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Editor’s notice: Vladislav Gillung formally modified his title to Vladislav Romanov in his twenties. Though the primary recorded use of him as Romanov is from the interval between 2020 and 2022, we are going to discuss with him as such all through many of the story for consistency.
In September 2019, a 21-year-old man named Vladislav Gillung registered as a candidate for Russia’s municipal elections within the metropolis of St. Petersburg.
Tweets by the previous marketing campaign chief for the anti-corruption activist and opposition candidate, Alexei Navalny, present that Gillung was trying to run as a part of the motion opposing Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
The native electoral committee refused his candidacy. Nevertheless, solely weeks later, he appeared to have switched sides as he attended an occasion for the pro-Putin United Russia occasion.
Vladislav Gillung has since modified his title to Vladislav Romanov and have become near Rusich, a neo-Nazi paramilitary group that’s below western sanctions. Rusich members have been accused of, and co-founder Yan Petrovsky convicted of, battle crimes.
An investigation by Bellingcat has tracked Romanov from these early days in St. Petersburg, discovering that he seems to have assisted in Rusich’s fundraising and enterprise actions. He has even been pictured close to the entrance line in jap Ukraine.
Romanov’s financial institution quantity has appeared in Rusich’s requires donations. On high of this, he’s listed because the individual promoting Rusich merchandise on a Russian webstore.
The cash Rusich makes in these ventures helps fund its operations, in response to specialists Bellingcat spoke to.
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When Bellingcat reached out to Romanov by way of e mail, he mentioned that he joined Navalny’s motion as a result of he “wished to enter politics and signify the pursuits of society”. He additionally acknowledged serving to run Rusich’s on-line retailer however denied working for the group. “I don’t work with Rusich. They only requested somebody with expertise and schooling to take over their retailer, and I helped them out with out pay. I don’t see something particular about it,” Romanov mentioned. There isn’t a suggestion that he has been instantly concerned within the violent actions different members of the group have been accused of or discovered responsible of, nor has he been positioned below worldwide sanctions or been accused in any legal circumstances associated to the group.
Denis Mikhailov, a Navalny marketing campaign chief for the 2019 municipal elections, mentioned that he recalled Romanov. Mikhailov informed Bellingcat that Romanov was a “reserved and well-mannered man”, who “all the time listened greater than he talked”.
However it quickly grew to become obvious after the elections that their views differed on plenty of topics. “We talked about Ukraine, and he expressed that he sympathises with the so-called LPR/DPR,” breakaway areas of Luhansk and Donetsk in jap Ukraine, Mikhailov mentioned.
Mikhailov has since left Russia as strain on these related to the now deceased Navalny (who was poisoned by Russian secret service brokers in 2020 and died in jail in 2024) has elevated. He was not conscious that Romanov had moved in direction of United Russia, however he mentioned he was not solely stunned by this flip of occasions. “I don’t keep in mind [Romanov’s] precise phrases, however, along with the subject of Ukraine, he mentioned one thing about Putin’s system being the one solution to construct a political profession.”
When requested why he left the opposition motion, Romanov informed Bellingcat that he “grew to become very upset within the concepts of Navalny and his staff”, as a result of they labored “to destabilise Russia”.
Simply two months after the 2019 municipal elections, Romanov was pictured at an occasion the place the branding of the youth wing of the United Russia occasion was clearly seen.
Romanov informed Bellingcat that he “was once a member of each the youth wing and the United Russia occasion itself”.
“I haven’t been a member for 3 years now, as politics not pursuits me. I favor my career” as a businessman, he mentioned.
The individuals he posed with on the occasion included Monika Pakhomi, a council member of St. Petersburg’s Izmailovskoe district. In response to the council’s web site and VK web page, Pakhomi was awarded a medal for her work supporting the occupation of Ukraine by the regional All-Russia Folks’s Entrance – an organisation below European Union sanctions. Pakhomi didn’t reply to requests for remark.
This picture allowed Bellingcat to seek for and establish additional footage of Romanov obtainable on-line.
