:::.FREEDOM ONLINE :Irregular Facsism.:::

[note: Regular Fascism is a Russian movie about liberation of Auschwitz camp. In Russia, the word “fascism” itself is often associated with Nazis rather than with the Fascist Party of Italy]

“I don’t know a party called ‘skinheads’”, says the head of Moscow Police Department Vladimir Pronin.

“Skinheads are a myth created by press”, agrees the head of department of Juvenile Crimes of MPD Sergey Zherebin.

Both phrases are not true at all. There is such party and Moscow police is very familiar with it. The Party has a name. There are leaders, people who already were sentenced to imprisonment for racist crimes, but who already served their terms. Their goal is the Supremacy of the White Race. They have organized departments in all Moscow Districts. After the slaughter in Tsaritsino mayor Luzhkov said that “the police was ordered to penetrate into the skinhead organizations”. But, probably, the police did not receive such an order.

“There is no skinhead organization that we can penetrate into”, says Zherebin.

We found such an organization. And we managed to do what was considered impossible by the police. “MK” correspondent penetrated into the organization. The results of the investigation cannot be called other than sensational.

It was very easy for me to become a Nazi. The headquarters of the National People Party that unites most of the Moscow skinheads is located in the very center of the Capital, not far away from the Belorusskaya metro station. The exact address is 4, Bol’shoy Kondrat’yevskiy Pereulok, building 3, apartment 4. It’s just a regular multi-story apartment building.

It is a small one-room apartment. A few young men with little or no hair sit at the table and watch a video about Hitler. There are a few maps of Russia and Moscow with a lot of swastikas on them. A poster saying “Caution! The enemy is awake! There are some Jewish neighbors!” is pinned to the wall right beside one of the maps.

I am introduced to the leaders. The tall skin-headed man in military uniform that sits right in front of me is Semyon “Boos” Tokmakov. And the older person that let me into the apartment is Alexandr Ivanov, “the Fuehrer”

“We need to call the NTV (a major Russian TV company), says Tokmakov, “the journalist that made a report about us is worried because he thinks that we will beat him up. I’ll tell him to stop worrying, because he really made a good report…”

The group of skinheads left. Before they did, each of them took a bunch of leaflets. Finally, it is my turn. This was the first time when I really needed the skills that I gained in school drama club. The legend about a common Russian girl that is abused by “immigrants from Caucasus, blacks and Chechnyans” works. After filling out the application, studying the “passport data” and member payment of 100 rubles, I am provided with “educational information”, a little brochure “Basis of Russism” and a few issues of Nazist newspaper “I am Russian”.

“We have fighting training twice a week”, says Tokmakov, “come here on Tuesday. We will tell you the time and place of the training later.”

“We don’t say goodbye like this here”, Tokmakov interrupts me, “throw your hand in the air like this and say “Russia is Great!” He throws his hand in the air just like German Nazis did.

Born July 26, 1975 in Rybinsk, Yaroslavskaya oblast'. Served in the army in the construction brigade. After graduating from Moscow Agricultural University worked as a security guard at the storage of the "Russian Writer" publishing company.

In early 1998 Tokmakov created a skinhead group called "Russian Goal”. On May 2, 1998 he and a few of his friends attacked an Anfrican-American William Jefferson, a US Navy Seal that worked as a security guard in the American Embassy. Since this time the victim was not just a student from Africa, but a US citizen, the police had to pay attention to the crime. Tokmakov was arrested 2 days later. Police denied that the crime had a racist basis. Nevertheless, Tokmakov was accused of "Agitation of nationalistic, racial or religious hostility and act of violence on its basis". In prison, Tokmakov met Ivanov-Sukharevskiy, the leader of NPP, who was serving time for the very same crime. Tokmakov was released two years earlier than he was supposed to because of the amnesty. After he got out of prison, he became the chief of Youth Department of NPP. "The Russian Goal" group became an autonomus part of NPP. On June 18 2000 Tokmakov was arrested after the fight between the skinheads and police in Northern Moscow; he was accused of organizating of the fight. But he was released the very next day.

