This article was made possible by Varisverkosto and reviewed by Panic
The Background
Thanks to an anonymous online leak of data and materials from influential Neo-Nazi website Iron March (where the white supremacist terror groups Attomwaffen Division, Vanguard America, and National Action formed), we begin to the work to identify hundreds of organized Neo-Nazis who seek to operate on a global scale. Jewish Worker has kindly simplified the process by creating an easy to use online platform to navigate the large database of leaked information. You may navigate to it here.
Iron March moderator “Myrrysmies” has been identified as Leonid Mihaljov whose last known residence is in Helsinki, Finland. He has gone by the aliases Myrrysmies, Kombat-Unit, Deathwisher, Torture-Device, and Leo among others. Few are aware that one of the most infamous Neo-Nazi terrorist organizing websites Iron March had its beginnings in DeviantArt. The most prominent founding members, Alisher “Alexander Slavros” Mukhitdinov, Benjamin Raymond of the now-banned National Action, and Mihaljov all posted Nazi propaganda on the site and bonded over their shared interests. Leonid was a moderator for going on six years.
Leonid was perhaps most blatant of the three, posting about his admiration of fascist terrorists and his love of torture, misogyny and sadomasochism as he burned through several accounts to evade his suspensions for hate speech, hence the myriad of aliases. Leonid has made vile artwork honoring Neo-Nazi terrorist Anders Breivik and Neo-Nazi serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin.
On Iron March, Mihaljov divulged many details of his life. In late 2015, he joined the Finnish section of the Nordic Resistance Movement, the most notorious Nazi group in Scandinavia, responsible for bombing refugee centers and for murdering antifascist Jimi Karttunen in 2016 in Helsinki, the home town of Mihaljov.
Mihaljov appears fluent in Finnish, English, and Russian. He has scanned and translated Russian Nazi propaganda by Severin Dobrovolski together with Slavros. Although Leo is last known to be residing in Finland and has been active in the local Nazi community, Mihaljov is the grandson of Russian refugees from what is now the Republic of Karelia in the Russian Federation. He has also admitted to some Latvian heritage on DeviantArt. He discusses his Russian heritage on Discord as well, in the now defunct Traditionalist Worker Party’s servers.
Despite of being member of the Nordic Resistance Movement which advocates “clean, drug free Aryan living”, Mihaljov has written extensively of his use of psychedelics, opiates and stimulants. Mihaljov is intensely fascinated and involved with occultism, Nazi esotericism and the local National Socialist black metal scene.
His ideology on Iron March is listed as “Jackboot shamanism” which is a reference to esoteric fascism & its promises to achieve metaphysical returns for practicing fascist religiosity and taking psychedelic drugs. The jackboot, of course being the military footwear of choice for the Nazi regime during World War II. The Order of Nine Angles (ONA), which has made a significant presence in Iron March and later in Atomwaffen Division, promises that an “Aryan” society will colonize the Milky Way. It advocates a spiritual path in which the practitioner is required to break societal taboos by isolating themselves from society, committing crimes, embracing political extremism and violence, and carrying out an act of human sacrifice [source].
Leo is a rampant misogynist and his art frequently displays graphic depictions of violence against femme bodies. His photo bucket account is a good example of that, which is now archived here. (Content warning: Violence, gore)
The Trace
His aliases began to link quickly thanks to this message.
From there, his DeviantArt profiles were quickly discovered (CW: violence, gore, misogyny, rape) [source 1, source 2]. If there was any doubt, Kombat Unit and Myrrysmies both talk in length about their love of Nazism and Harsh Electro and Nazi Black Metal.
The deviant art profiles of Kombat Unit and his alias Torture device are further connected by his references to his older alias on newer posts on his Photobucket account.
Leonid is a prolific poster on Nordic Resistance Movement’s website, writing comments such as these.
The piece of evidence that ties Myrrysmies, Kombat Unit, and Torture Device to Leo as well as Leonid Mihaljov is the leak of the Nordic Resistance Movement’s address data for who bought NRM gear in 2016 [source]. Remember that Myrrysmies is part of the Finnish branch of the Nordic Resistance Movement by his own admission, and is of Russian descent. Looking through these leaks, we find only one Russian name among the leaks that resides in Helsinki – Leonid Mihaljov aka “Leo” on NRM’s website, where he posts frequently about Russia.
Additional research by Finnish antifascists states that Leo’s father is also a Neo-Nazi who signed up to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon to kill brown people and communists, and often told the adolescent Leonid stories of killing locals during the Lebanese Civil War. Some fascists are raised into white supremacy and Neo-Nazi values, others are attracted to it after a long period of radicalization. In the case of Leo, it is both having been surrounded by years of fascist propaganda, as well as growing up with a terrible father.
If you have any information about the fascist in this article, other fascists on Iron March or other fascists in general, including additional tips, please send them to panicinthediscord@riseup.net or DM them to @discord__panic on Twitter.