaotic influence. Oligarch Kolomoysky and the Dnipro Klan would be locked out of the Zelensky administration, and blacklisted by the United States. Kolomoyskyi had to begin to call for a new partnership between Ukraine and Russia; proposing that when it happens, "NATO will be soiling its pants and buying Pampers." Kolomoyskyi explained that Zelenskyy "has chosen his path, he is the president of the country, he has his own vision, program, plans" and as he, as a businessman, no longer wants anything from the state, they have nothing to talk about.
 |
| Avakov with infamous traitor Ilya Kiva |
Arsen Avakov the right-wing supporting Interior minister was forced to resign under public pressure. More interesting was members of Avakovs staff would be arrested for trying to overthrow the government during the first week of the Russian invasion. Zelensky would openly denounce Avakov and any overtly nationalist supporters of his within Parliament. Even Avakov's famous henchman Ilya Kiva would find himself in Russia conveniently before the invasion started becoming a Putin propagandist. Criticism of Avakov included his corruption and blind personal ambitions that clouded his judgment. Ukraine finally acknowledged that its right-wing nationalist circles were vulnerable to Russian influence and that Ukraine was becoming a police state where the criminals blurred the lines with the police. Whispers from the Kremlin would surface in August, with Putin adamant on restoring Avakov back to a position of power, as the more nationalists in the Ukrainian parliament only helps cement the Kremlin narrative of a fascist state and erase any gains in respectability in the eyes of the Western governments
 |
| EDIT: 9/22 News would come out that Botsman's crew were kicked out of the Kalinovsky Brigade as well as the Ukrainian Army as of Sept 2022, due to a fight that resulted in the hospitalization of a Brigade member.. It is understood that Batulin snuck his way into Ukraine late last year (2021) and was fighting for Botsman along with a group of Russian Neo-Nazis from Format 18. Botsman would cut ties with his unit and arrest warrants issued for the members. However, a video from the unit appeared. Batulin and a visibly shaken Artem Krasnolutsky announcing the formation of a new unit called Teror . |
Following the invasion of 2022 in February, details would emerge regarding the exact plans of Putin and his Ukrainian collaborators within Ukraine. FSB and recruited ATO veterans were to carry out the coup at the beginning of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, however, the execution of the plan was ultimately thwarted due to the fact that the traitors who were set to participate in the coup were detained by loyal SBU and GUR with help from CIA and Mi6 intelligence. The plan included members of the Ukrainian parliament and undercover traitors within SBU. The Opposition Platform For Life political party, led by Victor Medvechuck was to gain control of the Rada on the side of Russia. However, arrest warrants for Medvechuck and his Deputy Illia Kyva would be issued, on advice from a double agent inside the pro-Russian inner circle. Kyva who was originally a regional leader for Right Sector, was an informant for the FSB, and even previously worked for Avakov, led a sizeable unit of Nationalists called Patriots For Life. Proving the Kremlin was more intertwined witin Ukraine's Nationalist movements than previously thought. SBU traitors linked to Kyva were arrested and firefights were witnessed in the streets. A viral Telegram video came out of former SBU K department head Dmitry Demyanenko getting chased down after a firefight with Zelensky's authorities, killed while driving through a civilian checkpoint. Demyanenko led a crew of SBU traitors involved in the hired killing of peace negotiator Denis Kireev, a banker and moneyman for both Ukrainian and Russian oligarchs, who was found dead a day before Demyanenko was murdered. Kireev's body was dumped at the steps of the Pechersk District Court House. The same courthouse that was prosecuting Petro Poroshenko, who was targeted with treason allegations and was recently sanctioned thanks to Kireevs assistance. Poroshenko's people would release a statement through Russian media, announcing that Kireev was a traitor and working for FSB. Signs of torture and hand ties were visible, proof he was kidnapped, tortured and killed before his body was dumped, and murdered by the corrupt traitors of the ex-SBU now working for the Ilia Kyva and the FSB.
 |
| Denis Kireev and his 2 bodyguards found executed in front of the Pechersk Court House |
Kireev, who was actually a double agent working for GUR, was playing both sides gathering intel on FSB moles inside Ukraine's government and passed vital intel to Kyrlo Budanov and GUR before any actions took place. Kireev surprisingly appeared at the Gomel Peace negotiations, without being listed as a negotiator. Kireev could have been added to the team last minute as he was working on removing sanctions for pro-Russian/Ukrainian oligarchs, whose money was frozen in recently sanctioned Russian banks.