One picture posted to Twitter, now often called X, confirmed him armed and alongside outstanding Rusich fighters, together with Yan Petrovsky (who has been convicted of battle crimes by a Finnish court docket) and the Russian nationalist politician, chairman of the Rodina occasion, Alexey Zhuravlev (at present below worldwide sanctions), within the previously occupied metropolis of Izyum in jap Ukraine. Bellingcat had beforehand reported on Zhuravlev’s journey to Izyum with out realising that Romanov had accompanied him there.
When Bellingcat requested him in regards to the journey, Romanov mentioned that he spent two days with Alexey Zhuravlev in Izyum, “to ship humanitarian support to the residents”, and the “LPR [Luhansk People’s Republic] fighters gave Alexey and me computerized weapons for a few images, and we took footage as a memento”.
He added that choice for the journey was dealt with by his college at the side of the Youth Parliament of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, which is why Zhuravlev was there.” Bellingcat sought to verify this with Romanov’s college, the St.Petersburg State College of Economics, however didn’t obtain a response earlier than publication.
“When requested if he ever fought in Ukraine, Romanov mentioned: “I by no means fought because of lack of coaching.” He additionally claimed that he “by no means joined Rusich”.
“Sadly, I’ve no navy abilities, so even when I wished to hitch, I couldn’t. I’m only a businessman,” he mentioned in messages over e mail.
Rusich’s Merchandise Man
Rusich is a paramilitary group that has been an energetic pressure in Russia’s battle in Ukraine. A number of of its fighters have been concerned in Wagner operations in locations like Syria, Libya, and the Central African Republic.
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One former commander and founding member, Yan Petrovsky, has been convicted of battle crimes by a Finnish court docket and one other, Alexey Milchakov, has been implicated in battle crimes.
The organisation and its leaders are below worldwide sanctions, and so are a few of its cryptocurrency wallets, however many individuals related to Rusich are nonetheless largely unknown to the general public. Vladislav Romanov was – till now – a kind of it seems has been working behind the scenes.
Within the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the group claimed to Meduza that it had an IT and a Monetary division that organised fundraisers and donations from supporters and was additionally energetic in cybercrime.
On April 2, 2024, Rusich posted a message on Telegram stating that it was funded solely by means of organised fundraising and promoting.
But they now additionally promote their very own merchandise as properly, together with protein powders, key chains and Alexey Milchakov sticker packs.
Jonathan Deer, who has researched Rusich on the New America suppose tank, informed Bellingcat it was frequent for Rusich to say, “‘We want XYZ and we’d like it on this quantity. We’re requesting that you simply both donate the merchandise itself or donate to us at this card quantity’”. Although this nonetheless occurs, Deer thinks requires donations have grow to be much less frequent.
Rusich runs its personal web site to help with merchandise operations, but it surely makes use of Ozon.ru, a Russian webshop, as properly. The vendor on the Rusich Ozon web page is listed as Vladislav Konstaninovich Romanov, with items shipped from St. Petersburg.
Bellingcat seemed for this title on-line and located 4 people in a leaked Alfa-Financial institution database (Alfa-Financial institution is without doubt one of the largest non-public banks in Russia, at present below EU and US sanctions).
Certainly one of these people was the proprietor of a card quantity ending in 1073. This identical card quantity, it transpires, appeared in messages from an outdated Rusich Telegram channel. Though that channel not exists, some messages have been archived on TGStat, a web-based analytics instrument for Telegram, comparable to this one from 2022.
Within the messages, benefactors have been instructed to donate utilizing crypto or to only switch cash to the Alfa-Financial institution card quantity that matched Romanov’s (ending in 1073).
A message on September 9, 2022, said Rusich had collected 900,000 Rubles (at the moment US $14,805). Two days later, they claimed to have obtained 1.2 million Rubles (then $19,740). Each messages record Romanov’s Alfa-Checking account because the place the place donations ought to be despatched.
It isn’t doable to know for positive what Rusich spent the cash on. However the September 9 message did say the unit wanted all kinds of kit.
The truth that an account itemizing Romanov’s particulars seems to be dealing with cash for Rusich suggests he isn’t just a “grunt”, mentioned Deer of New America. Different open supply data gathered by Bellingcat, in the meantime, tied his title to additional income producing tasks.
