Russian Neo-Nazi Video Is Real

The infamous Russian neo-Nazi beheading video, which can be found on this site here, along with a long post describing it and giving background to it, has long been rumored to be a fake . I never thought it was a fake, simply because faking such an act so well requires the facilities of an expensive movie studio. There is no evidence that these amateurs had access to such a studio.

However, new evidence has just emerged that the video is real and is not a fake, according to Russian law enforcement (LE). I figured as much. The Russian neo-Nazis are completely out of control; they assault and kill people all the time, and not a whole lot is done about them. It made sense that sooner or later they would take to the next level and commit a homicide on tape a la Al Qaeda and the insurgents in Iraq.

Kistaman Odamanov from Dagestan said that one of the men killed on the tape was her brother, Shamil U. Odamanov, 24. Her father, Umakhan, and her brother, Artur, along with other relatives, also recognized Shamil on the tape.

Shamil, from the town of Sultanyangiyurt in the Kizilyurtovskeyeo District of Dagestan, had gone to Moscow to find work, and possibly to find a bride, two years ago and had disappeared in March 2007. The video appeared in mid-August 2007.

Shamil was in touch with his family the whole time he was in Moscow, calling home every day while he worked as a laborer.

During phone calls home, he frequently complained of run-ins with skinheads who stalk people who appear to be immigrants in the low-income housing around Moscow. He called his father in late March 2007 to wish him a happy birthday. That was the last time anyone ever heard from him. He has not yet been found.

"It's not just that it looks like him, it is him, period," said Umakhan Odamanov.

In the video, Shamil was wearing the Adidas jacket and shirt given to him by his brother Artur. Shamil has been identified as the poor soul who is beheaded in the video. Another man, said to be a Tajik, is shot to death in the video. He has not yet been identified.

Raziyat is a neighbor of the Odamanovs.

"I knew him well; I saw him grow up. He was an ordinary boy. The children grew up without a mother; she got sick and died," Raziyat said. "There were nine children in the family. The father is a calm, balanced family man without any bad habits. They were very worried, they looked for him. His brother traveled to Moscow to search for him."

Russian LE made their determination that the video was real on Shamil's family's information and on re-analysis of the video.

Artur said that he was called to Moscow by Russian LE in April. They told him that they found the site where Shamil was killed, but that there was no evidence of murder there.

German LE is working with the Russians on this, implying a German neo-Nazi link to Russian neo-Nazis. Those who made the tape have not yet been found, and the "Tajik" in the video has not yet been identified, though he is probably a real person who was also killed.

Police are investigating several ultranationalists in connection with the video, but have not yet arrested anyone. The initial beautiful footage in the video, showing a small Russian town in the midst of a vast forest and large lake, has been identified as the Kaluzhskaya region near the city of Kaluga, 120 miles southwest of Moscow. The exact site where the killings took place has not yet been found. No bodies have been found either.

Please be careful if you wish to watch this video, as many people have been very upset by it.

It's not my purpose to litter this blog with all sorts of gore and nasty stuff, but in this case, the video was very topical, so I ran it.

Original source for this article was in Russian, if you can read it.

Photo from the Russian article. My copy does not have nearly such good resolution. Email me if you can find me a better copy of this video.