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.”

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.

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 🧵 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.

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 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

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

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"

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”

Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen charged with killing two people during protests in Kenosha, has posted $2 million bail.

His lawyer, Lin Wood, went on Steve Bannon's show today & said that people need be prepared for another 1776 & "fight for their freedom" if election is certified In the aftermath of the shooting in Kenosha, Rittenhouse became a symbol for neo-Nazis & white supremacists around the world. Posters w/ caption "Kyle was Right" can be found in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, the US, and Canada, among other places.

Thread: Later today, white supremacist, alt-right & neo-nazi groups will descend on Washington,DC for a “white civil rights rally” reminiscent of the ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville last year. Some of these far-right groups train in MMA to brawl with counter-protestors Far-right groups like the Rise Above Movement (RAM) use MMA to recruit new members attracted to the prospect of violence. They refer to themselves as the “premier MMA fight club of the Alt-Right” & use their training to disrupt peaceful protests. propublica.org/article/white-…