C14's Andriy Medvedko, accused murderer & organizer of a football tourney "for white children only," has apparently made it onto the public council for the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, NABU. It's the latest example of Ukraine's far-right using this tactic to mainstream itself
In a social media post from the "Democratic Axe" party (a party that describes itself as "right-liberal"), who also supported Medvedko's nomination, they state that the accused murderer made it onto the council
They've chosen an interesting photo to accompany the post - "¡Hemos pasado!" - "we have passed" in Spanish. It's a likely reference to slogan of nationalist dictator Francisco Franco, used when taking Madrid from republican forces in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War
But this isn't Medvedko's first go at taking advantage of open online for public councils, nor C14's. He's currently on the same council for Ukraine's Ministry of Veterans Affairs
At one time both Medvedko & fellow accused murderer Denys Polishchuk were on the public council for the Ministry of Education.
They're no longer on that council (unclear if left or were removed) after it was noted officially they were on trial for murder google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j…
However, C14 is still represented on that council, twice over. There's a rep of C14-affiliated "National Center for Rights Defence" (which was cofounded by the two accused murderers) and "Education Assembly," which we've written about here @bellingcat
It's a similar story at Veterans Affairs, where we have identified at least four members of the public council, elected earlier this year, who have links to the far-right, including C14 and the Azov movement
Ukraine's far-right, as C14's Medvedko made clear today, has made ample (ab)use of a system of open online voting to push its members - including violent extremists - into potential positions of influence within government ministries.
(If you're getting a strange "Tweet Unavailable" in the middle of the above thread, this is the tweet + screenshot that should be there)
2/5 In Finland, neo-Nazis have organized small concert meetups at secret locations — until we found them.
Members of Finland's Crew 38, who are alleged by police to have connections to accused far-right terrorists in Finland, took part in these events. bellingcat.com/news/2023/08/3…
3/5 In Hungary, the German and Hungarian branches of the Hammerskins helped organize 'European Fight Night,' an event that, because of our article, was forced to move far outside of Budapest (and the organizers were not happy with us about it).
U.S. far-right extremist Robert Rundo has been arrested in Bucharest, Romania 🇷🇴
Facing U.S. federal charges and an extradition stateside, he's been on the run for several years. He's someone we at @Bellingcat know well (and vice versa)
Back in 2020 Rundo was, at least temporarily, free. He was arrested in 2018 on federal charges related to violence at rallies, but a judge dismissed the case in 2019. Rundo left to Europe. U.S. attorneys appealed, which was in progress at the time. pbs.org/wgbh/frontline…
Rundo was known in early 2020 to be in eastern Europe, attending far-right events in Hungary 🇭🇺 and Bulgaria 🇧🇬
Thanks to some sloppy posting on his part — a common theme here — we found in November 2020 that he had set up shop in Belgrade, Serbia 🇷🇸 bellingcat.com/news/2020/11/1…
🧵1/10: In Hungary 🇭🇺 and Serbia 🇷🇸 elections, nationalist, Putin-friendly right-wing parties led by Viktor Orbán (Fidesz) & Aleksandar Vučić (SNS) have tightened holds on power — with some new far-right allies — thanks in part to illiberal systems they've built for themselves
2/10 In Hungary, the electoral system is hardly fair, being called an "electoral autocracy": gerrymandered systems + institutional/media domination by ruling Fidesz after more than a decade in power, all while benefiting from 🇪🇺 funds
3/10 Fidesz swept to a "crushing victory" — again a 2/3 supermajority despite ~53% of vote — with Orban listing off everyone in his mind who opposed him and his party: "the left" at home and abroad, George Soros, Brussels bureaucrats and even @ZelenskyyUa edition.cnn.com/2022/04/03/eur…
Both Ukraine's PM Oleksiy Honcharuk and veterans affairs minister Oksana Koliada appeared at the "Veterans Strong" event October 13. The organizer of the event was Andriy Medvedko (pictured here), a leading member of the neo-Nazi C14 who's on trial for murder
Of the three bands playing the event, the headliner - as was obvious from ads leading up to the event - was Sokyra Peruna. The band, with its swastika-like logo (visible behind Ukraine's PM here), has a long history on Ukraine and eastern Europe's neo-Nazi music scene
March 20: five days after the Christchurch shootings, Ukraine-based Russian Azov veteran Nikita Makeev posts praise for the shooter on @instagram - shooter as saint, along with excerpt from a poem about the Crusades
July 18: Makeev is given Ukrainian citizenship by @ZelenskyyUa
Makeev's past and present with Ukraine's far-right, specifically the Azov movement, is no secret. As noted in our @bellingcat investigation earlier this month, Makeev is close to Alexey Levkin from openly neo-Nazi Wotanjugend bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-eu…
Makeev's Instagram also makes clear his affinity for far-right, neo-Nazi fringes. Examples: a number of visible tattoos associated with said fringes (Wolfsangel, black sun) as well as a post from 2018's Asgardsrei festival during a performance from openly neo-Nazi band Goatmoon
After 17 far-right extremists were detained after #KharkivPride violence (3 still detained), Tradition and Order (TiP) held a small rally in support of their comrades in front of Ukraine's interior ministry in Kyiv.
Also present - and front and centre - was C14's Yevhen Karas
As we wrote in a @bellingcat investigation in August, neo-Nazi C14 is bent on redefining itself, using affiliated organizations to present a sanitized image to Ukrainians, including those in mainstream politics/society who have defended and supported them
Part of this includes an apparent shift away from supporting overt violence, including against LGBT+ Ukrainians.
It also comes w/ an extreme sensitivity to criticism, more so than w/ any other far-right group we've covered (e.g., making a 3-minute propaganda video attacking us)