These are just some of the labels either that have either been associated with or embraced by the hero of today’s article. But first of all, a methodological note on the importance of a certain historical individualism.
When researching politics, one can look at the history of organizations. But their output is relatively self-serving and boring.
Looking at the official output of fascist organizations is particularly problematic. To begin with, they have a tendency towards constant infighting, re-branding, dissolution, and splits.
More importantly, they have a tendency towards ideological concealment. Modern Ukrainian fascists have been deeply influenced by the work of the 1980s French rightwing philosophy, particularly the concept of ‘metapolitics’.
Alain De Benoitte, influential thinker of the French New Right
These theorists, obviously influenced by Gramsci’s conceptualization of cultural hegemony, warned against excessively explicit nazi sloganry, given the ambient anti-fascism of post-WW2 European societies. Instead, they advocated slowly reintroducing elements of such a perspective through the guise of less controversial slogans. Their approach has been summarized as:
‘the capture of cultural power [as] the precondition for the capture of political power.’
The philosophers of Ukraine’s Azov movement have long written on the need for such a metapolitical approach. And there is no better opportunity to normalize fascist ideology than war. Azov has done its utmost since 2022 - given the production quality, clearly with the help of powerful patrons - to solidify its image as ‘young, idealistic patriots fighting for the nation’s freedom’.
Olena Semenyaka, top Azovite ideologist, is quite enamoured with the idea of metapolitics. I mentioned her in my article on the Order of Nine Angles, the Satanist cult with adherents in the Russo-Ukrainian neo-nazi scene
This purposeful concealment is why looking at the convoluted history of the individuals involved is often much more interesting than examining their organizations.
Today, we will try to trace the extraordinary life of one particularly potent neo-nazi, a man who seems to have been the second-most powerful man in the Azov movement, at least from its emergence in 2014 until 2021 - Sergei Korotkikh, also known as ‘Malyuta’, and from 2014 onwards, ‘Boatswain’ (Botsman).
Korotkikh in 2022 on the swell of war. The text says ‘Some say, that I’m ‘not all there’. But let me tell you this - what I have is more than enough!’ On the right is the famous Azov patch, but on the left he seems to be wearing a black sun with an icon of Santa Muerte super-imposed.
He took this maritime alias the same year that Azov emerged. As we will see, he certainly has played the role of a boatswain - ‘a ship's officer in charge of equipment and the crew.’ In Korotkikh’s case, this has meant playing the role of both bank and political organizer.
Decapitations, murders, mercenary armies, organized crime, and intelligence services. Korotkikh has done his utmost to live up to his illustrious predecessors, the likes of fellow NATO gunmen “Congo Muller” and “Mad Mike” Hoare. In fact, he may well have surpassed them.
Korotkikh’s 20th century counterpart, Werhmacht officer and NATO mercenary in Africa, Siegfried Friedrich Heinrich Müller
The story will take us from Belarus, to Russia, to Ukraine, to Cuba, and back to Ukraine again. We will explore accusations that our main character is a Russian spy, his involvement in violent clashes inside the Ukrainian neo-nazi movement, as well as the reality of his current wartime position heading a military unit under Ukraine’s chief spook and CIA-protege Kyrylo Budanov.
But to begin with, the maximally grotesque. All the better to understand the type of character we’re dealing with.
Korotkikh has boasted in interviews of fighting in conflicts that unfolded in Serbia, Chechnya, the Middle East, and Latin America. In 2021, a certain Ukrainian nationalist by the name of Oleg Sophinik accused Korotkikh of being a ‘professional killer’ who had become a member of the satanist cult Santa Muerte:
Maluta [Korotkikh - EIU] is a professional hitman. In Ecuador, he became an adherent of the satanic religious cult Santa Muerte. He boasted about having powerful guardian demons, claiming to be invulnerable to bullets and poison. Expecting anything good or remorse from a Satanist is clearly pointless. He was created to destroy, kill, and betray. Such is the nature of this doomed man. It has long been known that he works for the Russian Federation and the FSB, and he himself doesn’t hide it.
Instead of denying the allegations, here’s how Korotkikh responded:
Next, for the enlightenment of those suffering from brain degeneration.
Followers of Santa Muerte do not place Her above God nor deny His will and His power. God the Creator made Death, and with His blessing She goes forth into the world to gather Her harvest, taking precisely those whose life's journey has, by God's will, come to an end. Holy Death is God's creation, acting according to His will and with His permission. Thus, by not believing in Death or denying Her, we deny what God deemed right to create. There is nothing in the Santa Muerte cult that contradicts Christian values - followers believe in both God and Holy Death (whom He created and who stands one step below Him), attend church, and no one finds this the slightest bit contradictory. 🤣🤣🤣👍
Like many Azovites, Satanism seems to be a major part of Korotkikh’s identity. Not only is the ‘Saint of Death’ his facebook banner, a photo of him while in Cuba in early 2014 shows him wearing the Mjölnir pendant, a Germanic neo-pagan symbol:
As you might start to guess, I have found it somewhat difficult to fit Korotkikh’s life into narrative structure. Working on this article over the past week, what I thought would be a single article kept on growing and growing. As such, I have decided to turn this into a series, each focusing on another thread of his life.
The second installment will cover the many killings often attributed to Korotkikh, and the claims that he is in fact a deeply imbedded Russian intelligence agent. The third article will cover Korotkikh’s leading role in the Azov movement, digging into his well-known and lesser known conflicts with other Ukrainian neo-nazis. Finally, I will take a look at Korotkikh’s post-2022 status as commander of Khorne, a military unit which is naturally a part of Kyryllo Budanov’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR). Those familiar might see many parallels with another GUR unit, the nazi satanist Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), regarding which I have a six-article series. Some figures from the RDK will, of course, appear in today’s exploration of Korotkikh’s life.
Today, however, I will go into what, funnily enough, might be the most uncontroversial part of Korotkikh’s life. I have doubts that he is in fact a Russian agent, or that he is really responsible for all the killings his USAID-funded left-liberal enemies attribute to him (plenty, definitely, but not all). But there’s one thing he has readily admitted in his various interviews - his lifelong passion for organized crime. Just documenting that has turned out to be enough for a 7,397 word article.
Korotkikh’s life of crime has made him into a sort of one-man BCCI, the famous CIA shadow bank that laundered money for NATO mercenaries, the Afghan mujahideen, and drug cartels. Korotkikh’s own admissions and corroborating third-party statements all point to the fact that Korotkikh has played the role of a skilled moving bank for a range of Russian and Ukrainian neo-nazi organizations. Wherever he goes, Korotkikh’s networks get to work creating what is essentially a para-state.
Naturally. After all, Santa Muerte isn’t just a satanist cult - it is a belief system fanatically embraced by Latin American cartel organizations - a region that Korotkikh seems to have spent some time in.
Now, let’s take a dip into the world of the Boatswain.
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