Convicted criminal, notorious propagandist, genocidal extremist and paramilitary fighter Maxim Fomin, whose nom de guerre was Vladlen Tatarsky, was assassinated in St. Petersburg on the evening of the 2nd of April 2023. He was killed with a bomb that was hidden inside a statuette of himself, which he was given at a Russian ultranationalist cafe, which is owned by the founder and financier of Russia’s pseudo-mercenary “private military company (PMC)” Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and hosts meetings of an ultranationalist propagandist organisation, Cyberfront Z.
Maxim Fomin / Vladlen Tatarsky
Makiivka, Donetsk, Ukraine-born, Russia-naturalised Fomin/Tatarsky is a convicted armed robber, who was imprisoned for twelve years for bank robbery in 2011. He escaped after Russia invaded Ukraine and occupied the territory of the prison in 2014, was reimprisoned, was “pardoned [помиловал]” and released by the leader of the proxy forces of the occupying administration of the “Donetsk People’s Republic”, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, then joined those forces.
Maxim Fomin with his injured arm in a bloody bandage and a sling.
Maxim Fomin in military uniform, with a rifle, leaning on a tank.
The front of a church, which was damaged in Russia’s war in Ukraine, but which was photographed and published by Maxim Fomin, as part of a Russian Orthodox Christian line in a Russian nationalist propaganda campaign.
Seemingly, between 2014 and 2017, Fomin/Tatarsky was “a fighter of the Vostok formation of the DPR group [Боец формирования «Восток» группировки «ДНР»]” or “a fighter of the Vostok battalion of the DPR [боец батальона «Восток» (ДНР)]”, which was under the ultimate command of DPR Field Commander Igor Bezler. Between 2017 and 2019, he served as an intelligence agent of proxy forces of the occupying administration of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), as well as a propagandist who collaborated with a fighter for the Wagner Group. Between 2019 and 2021, he was a full-time propagandist in Moscow. By late 2021, he had returned to the eastern front; during that time, he visited Cossack fighters.
A Russian imperial flag in a Cossack fighters’ dugout in Ukraine, which was photographed during a visit by Maxim Fomin.
Fomin/Tatarsky was a Russian ultranationalist who wished for the genocide of the Ukrainian nation. On the 17th of January 2022, just five weeks before Russia’s intensification of its invasion, he called for a ‘final solution [окончательное решение]’ to the Ukraine question and wished that it had been done in 2014. On the 30th of September 2022, he insisted: “We will defeat everyone, we will kill everyone, we will rob everyone that we need to. Everything will be as we like. Let’s go, with God. [Всех победим, всех убьем, всех, кого надо, ограбим. Все будет как мы любим. Давайте, с богом.]” On the 2nd of April 2023, the day he died, he argued that Russia was waging “a Holy War against the Antichrist in Ukraine [Священной Войны против антихриста на Украине]”.
![Shortly before Russia's intensification of its invasion of Ukraine, Maxim Fomin stood with a rifle and called for a 'final solution [окончательное решение]' to the Ukraine question.](https://conflictantiquities.files.wordpress.com/2023/04/vladlen-tatarsky-2022-russia-ukraine-illicit-antiquities-trade-metal-detecting-220117-ru.png)
Shortly before Russia’s intensification of its invasion of Ukraine, Maxim Fomin stood with a rifle and called for a ‘final solution [окончательное решение]’ to the Ukraine question.
Fomin/Tatarsky was interested in Viking antiquities, Slavic antiquities and (unsurprisingly) military equipment. However, there is no available evidence that he was an antiquities collector, let alone an artefact hunter.
Some of Maxim Fomin’s likes on vKontakte, including Slavic antiquities.
Some of Maxim Fomin’s likes on vKontakte, including Viking antiquities and military equipment.
Metal detectors, mine detectors and the contribution of artefact hunters to the war effort
One of Fomin/Tatarsky’s concerns was the inadequacy of Russia’s forces’ training in mine clearing and equipment for demining. On the 31st of March 2023, he argued that it was one of the “decisive factors [решающих факторов]” in Russia’s failure to destroy Ukraine. Notably, on 7th August 2021, he had posed for photographs with mines, mine components and mine detectors.
A Russian fighter, who is or was photographed by Maxim Fomin, who is using a metal detector to sweep for land mines in Syria.
Maxim Fomin, sitting with land mines and mine components.
Maxim Fomin, standing with land mines, mine components and metal detectors for artefact hunting that have been supplied for mine detecting.
Maxim Fomin, in military uniform with a rifle, looking at a land mine on the front line of Russia’s war in Ukraine, complaining that Russia’s forces do not have adequate training in mine clearing and equipment for demining.
As is shown more expansively in research that I am in the process of publishing, there are numerous connections between artefact hunters and the war effort, from supply of equipment, to participation in demining and looting during demining, to participation in fighting. For instance, as documented by Bellingcat, a unit commander under the Bezler Group in the separatist Donbass People’s Militia, Igor Ivanovich Ukrainets (also known as Minyor), who is associated with those who are responsible for the shooting-down of Flight MH17, has been photographed in civilian clothes with a metal detector.
Igor Ivanovich Ukrainets, with a metal-detector over his shoulder, as documented by Bellingcat.
As documented in my own research, there is an organised group of artefact hunters in the occupied territories of Donetsk oblast, who include fighters for the Cossack National Guard (Казачья Национальная Гвардия) of the internationally-sanctioned Great Don Army or Great Don Host (Всевеликое войско Донское). Their slogan is “GOD is with us / For Faith, Don and Fatherland [С нами БОГ / За Веру, Дон и Отечество]”.
Artefact hunters in the occupied territories of Donetsk oblast, in military camouflage, bearing the flag of the Cossack National Guard of the Great Don Army or Great Don Host. The slogan on the flag reads, ‘GOD is with us; For Faith, Don and Fatherland’. The image has been edited to prevent the tracing of its original publication.
Whether the devices in Fomin’s photos were used devices that had been donated by artefact-hunters or new devices that had been bought in order to be donated by crowdfunding artefact-hunters, whether they were supplied by personal contacts or ideological supporters, the mine detectors were actually generic metal detectors, such as a Garrett AT Pro, which is advertised as “bring[ing] hunted-out [severely-depleted archaeological/historic] sites back to life” in terms of productivity of finds, and a Quest pinpointer that was still in its box. There appeared to be hand-built, home-made metal-detectors as well. So, Fomin’s propaganda reaffirms the existence of connections between artefact hunters and the war effort.
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