Alexey Petrov, an adviser to the office of Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova,was linked to a neo-Nazi group known as WotanJugend.
According to the investigation carried out by Reuters, 27-year-old Petrov was found to have posted content on his VKontakte social media page that appeared to be associated with the neo-Nazi group WotanJugend from 2011 to 2014, when he was aged between 16 and 19.
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Among the content that caught the attention of journalists were images showcasing a T-shirt bearing a variation of the Celtic cross and a baseball cap emblazoned with the numbers “88” – code for “Heil Hitler,” as “h” is the eighth letter of the alphabet.
Furthermore, in both 2013 and 2014, Petrov shared videos from the WotanJugend group and reposted announcements related to a neo-Nazi festival.
His Skype account was listed as “wotan_jugend8989,” while his Instagram account was registered as “fanat1k8814” – again, the 88 along with the number 14, which refers to “14 Words,” a reference to the white supremacist slogan: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”
Reuters’ investigation further uncovered a connection between Petrov and nearly a dozen accounts registered under the username “wotan_jugend8989” on various online forums.
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These registrations were linked to Petrov’s email address, indicating his involvement in creating and maintaining these accounts.
Upon being questioned by Reuters, Petrov vehemently denied any affiliation with neo-Nazi organizations, asserting that he neither currently nor in the past had any ties to such groups.
In response to the media scrutiny, Petrov promptly deleted the mentioned posts from his VKontakte profile and unsubscribed from around 150 online communities. Notably, among the communities he left was a group called “Stay White,” boasting a substantial 23,000 followers, which advocated for the revival of “a strong Russia.”
The office of the Commissioner for Children’s Rights, under Maria Lvova-Belova’s leadership, declined to provide any response to the questions posed by Reuters regarding this matter.
On March 17th, an arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova. The allegations against them pertain to their alleged involvement in the unlawful relocation of children from the occupied regions of Ukraine to Russia.
What is WotanJugend?
“Wotan Jugend” (also spelled “Wotanjugend”) is a Russian neo-Nazi and white supremacist organization.
This organization is known for its extreme far-right ideologies and affiliations with hate speech, violence, and racist beliefs. It gained attention for its involvement in various illegal activities and hate crimes.
The group is involved in promoting Nazism and a range of extremist activities, including armed attacks.
The organization is known for its endorsement of far-right terrorists. Figures within this group’s hall of heroes include the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik and Brenton Harrison Tarrant the perpetrator of the Christchurch shooting. They even took an active role in disseminating translated copies of Tarrant’s putative manifest “The Great Replacement” across various social networks.
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