He was also openly feuding with Petro Poroshenko, who also was supposed to be working to overthrow Zelensky, but apparently changed his mind after being discovered or perhaps after witnessing the atrocities of Ukrainians in the first week of the war. Poroshenko has still not been publicly outed by the Ukrainian or Western media, Zelensky has decided to leave his name out of any current allegations, in order to appear more unionized in front of the global media. However recent allegations of Poroshenko's recent link to Medvechuk were leaked and are out in the open. Poroshenko, who was planning a backup coup in case anything happened to both Zelensky and Medvechuk, but was not working with Russia directly. Our opinion is that he was hoping to take advantage of the chaos to swoop in and establish power and install his cronies which included former members of the SBU K anti-corruption department led by the former head, General Pavel Demchyna, who worked years as Poroshenko's gun for hire.
 |
| Banker and negotiator Denis Kireev, a double agent for Ukraines GUR, murdered by the FSB |
The planning of the coup began no later than the summer of 2021. According to detained agents who were set to participate in coup, Russia was set to send an appeal to the current Ukrainian authorities, in which Russia calls on the Ukrainian authorities to surrender and if Ukraine refuses to do this, recruited pro-Russian agents will stage a coup. First, they were set to stage a bloody incident in both Kyiv and Ukraine-Transnistria border, creating a pretext for invasion. Then, following the start of the invasion, agents were set to begin the seizure of administrative buildings in various Ukrainian cities, followed by the installation of pro-Russian leadership in them, surrender and transfer of Ukrainian cities to Russian troops. During the coup, mass riots, fights with law enforcement officers and terrorist attacks to further destabilize the situation also was to take place. Use of fake blood during riots was also planned. Proof of this was confirmed after interrogation of captured Moscow SOBR commanders, who are Riot police from Moscow and not a trained military unit. Riot gear including helmets, padding and shields were found by the thousands in destroyed military convoys. Questions in the media about the stalled convoy outside of Kyiv for weeks, the stalled equipment was not for war, but actually logistics for the takeover of Kyiv, which Russia expected to happen quickly, however, it never materialized, leaving the convoy exposed and forced to turn back.
 |
| Former Deputy head of the corrupt SBU K, Dmitry Demyanenko (who was part of the original Russian FSB coup plans)was gunned down in broad daylight after crashing through a civilian checkpoint. The day after he was involved in the execution of peace negotiator Denis Kireev (who was falsely accused of being an FSB traitor but was actually a double agent on the side of Ukrainian GUR military intelligence) |
We now also know small details about the firefight between Zelensky's team and the Kadyrovite hit squad, supported by VDV, that was actually inside Kyiv and stormed the compound, leading to a firefight that lasted several hours. The general public to this day has no idea how close the Kyiv government came to being overthrown.
After the coup, the Verkhovna Rada was to be dissolved and replaced by a pro-Russian People's Rada, which was to play the role of a pro-Russian puppet government on the occupied territory of Ukraine and the newly created People's republics in Western Ukraine in which Medvechuk would be installed as President. In the east, Yanukovych would be installed as President. Coup plan was eventually canceled due to the fact that the organizer and key persons of the coup were detained by the SBU in early March in the Ivano-Frankivsk and Khmelnytskyi Oblasts.
Due to the negative publicity and corruption attached to the "Novorossiya" name, Russia would scrap that in favor of calling the occupied territories: East Ukraine. The Kremlin felt by splitting the country in 2 would buffer the occupation and would at the least leave one internationally recognized puppet state in the region under their control.
After the disaster of the invasion and failure of the coup, not to mention an all-out failure at the intelligence level beyond the scope of imagination, Putin became furious. They were acting on 100% intel that completely imploded, and were not prepared financially or militarily to conduct wartime operations for an extended level. 80% of their technical equipment was not ready for active deployment, there was no testing and or any real plan for logistical support. Even their officers only brought enough gear for a 3-4 week engagement. Hilariously packing their parade uniforms and best dress shoes. Putin would privately go mad and berate his intelligence staff. He arrested Vladislav Surkov and blamed him for the failed coup and then arrested the entire FSB Foreign office of 148 high-ranking officers and department heads as well as 13 GRU agents as well. Transferring all FSB field agents and foreign assets under the GRU.
"Their intel gathering and interrogations would be detrimental in Russia's initial success of quelling the counter-insurgency."
ReplyDeletePossible typo. I think you mean 'instrumental' here, not 'detrimental'.