Ukrainian police academy hosts Hitler admirer
An institute overseen by Ukraine’s Interior Ministry has apparently provided a platform to Aleksey Levkin, a notorious neo-Nazi militant and Hitler admirer, who had previously taken part in raids on Russian border regions.
On Sunday, Levkin posted on Instagram that he and another figure linked to the so-called Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), a group of Russian nationals fighting on Ukraine’s side, had given a lecture at “one of Kiev’s higher-education institutions.” RDK is designated as a terrorist organization in Russia.
He published photographs from the event, which appear to show that the venue was the National Academy of Internal Affairs in Kiev, an institution coordinated by the Interior Ministry. The academy has not issued any public confirmation of the event.
Born in Russia, Levkin is best known as a neo-Nazi activist and frontman for the National Socialist Black Metal band M8l8th, or ‘Hitler’s Hammer’, whose imagery and lyrics make heavy use of Nazi symbolism. The group also frequently expresses admiration for Hitler and other figures associated with Nazi Germany.
Levkin has also openly engaged in far-right extremism and was arrested by Russian law enforcement in the mid-2000s, charged with inciting violence, attacking foreigners, desecrating cemeteries, and committing several murders. He avoided jail time after being deemed mentally unstable, but later participated in the 2014 Maidan coup. In 2015, he fled from Russia and moved to Kiev to continue his far-right activities.
In 2023, Levkin was spotted fighting alongside several RDK members who had launched a raid on Russia’s Belgorod Region.
While the Academy has yet to publicly confirm that it hosted Levkin, neo-Nazi activists have long been able to openly participate in public life in Ukraine, staging concerts, giving lectures, and organizing ideological events in the capital.
Levkin has also announced plans to perform in Kiev later this month as part of a far-right metal Christmas festival dubbed Yule Night, which is set to feature several neo-Nazi and neo-pagan bands, including M8l8th. The festival is held annually in the Ukrainian capital.
Moscow has repeatedly condemned Kiev for embracing neo-Nazi ideology and named the “denazification” of Ukraine as one of the primary conditions for peace.