Tokmakov makes a lot of regional trips in order to make connections with different neo-Nazi groups of the country.

The headquarters are filled with the “newcomers”. Ivanov is giving a “lecture”. The style of speech reminds of Zhirinovsky (a very expressive Russian politician, also known as “the clown of Russian political stage”), the style of thinking reminds of the first stage of schizophrenia.

“There were no science inventions after the Third Reich collapsed!”, the “fuehrer” almost hollers, “only repeating of what was already invented by the Aryan scientists! Try to remember any Jewish scientist that discovered something really new! You won’t be able to do it, because there are no such scientists!”

“What about Einstein?”, I think but not dare to speak out loud. As one of Russian poets said, if you are in a mental health hospital, don’t show everyone that you are “normal”. At the same time Ivanov, who has already finished attacking the “non-Aryan” science, speaks about the art. Tokmakov stops the attack of “word diarrhea”.

“Alexandr, I just received a call from Swiss radio. They will be here in five minutes”.

“It’s just a meeting day”, Ivanov smiles, “the police came about three hours ago…”

“Nothing at all”, Ivanov starts laughing, “The officer just stuck his head in the doorway and asked if there was anyone else at home. I told him that there was not. Then he came in. He told me that somebody saw a swastika on the front door of the house. I told him that the Jewish neighbors draw it in order to get rid of us. We are not really afraid of police. If the officer is Russian, he will almost certainly be on our side”.

The Swiss come in. There are two journalists and an interpreter. They gave Ivanov their business cards and tell him that his interview will appear on one of the main Swiss State radio stations. The “fuehrer” plays his role very well, he explains that skinheads are “peaceful people”, and the “main enemies” of Russia are in Kremlin, and if Europe does not help him and his party gain power the world “will be in a big trouble”. The method of “making everyone happy” is very simple; Ivanov wants complete deportation of all “aliens” and “blacks” from the “white” territory. Then he makes a “generous” remark.

“If there is a need for it, we can give shelter to all white Europeans. For example, in case of rapid global warming. There is enough room for everyone”.

The foreign guests are not very pleased with such an “offer”. They ask the main question, “Is the Party related to the Tsaritsino Slaughter and frequent fights with the foreigners?”

“You know, it’s sort of hard for me to answer a question like this”, the “fuehrer” says, “Did anything really bad happen? No, they just beat up some negro…”

(During the Tsaritsino Slaughter 3 people were killed and 32 seriously wounded).

“Aren’t you afraid to say such things?”, the Swiss journalists ask, “Can you say such things in your country?”

Born July 26, 1950 in Rostov-na-Donu. In 1979 he graduated from the Russian State University of Theater Art with a degree in directing.

In May 1994 he created Orthodox Party. After a conflict with Russian Orthodox Church, the party was renamed twice. First, it was called Movement of People’s Nationalists, now it bears the name of Nationalistic People’s Party (or NPP).

Ivanov-Sukharevskiy was number one on the balloting list of NPP on Duma elections of 1995, but the party did not get enough votes to get into the Parliament. On April 4 2002 Ivanov was pleaded guilty of “propagandizing racist and nationalistic ideas”. Ivanov published many articles in nationalistic newspapers “I am Russian” and “The Age of Russia”. As the linguistic expertise said, those articles contained ideas of “xenophobia, nationalism and anti-Semitism”. Besides that, the court found propaganda of racist ideas in the program of the Party and in the speeches that Ivanov gave in 1996 during one of the demonstrations. He was sentenced to three years in prison, but was amnestied.

It looks like Ivanov has an attack of hysteria today. You could hear him swearing (this time at Russian Orthodox Church) even outside. I sneak into the kitchen, trying not to come across the angry “fuehrer”. The kitchen is the “brain center” of the party. Computer, fax machine and other “office equipment” is located there. Lena, the editor of the neo-Nazi newspaper “I Am Russian” sits behind the computer. I get “the task”, go around the metro station and try to give the periodical to the newspaper vendors. Lena gives me a stack of newspapers and a list of the stations that I am supposed to go to.

