Alexey Yurievich Milchakov (, born 30 April 1991) is a Russian neo-Nazi, suspected

war criminal A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

and co-leader and co-founder of the

Rusich Group The Sabotage Assault Reconnaissance Group (DShRG) "Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia, Rusich" () is a Russian nationalism, Russian far-rightŠmíd, Tomáš & Šmídová, Alexandra. (2021)Anti-government Non-state Armed Actors in the Conflict in ...

, that operated from 2022 within the

Wagner Group The Wagner Group (), officially known as PMC Wagner (, ), is a Russian state-funded private military company (PMC) controlled 2023 Wagner Group plane crash, until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir Pu ...

. Milchakov first came to public attention in 2011, after he filmed himself torturing and decapitating a puppy and posted footage of it online. He has been linked to atrocities in both

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, including the participation in beating a man to death with a sledgehammer, and has been described as "the symbol of Russian neo-Nazis fighting in the

Donbass The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. The majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The word ''Donbas'' is a portmanteau formed fr ...

". As of 2022, he was sanctioned by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and other countries.

Biography

He was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Milchakov calls himself a fan of

FC Zenit Football Club Zenit (, ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, according to some Russian sources), the club p ...

Animal abuse

Milchakov first came to public attention after he filmed himself torturing and decapitating a puppy in 2011, posting the footage online. A petition calling to hold him accountable was supported by more than 5,500 people. At the same time,

animal rights activists Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a ho ...

addressed FC Zenit players in order for them to assess Milchakov's actions. In his VK page he also called for killing of homeless people, puppies and children.

Alleged Actions in Syria

A 2024 investigation by the open source research group

Bellingcat Bellingcat (stylised bell¿ngcat) is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT). It was founded by British citizen journalist and former blogger Eliot Higgins in Ju ...

analyzed a 2017 photograph that depicted a man in military uniform holding a severed human head near the Syrian city of

Palmyra Palmyra ( ; Palmyrene dialect, Palmyrene: (), romanized: ''Tadmor''; ) is an ancient city in central Syria. It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first menti ...

. By comparing the camouflage patterns, Bellingcat concluded the uniform was likely worn by Milchakov or a member of Rusich. Bellingcat geolocated the photograph and found it was 5.5km away from where Wagner mercenaries tortured and beheaded a Syrian man in 2017.

War In Donbas

Milchakov participated as a volunteer in the

war in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

from 2014, stating later he wanted "to kill". According to his own account, Milchakov formed Rusich together with

Yan Petrovsky Yan Igorevich Petrovsky (, born 1 January 1987), also known by his nom de guerre "Slavyan" (, ) and his new legal name Voislav Torden (Russian: Воислав Торден), is a Russian neo-Nazi, militant and convicted war criminal, known for ...

in the summer of 2014, after going through a paramilitary training program run by the Imperial Legion, the military branch of the

Russian Imperial Movement The Russian Imperial Movement (RIM; , ''RID'')Marlene Laruelle, ''Russian Nationalism: Imaginaries, Doctrines, and Political Battlefields'' (Routledge, 2019), pp. 167, 202-203. is a Ruscism, Russian ultranationalist and white supremacistJohn Hu ...

. He has openly bragged about photographing mutilated and burnt Ukrainian bodies of members of the paramilitary Aidar group in 2014. Milchakov is also reputed to have cut ears of Ukrainian corpses and scratched

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

s on their faces. By 2015, he had been sanctioned by the European Union, United Kingdom and Canada. He has used the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

s "Fritz" and "Serb". In 2016 Milchakov criticized the leadership of the

Luhansk People's Republic The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR; , ) is a disputed territory administered as a republic of Russia in the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast, with its capital in Luhansk. The LPR was proclaimed by Russian-backed paramilitar ...

for ostentatious “

anti-fascism Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

”. In a 2020 video, Milchakov described himself as a "

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

", stating: "I'm not going to go deep and say, I'm a nationalist, a patriot, an imperialist, and so forth. I'll say it outright: I'm a Nazi." In August 2022,

Nexta Nexta ( ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, niekh-ta'') is a Belarusian media outlet that is primarily distributed through Telegram (software), Telegram and YouTube channels. The YouTube channel was founded by then 17-year-old student Stsiapan ...

posted a tweet of footage showing Milchakov in Ukraine. According to the

German Intelligence Service The Federal Intelligence Service (, ; BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Chancellor's Office. The BND headquarters is located in central Berlin. The BND has 300 locations in Germany and foreign cou ...

, Milchakov was allegedly injured in the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. In January 2025,

Apti Alaudinov Apti Aronovich Alaudinov (, ) (born 5 October 1973) is a Russian Lieutenant general and a high-ranking member of the Kadyrovites of the National Guard of Russia. Early life He was born into a Chechen family. His father was an officer in the So ...

recorded a meeting with Alexy Milchakov. They spoke together of their "common enemy" and "common goal" in the war, as well as the need to subdue interracial and interethnic tensions in the Russian military.

Sanctions

Milchakov is sanctioned by Canada in 2015, and by Australia, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States in relation to the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milchakov, Alexey Living people 1991 births Russian murderers Russian neo-Nazis Russian war criminals Anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Russia Neo-Nazism in Russia People of the Wagner Group Russian individuals subject to United Kingdom sanctions Russian military personnel of the Russian invasion of Ukraine Animal killing People indicted for war crimes