H8Core is a Russian vogue model that sells clothes gadgets glorifying far-right ideology and the Russian mercenary group Wagner. Its merchandise – which embody t-shirts, caps and hoodies – have been cross-promoted on quite a lot of pro-Wagner and far-right Russian channels. They’ve even been held aloft by senior figures within the neo-Nazi Wagner paramilitary group, Rusich, which is presently underneath worldwide sanctions.
Whereas the folks behind the H8Core model have sought to make use of quite a lot of social media channels to advertise their wares, they’ve managed to maintain their identification secret – till now.
An investigation by Bellingcat can reveal {that a} former Wagner fighter named Roman Morin is behind H8Core. He’s additionally an admin of White Uncles in Africa, an brazenly racist Telegram group that, on the time of writing, has greater than 77,000 subscribers and promotes H8Core merchandise.
Bellingcat used varied social media posts and leaked Russian databases held on publicly accessible websites to establish Morin.
Whereas it’s well-known that far-right and white supremacist teams use vogue retail to fund their operations and unfold consciousness of their causes, there was far much less consideration paid to how Wagner affiliated teams make use of among the similar practices.
Based on Candace Rondeaux of New America, a US-based assume tank, a number of teams have begun to promote and promote pro-Wagner merchandise through the years.
Figuring out H8Core’s Admin
On Nov. 30 final yr, White Uncles in Africa shared an image on its Telegram channel of a person carrying a baseball cap and posing with a flag offered by H8Core alongside Alexey Milchakov (name signal: Serb) commander of the Rusich paramilitary group. The submit detailed how the person within the cap was delivering three “fight kits” to ‘Serb’ for the Rusich fighters.
Like Rusich, Alexey Milchakov is underneath worldwide sanctions. Former commander Yan Petrovsky is now going through a life sentence in Finland for battle crimes allegedly dedicated in Ukraine 10 years in the past. Each males have Wagner IDs, and at varied factors labored as contractors for the mercenary group, in keeping with Ben Dalton, a Program Supervisor at New America.
As Bellingcat got here to find, the person delivering the fight kits, with face blurred within the above picture, was Roman Vasilyevich Morin, 38, from Stavropol.
He first got here to Bellingcat’s consideration shortly after White Uncles in Africa launched their merch in collaboration with H8Core final summer season. Their t-shirts and different merchandise promote Wagner’s work in Africa.
Within the group’s messages, they instruct potential prospects to contact the H8Core admin known as “Uncle Roma” (quick for Roman).
At that time, Bellingcat didn’t know “Uncle Roma’s” actual title. But his previous accounts gave away numerous private data that confirmed “Uncle Roma” was Morin.
Firstly, his electronic mail handle is listed because the contact for H8Core’s YouTube web page.
H8Core: Racist Memes and T-shirts
H8Core was based in 2014 in keeping with Morin. VK.com posts recommend that H8Core began promoting neo-Nazi streetwear in Russian far-right outfitters or by means of their VK web page that very same yr.
Their VK.com web page has greater than 23,000 subscribers. Their Telegram channel is way smaller, with simply over 3,000 subscribers and was solely created in 2019.
Morin claims he isn’t motivated by cash, “H8Core isn’t enterprise, it’s a pastime,” he stated. He insists the clothes isn’t aimed toward neo-Nazis, however at “Russian patriots” and Wagner mercenaries.
In 2024, H8Core made a reputation for themselves within the pro-Wagner universe on Telegram. On Sept. 22, White Uncles began promoting black t-shirts with the phrase “Work & Journey”, a masked white man, a pick-up truck, and Africa printed on them.
Many extra promotional messages adopted the place they requested potential prospects to contact the H8Core admin for orders. These days, prospects should purchase their “merch” from Wildberries.ru, a Russian on-line retailer. Wildberries didn’t reply to our request for remark.H8Core and White Uncles got here to Rusich’s consideration. They even promoted H8Core merchandise on their very own Telegram channel, which has greater than 250,000 subscribers.
This similar electronic mail handle was utilized by Morin to register as a person entrepreneur with the Russian authorities.
Vendor data on the Russian on-line market, Wildberries.ru, appeared to substantiate that Morin was promoting White Uncles in Africa patches. The social INN quantity (the taxpayer identification quantity) matches the one discovered within the Russian firm register for H8Core and which lists Morin’s title and electronic mail handle.
Utilizing the leak aggregator intelx.io, Bellingcat discovered a number of databases (Burger King, Sportmaster) that hyperlink Morin to the identical electronic mail handle. The leaks additionally revealed his cellphone quantity and that he was born on Nov. 18.
The H8Core VK web page corroborated this by congratulating the admin and founder, “On-line Maskov”, on his birthday, Nov. 18.
A Masks Off Second
Though Morin blurred his face when delivering kits to Rusich, Bellingcat was capable of finding a media look the place he was absolutely unmasked.