Cellphone Numbers and Contact Books
On June 9, 2025, the Rusich Telegram channel instructed individuals to contact an account named “rozzkr” for ad-related inquiries. Equally, messages despatched to the Rusich Telegram channel obtain an automatic response asking those that need to promote with them to contact rozzkr, their “supervisor”. Rozzkr seems to be related to certainly one of Romanov’s telephone numbers, which ends in 0663, and was seen in a number of leaked databases.
In response to the 2022 Yandex Meals knowledge leak, for instance, a Yandex Meals account with this title and quantity was utilized in December 2021.
The rozzkr Telegram account itself accommodates little element. It features a first title that consists solely of numbers, an anonymised profile image and a seemingly random location. The account proprietor additionally added a typical message for all empty chats: a picture of Alexey Milchakov in camouflage uniform and a few accompanying textual content that claims it prices 100,000 Rubles to position an advert of their Telegram channel.
Value data from the rozzkr account is in line with what Rusich posted on Jan. 27, 2024, the place they mentioned the cash could be used for the group’s wants.
Romanov informed Bellingcat that the quantity ending in 0663 was “certainly an outdated telephone quantity registered” to him. However he mentioned that in “round 2017-2018” certainly one of his “acquaintances” requested to borrow his SIM card to register a piece Telegram account. “Judging by all the pieces, that is the one,” he mentioned, including that he didn’t know that “this quantity was nonetheless energetic” and that he had no thought “who at present owns the @rozzkr account on Telegram”. Bellingcat tried to name the quantity and it did now seem like inactive.
Romanov didn’t share who he gave the SIM card to or element why or how the telephone quantity continued for use in his title after 2018.
Different leaks additionally present a Vladislav Konstantovich Romanov offered the identical telephone quantity to a Russian courier service (CDEK) in 2021 and 2022.
Apparently, Bellingcat additionally observed on the Sherlock Telegram bot that one other quantity linked to the rozzkr account was used for cell banking by somebody named Vladislav Konstantinovich R – this aligns with Romanov’s first title, patronymich and the primary letter of his surname.
Bellingcat requested Romanov in regards to the second quantity linked to the account and known as the quantity itself. The quantity appeared to now be disconnected and Romanov didn’t reply to additional questions on this earlier than publication.
Leaked knowledge from ZAGS (ЗАГС), Russia’s civil registration, exhibits that Gillung legally modified his title to Romanov. Romanov mentioned his dad and mom divorced in his childhood and that Gillung is his mom’s surname. He determined to tackle his father’s surname “as is customary in Russia”.
Romanov can be instantly linked to Rusich-leader, Alexey Milchakov, by means of a telephone quantity each appeared to make use of a minimum of as soon as.
Milchakov exhibits up a number of occasions in a knowledge leak from the courier service, CDEK, usually utilizing a telephone quantity ending in 386. The identical quantity additionally seems with two different names within the CDEK leak: Anton Yakovlev and Vladislav Konstantinovich Gillung (Romanov’s earlier authorized title).
Romanov informed Bellingcat that “Alexey [Milchakov], an outdated acquaintance of mine, as soon as requested me to choose up a parcel for him when he was away.”
A Fb leak exhibits that Milchakov used that quantity to create his now-deleted Fb web page.
Folks utilizing Numbuster and GetContact, in the meantime, tagged the identical telephone quantity as belonging to Milchakov.
Contact ebook apps like these harvest knowledge from customers’ telephones and have been utilized in many investigations, comparable to Bellingcat’s Berlin Tiergarten assassination investigation (the place Numbuster and GetContact have been used) and the investigation into the demise of Colombian protestor, Lucas Villa (the place TrueCaller was used).
In Numbuster, certainly one of Romanov’s telephone numbers (ending in 663 and that he used for his Yandex Meals account) is tagged as “Vlad United Russia St. Petersburg Youth Politics”.
Requested how he met Milchakov, Romanov claimed that they met at a gun store in St. Petersburg when he was shopping for his looking rifle.
Bellingcat contacted Rusich earlier than publication to ask in regards to the particulars on this story however didn’t obtain a response.
Aiganysh Aidarbekova contributed to this report for Bellingcat.
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