Karim Zidan 🪶 Profile picture
Mar 26, 2022 8 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Did you know that Alexey Oleinik, the UFC fighter competing at #UFCColumbus today, was once a member of a violent pro-Russian militia in Ukraine that disguised itself as an MMA fight club?

A short🧵:
OPLOT was founded in 2010 by Yevhen Zhilin, a retired police captain and former Interior Minister officer who openly professed his loyalty to the Russian government.

The MMA club was based in the eastern city of Kharkiv & described itself as the “first fight club in Ukraine.”
Zhilin & his fighters were fiercely opposed to the anti-government protests in 2014. They targeted activists & were accused of kidnapping and torturing activist Dmytro Bulatov by cutting off his ear.

Here is mayor Vitali Klitschko visiting Bulatov in hospital after the attack
Oplot fighters were regularly accused of shadowing Kharkiv's pro-Russian mayor as enforcers. They attacked the opposition, threatened journalists and caused unrest at Euromaidan gatherings. Zhilin even promised to "smash the Maidan to pieces."
UFC fighter Oleinik was named “team leader” at the OPLOT MMA fight club in 2012 and remained with the club until he signed with the UFC in 2014.

During his time at Oplot, he never once opposed the attacks allegedly perpetrated by his teammates.
In 2015, Oleinik was deemed a "threat to national security" & banned from entering Ukraine, his birth country.
fter developing a reputation as a vicious militia, the OPLOT fight club was burned to the ground & many of its thugs were arrested.

The organization faded out of existence when its founder Zhilin was shot dead in a Moscow suburb in 2016.
When I attempted to interview Oleinik about OPLOT several years ago, he yelled at me whenever I pushed him to answer questions on the topic & eventually hung up.

In light of the ongoing war, Oleinik's past may come back to haunt him.

End 🧵

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More from @ZidanSports

Mar 7, 2022
Ramzan Kadyrov rules over Chechnya with an iron fist, purging sexual minorities, collectively punishing dissidents, torturing critics & assassinating opponents.

Yet little is said about Patriot, Lord & Delimkhanov—the men who ensure Kadyrov’s tyranny knows no bounds.

A 🧵
Lets begin with Abuzayed Vismuradov, referred to by his nom de guerre, Patriot. He is one of the three most powerful men in Chechnya & is fiercely loyal to Kadyrov. Vismuradov went to the same school as Kadyrov and later fought alongside him during the Chechen wars.
Patriot was known as the man who got Kadyrov the results he wanted. If there was a village that needed burning down, you sent Patriot. If you needed someone tortured to send a message, you sent Patriot.
Read 17 tweets
Mar 5, 2022
Ramzan Kadyrov recently dressed his teenage sons in military gear & claimed they would be deployed to Ukraine.

While this is merely propaganda, it emphasizes how the Chechen dictator has weaponized his children for political gain & to secure his bloodline.

A 🧵 Image
Kadyrov has quite a few children but three of his sons have been paraded around more than the rest: Zelimkhan (Eli), Akhmad, and Adam.

This is the Kadyrov dynasty. Image
The dynastic propaganda began in 2016, when Kadyrov was celebrating his 40th bday. As part of the festivities, he assigned fights for the three princelings, the eldest of whom was 11. They participated in the pre-fight weigh-in ceremony, including the posturing theatrics. Image
Read 12 tweets
Mar 1, 2022
Ramzan Kadyrov has long used sports as a tool to enhance his image, inviting countless elite athletes to Chechnya for photo-ops & to help distract from the atrocities taking place within his borders.

A🧵 on the foreign stars who've rubbed shoulders with the tyrant Image
In 2005, Mike Tyson became the first athlete to visit Kadyrov when the warlord was still attempting to seize power. Kadyrov invited him to attend a boxing event & later paraded him in front of state TV. Tyson would visit again years later, long after Kadyrov consolidated power Image
In 2011, the Chechen leader flew in a group of aging Brazilian heroes (Bebeto, Cafu, Romario) to play a team captained by himself. Months later, he flew in another side led by the Argentine great, Diego Maradona. Image
Read 16 tweets
Feb 28, 2022
After decades of using combat sports to foster an image as the hard man of global politics, Vladimir Putin’s carefully-crafted persona is crumbling on the world stage. Here are some of the foreign celebrities/athletes who played a role in propping up his dictatorship

🧵
Actor & martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme was among the first foreign celebrities to be pictured w/ Putin, including at MMA events in 2007 & 2010. Van Damme later attended Ramzan Kadyrov’s 35th bday party in Grozny ImageImage
Steven Seagal was granted Russian citizenship by Putin & became his unofficial celebrity spokesman. He defended annexation of Crimea & regularly pushed Kremlin propaganda. Putin even tried to make him a mediator w/ Washington. Obama was reportedly “flabbergasted” by the proposal ImageImage
Read 8 tweets
Jan 10, 2021
After Twitter's latest QAnon purge + Parler nearing shutdown, the far-right is migrating to Telegram.

So far:

QAnon channels added combined 50k followers
Proud Boys channels added 5k-10k
Neo-Nazi, militia, & other hate group channels on the rise as well
Proud Boys, QAnon's Sidney Powell & others have been pushing followers to migrate to Telegram, where messages can be encrypted & founder Pavel Durov employs "anti-censorship tech"

Proud Boys are calling Telegram the "last bastion" Image
Popular far-right accounts on Telegram include:

Sidney Powell (approx. 100,000 followers)
Proud Boys (45,000 combined)
Tommy Robinson (45,000)
Breitbart (30,000)

There are also countless neo-Nazi, white nationalist & neo-fascist groups on Telegram. Followers in the 100k+ range
Read 4 tweets
Jan 7, 2021
THREAD: In the aftermath of Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, far-right groups, pro-Trump militias, and white supremacists are revelling in the chaos caused, all while continuing to spread their propaganda & disinformation. Here is a small sampling:
The neo-fascist Proud Boys hate group bragged on social media about the fear they helped cause, while their leader (who was arrested on Jan. 5 and barred from DC) told them to “never stop fighting” ImageImage
The NSC 131 white nationalist hate group—founded by former member of neo-Nazi terror group the Base—was present at the insurrection & later posted photos of stolen Capitol police gear while bragging about their role in storming the Capitol ImageImage
Read 10 tweets

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