Morin additionally goes by the names On-line Maskov and Andrey Maskov on VK.com and Instagram. He used the identical pseudonym when making an look on the TV present Liniya Zashchity in Might 2016. On the present, he spoke about his enterprise enterprise: staging fights for the amusement of wedding ceremony friends.
On this TV look, we get a transparent view of Morin’s face and a H8Core tattoo on his proper hand. Realizing what Morin seems like, it’s simple to identify him in older H8Core VK pictures and YouTube movies.
Bellingcat shared Morin’s full title with Future Frontlines, a programme of the US-based assume tank New America. They reviewed a dataset compiled from 164 leaked inner personnel information of the late Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s firm, Evro Polis and subsidiary corporations, courting from 2014 to 2021. Morin’s title seems within the information.
Bellingcat was then in a position to cross-reference the information as a result of Morin’s information included his date of delivery, cellphone quantity, passport quantity and private identifiers that Bellingcat already had.
Morin served in Libya in 2020 as a radiotelephone operator and “driver-operator” underneath the decision signal “deyatel” (деятель).
Based on his report, he served within the Russian Airborne Forces (VDV), which explains the tattoo “За ВДВ” (For the VDV) on his left hand. Whereas this tattoo is widespread amongst paratroopers, the font and elegance are likely to differ.
Morin, H8Core and White Uncles in Africa: A Shut Relationship
In a promotional message, White Uncles in Africa claimed that the H8Core “proprietor” was somebody they’d an extended and shut relationship with. In addition they claimed he was a “W-veteran”.
However open supply proof means that the H8core founder, Morin, is even nearer than they have been letting on.
White Uncles in Africa: Professional-Wagner Snuff
“White Uncles in Africa” is an brazenly racist, pro-Wagner Telegram group that, on the time of writing, has greater than 77,000 subscribers. Their posts characteristic torture, severed heads, alleged cannibalism, footage of Russian mercenaries and their allies combating Tuareg separatists, and recruitment messages for Russian males keen to combat in Africa.
Along with promoting H8Core clothes, they’ve lately begun providing uncensored variations of their graphic pictures for 500 Telegram Stars (Telegram’s fee system) monthly. As of the time of publication, Telegram hasn’t responded about whether or not this violates their Phrases of Service.
Some graphic movies are nonetheless accessible without cost. A video depicting the killing of a Syrian man by Wagner fighters is obtainable on their channel in its entirety. Based on Morin, this video made him be part of the Wagner group.
On the flip of the yr, a White Uncles admin shared a New 12 months’s message of their group. The person depicted was hiding his face, however there was proof that he was Morin. Regardless of making an attempt to blur his tattoos within the video, they missed a number of essential keyframes the place the tattoos on his hand have been seen. These seemed to be much like tattoos displayed by a masked determine in H8core and White Uncles in Africa social media pictures.
On Jan. 8, 2025, the White Uncles admin claimed to have been in Krasnodar for a live performance by the Russian steel band Aria. In addition they posted a Telegram story about it (which disappeared after 24 hours).
In direction of the tip of the video, the digital camera pans to the correct, and we see Morin, who’s once more identifiable by his tattoos, cheering and clapping.
On the identical day, the Uncle Roma account shared a number of movies of the identical live performance with Morin’s face once more on full show.
The Assembly with Milchakov
After unmasking “Maskov,” Bellingcat reached out to Morin through Telegram. We requested him in regards to the findings of our investigation.
He replied virtually instantly, admitting to giving the fight kits to Milchakov, being a Wagner member and serving in Libya. Morin claimed that H8Core had no neo-Nazi components and was not a enterprise however merely a pastime.
He stated he was impressed to hitch the Wagner group in 2020 after he noticed the notorious 2017 execution video of Wagner fighters torturing and killing a Syrian man. (WARNING: extraordinarily disturbing content material. For the unique articles by Novaya Gazeta, see right here and right here).“I’m an advocate of radical punishment for terrorism and I like justice,” he wrote to Bellingcat.
In Russian neo-Nazi circles, retail enterprise gained momentum after the video from Syria began circulating on-line.
“That’s after they actually began promoting patches, stickers, espresso mugs, and t-shirts. Fairly a number of [mercenaries] had companies promoting army memorabilia. Now, virtually everybody we have a look at has some kind of thriving retail enterprise, whether or not it’s t-shirts or espresso mugs,” defined Candace Rondeaux, Senior Director at New America.
As for why Morin and Milchakov met, and why Morin gave fight kits to Rusich, Candace Rondeaux believes White Uncles in Africa is making an attempt to “convey some sense of better credibility throughout the community. Milchakov doesn’t actually need credibility; he’s already confirmed himself”.
Based on TGStat, a website that gives statistics on Telegram channels, White Uncles in Africa went from 2,000 subscribers to greater than 77,000 over the course of a yr. Within the final month alone, they added greater than 2,000 subscribers.
“There isn’t a story in regards to the Wagner Group with out the web and social media. In some ways, the Wagner phenomenon is as a lot about battlefield and traditional army techniques as it’s about data warfare,” Candace Rondeaux advised Bellingcat.
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