Maybe, Thursday is not a very good day for it, but there were almost no newspaper vendors on all the metro stations that I’ve gone to. I only managed to find one vendor, on the Mendeleyevskaya station, but she refused to sell our newspaper. “It’s not a Russian newspaper. Russian newspapers don’t publish articles like these. I read a few issues and I understood what it is and I will never sell it. And I would suggest you to stop doing this kind of business”, she said.

So what “articles” are published in “our” newspaper, so that even the newspaper vendors, who usually hate our current government, refuse to sell them?

…At night I went through the “library” of the headquarters. Mostly, it consists of books like “The History of Ku Klux Klan” or “The Eternal Jew, or How The Roaches Survive”. I pick a random issue of “I Am Russian” and read through it. Most of the texts don’t make a lot of sense at all, but some of the articles are sill pretty interesting. Especially the ones that describe the “deeds” of the party members.

From the “I Am Russian” newspaper, issue 13, 2001, section “Skinhead’s Diaries”.

“Moscow, March 8 2001. After a few beers we got out of the bar. Then we met two young skinheads. Their faces were all covered with blood. When we asked them what happened, they told us that Huches (offensive Russian word for the people of Caucasus origin) beat them up. Skinheads don’t take this kind of s…t, so we decided to beat up some Huches. It took us about 20 minutes to gather a crowd of 50 and rush through the neighborhood. We beat up like 20 Huches that night”.

Editor’s comment. “If you think that these young guys don’t know what they’re doing, you are mistaken. They know the meaning of the Holy Racial War. The voice of blood calls them. And you are not lucky if you don’t share our views”.

Today is a “great day”. Tokmakov allowed me to attend the “meeting of leaders”. The only requirement was the dress code, black skirt, white blouse, and a black tie. I felt like an idiot in this “outfit”. Th tie was too big for me. But all the others (including three young women) were very pleased with their own importance.

“Light the candles”, Ivanov orders. Tokmakov lights up the candles and gives everyone armbands with swastikas. The meeting begins.

“Leaders, stand up”, Ivanov says. Tokmakov opens a folder and reads us the “Oath of the Leader”. We repeat short phrases like “only sacredness has a right to rule”, etc.

The content and the style of the “Oath” remind of an old Russian fairy tale. The only difference is that it should be read with a horrible scary voice. While Tokmakov reads “The people that have the power right now have only one right, and it is a right to die without torture”, everyone freezes. Then Ivanov says “Russian is Great!” and everyone throws their hands in the air three times. Tokamokov tells everyone to be seated. There is a few important issues on the agenda. The first one is celebrating Hitler’s birthday (April 20).

Ivanov says, “As everyone knows, the police decided to celebrate Hitler’s birthday too this year (everybody laughs). Don’t laugh, it’s not very funny. Haven’t you heard that the copes are in “extra caution” mode? We won’t do anything these days. Do you listen to me, leaders? Tell all your people that the headquarters is closed on 20^th and 21^st, no one must be here.”

“I think we should celebrate Fuehrer’s death”, Tokmakov offers, “it’s April the 30^th. No one would exepect anything on that day. We can arrange a new attack.”

“Everything’s ready for it in the Northern District”, says girl named Inna, “we just need an order. We have at least 100 people.”

“That’s good”, Ivanov says and then adds, “but, please, let’s work better than we did in Tsaritsino. There were at least 300 people, and only three people were killed as a result. It’s even funny…”

People, that are planning new slaughters, seem to have no emotions at all. Main dates of this “Barbarossa Plan” (that was the name of Hitler’s plan of conquering Russia) are April 30, day of Hitler’s death, and July 26, Ivanov’s and Tokmakov’s birthday (they were born on one day).

“Moscow center should belong to skinheads by our holiday”, Ivanov says. “Right now we already have at least fifteen hundred fighters. We need to start a street war. That was the kind of strategy that Hitler had, and that is why he gained power. But we must prepare for it very well. First of all, we need to make as many leaflets as we can. Yeah, we will also change the topic a little bit; this time we will “fight” drug addiction. In that case, we will get the support of the people, and the cops won’t bother us. Right now I am studying the Criminal Law and by the beginning of the summer I’ll be able to tell you what you can do and what you can’t. As for right now, if you want to beat somebody up, go right ahead and do it, but keep in mind that you must not take anything from him, because in that case it would be considered as a robbery, and possible sentence will be much longer. And train as much as you can…”

It looks like Ivanov paid a lot of attention to what Moscow Police said after the Tsaritsino tragedy (the officials denied the racist basis of the pogrom and called it “a simple hooliganism”).

After the meeting Ivanov told me my new task. I’ll have to be co-editor of the newspaper.

Lena is typing articles for the new issue. So far, I have nothing to edit. Ivanov shows me a news report that was recorded just a couple days ago. The title is “United Brigades 88” (in this case, “88” stands for “HH” or “Heil Hitler!”).

“Well… we call them “UB”. There is just a few groups that have that name in Moscow, and there is only 15 to 20 people in each group. Just a bunch of kids”.

The news reporter says, “We know who gives the money to Moscow skinheads, and we are ready to share that information with the police”. Lena rushes out of kitchen and says, “UB is done. They talk too much. Now they are in a very, very big trouble!”

“Calm down, calm down”, says “fuehrer”. So far, they don’t think that they can fully trust me and talk about the money in my presence.

After editing a fantastically stupid article about “Georgian and Armenian immigrants who harass Russian kids at schools”, I get a more important task. This time I have to type an article about the situation on the Middle East that Ivanov dictates.

“Good job, Sveta”, the “fuehrer” says after I am finished, “We also need an article about the negative effect of marijuana and other drugs. Why don’t you write it yourself”.

My future career in the party is pretty clear to me right now. In two weeks I could become “fuehrer’s” “ideological assistant”. Just like Goebbels was.

“Alexandr”, I ask right before I live, “what about those letters that someone sent to all the embassies saying that skinheads would kill every foreigner they meet? They were signed with your name, as I know”.

“Oh, those letters…” Ivanov smiles, “one member of our party wrote them. Even though we’re not going to do anything, we still should keep the enemy frightened”.

Today is another “big day”. Ivanov and another active member of the party are interviewed by “Weekly Magazine” (one of the most popular Russian periodicals). And they also expect a correspondent of French newspaper “Liberation”.

“I am Salazar”, the young “active member of the party” introduces himself to me, “I am Tokmakov’s substitute today”.

“Many people just want our fame”, Salazar explains to the reporter of the magazine, “They shave their heads, wear typical clothes, but they don’t want to keep their responsibilities”.

“And what are your responsibilities?” the journalist asks, “beating up black people?”

“That is one of them”, Salazar answers, “Take a look around, can’t you see them? There are so many blacks around! I just can’t stand them. And we do need to beat them up, so they would understand who the master is. If you kill one, ten will be scared. If you kill two, another two hundred will get scared. We need a war, and, actually, we already have this war, nobody just speaks about it. Police doesn’t like talking about that type of crimes. According to the statistics, very few blacks were attacked, but in fact, we beat up at least as many blacks a week as the “statistics” says we did in a year. The authorities hide everything, because they don’t want those people to get scared. And we continue beating them. See my boots?” he pulls up his pants and shows heavy army boots, “a lot of subhumans know what it feels like to be kicked with this very boot”.

Russian journalists leave. We are waiting for the French. Salazar is changing his clothes.

“You know, If I wear a uniform, I am the assistant of the leader of the NPP”, he says, “in the evening I’ll put on a regular coat and go for a walk. And if I put on a regular business suit, I can do my regular work. I’m a professional lawyer, by the way.”

The French journalists come, and I go to the kitchen. The computer is not occupied, there are no skinheads around, so I decide to study it. But there is absolutely nothing valuable in “my Documents” folder, just the articles for the newspaper and a list of addresses of regional departments of NPP. I print it out and put it in my pocket. Maybe, police will need it sometime.

I go back to the room and serve tea. Ivanov talks with the French journalist. “In 1998 I had to go to FSS (Federal Security Service) because they suspected me of setting the synagogue on fire. And the officer told me to be careful, because some agents were ordered to penetrate into the party recently. Police, actually, often helps us. They explain us how to behave ourselves, and what to do in different situations. By the way, after the recent trial even the prosecutor came to me and told me that he agrees with me on all the points. It just was his job to get me in jail.”

Finally, I am allowed to go to the “training class”. They usually go there in groups of 40 or 50 people. The “meeting spot” is either Schukinskaya or Sokol metro stations. The time of meeting is every Tuesday or Thursday, 3.15 p.m. After we get off the train, me and skinhead Pasha take a bus and go to the “spot”. In half an hour we are there.

“To that white building right over there”, my guide answers, “we always go there in groups, or, at least, in pairs. They never let a person if he or she is alone. Actually they know, that we are skinheads, but they always let us get trained if there is plenty of us. Money?… No, you don’t have to pay. At least 40 of our people always go here. But the training classes are very, very difficult. At first, you can take a little rest of you get tired, but then, after some time, the instructor will beat you if you don’t obey him.”

There was no more time to talk about how difficult the training is. We were there. There is a door with a guard, just like on all military objects. The sign on the door says “Special Police Forces Department”.

But I do not manage to ask that question. A man in sweat pants and a sweat shirt walks out of the door. Pasha tells me that this is their instructor, Yuri. He lets us in.

I already know most of the people that came there for the training class from the leaders’ meeting.

As we were walking towards the gym, I noticed a couple articles from our newspaper on the bulleting board. There was a couple articles about the “heroes of Chechnya” and the text that I edited just a few days ago (It was called “I want to join the party”. The most impressing part was about “wiping out all the black bastards”).

We come across a policeman. “There is some kind of visiting commission here, so be careful”, he tells us.

Just right after he left, a group of people comes out of the door. A man in uniform of Major General leads them. The Nazis become very nervous. What if he realizes that these are skinheads? But the General smiles at us and says to the members of the commission, “You see, we train kids from low-budget here for free”.

The “guests” look around the gym and continue with the “excursion”. We change our clothes and start working out. After twenty minutes all my muscles got really sore, so I already felt like leaving.

“It’s just the beginning”, the instructor says, “let’s go to the other part of the gym, we usually have the training there”.

Another instructor is already waiting for us in the gym. He looks a lot scarier than the first one. If he had not had a sweatshirt with “Police” written on it, I would have thought he was a skinhead himself.

“Alright, now shut up and listen to me!” he screams, “do not talk to each other while you’re running. Got that? Alright, no start running! Go, go, go!”

We start running. It reminds me of training of the Special Army Troops that I saw on the TV several times. 5 minutes of running, then 20 push-ups, then another 5 minutes of running, then 20 sit-ups… You can’t stop or slow down without the order from the instructor.

It lasted for 40 minutes. I was able to do it only for 20. The only good thing was that I was not the only “weak” one. Actually, all the girls had to take a rest even earlier than I did. As skinheads say, they were offered a training class in the Special Police Department only a couple weeks ago, so right now they only do the “basic stuff”. Actual fighting training will begin later, in the end of spring.

That means that before the “big date” (July 26), policemen will not only train the skinheads how to beat people up, but also how to kill them without using any sharp or heavy objects.

After that I spoke with skinheads for quite a long time trying to find out who offered them a training class there, but everyone said they did not know that. And they sounded like they really did not.

The “organization issues” are solved by the leaders of Moscow Nazis on a “different level”. But I could not find out on what “exact level”. After the chief of Moscow Police Department said that “skinheads are just a myth”, I am ready to believe in anything.

Why should Moscow Police fight with Nazis? Why do they have to send their people to the organizations of skinheads? It has already happened, just in an opposite way.

Before I used to think that Moscow Authorities will really do everything they can to fight with the Nazis. But now I sometimes cannot tell the difference between a nazi skinhead and a shorthaired policeman. I saw both potential killers and people who are supposed to arrest them drink vodka from the same bottle…