Aleksey Makarov is a Ukrainian soldier in a unit of foreign volunteers. He believes that a Ukrainian win will ignite a Russian revolution, leading to the eventual overthrow of Putin’s regime.
Note: This article was based on an interview with Aleksey Makarova by Russian media Mediazona. It was translated into English by the Russian anti-Putin group Civic Council. They recruit Russians to fight with the Ukrainian Army or for resistance in Russia. .
Aleksey Makarov (also known as Shved, the Swede) is a Russian who has been fighting against the Russian Army in Ukraine since 2022.
Born in Moscow, in 1988, he is a leftist and anarchist who believes that a victory in Ukraine will spark a Russian revolution that can topple Putin’s regime.
Aleksey is an assault machine gunner with the Siberia Battalion. This unit was created in 2023, and consists of Russians, Yakuts and Buryats who serve in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Makarov was determined, when Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine began 2022 to join the Ukrainian Resistance. He left Sweden where he had lived for 11-years and came to Ukraine in order to fight the Russian army. Makarov’s call name, Shved, means “The Swede”. Despite not having any combat experience, he was in excellent physical condition thanks to his lifelong involvement with sports.
“I thought Putin was trying hard to negotiate with the West for some benefits. I didn’t think he would declare an invasion of full scale. He started it. I was in Sweden at the time everything began. Makarov said, “I searched for the possibility to go to Ukraine since the first hours of invasion.”
He originally planned to join an anarchist unit his friend Dima Petrov had created as part the Kyiv Territorial Defense. Makarov was approved to enter Ukraine but the unit refused to accept foreign volunteers. He joined the 95th Separate Polesian Air Assault Brigade in a volunteer capacity. Later, he was a member of the Siberia Battalion of Russian volunteers fighting for the Ukrainian army.
Makarov’s friend Dima Petrov, who died defending Ukraine from Russian aggression, continued Makarov’s vision to create an anarchist group in Ukraine and share anarchist ideas within the context of war.
Makarov stated, “I believe that participating in this war contributes towards the revolution’s emergence and the opportunity for us to realize our social plan.”
He imagines a post Putin Russia in which anarchists will actively work to create a society based upon principles of self-governance and social justice. This view also includes the destruction of the Russian police system which currently focuses its efforts on suppressing any form of dissent.
Makarov believes that the Russian invasion of Ukraine created a new context in which the Russian revolution could be fought. That is why he actively participates in the Ukrainian armed opposition.
“I believe and hope that I can bring the victory closer to me with my own hands. The victory of the Ukrainian Resistance will bring the Russian revolution closer. Currently, this is the main strategy and tactic. “If the circumstances change, our revolutionary struggle against Putinism will continue regardless,” he said.
Makarov, when asked if he has any problems interacting with Ukrainian soldiers or medical staff due to his Russian background said that he had no issues with his relationships with other injured soldiers and hospital staff.
Background
His activities in Russia
Aleksey Makarov grew up in Moscow, where he was born in 1988.
He was 18 when he became involved with radical leftist political movements.
* Vanguard of Red Youth is a communist youth movement that criticizes the Russian government, especially those policies that align with capitalist or neoliberal ideology. It was created to promote Marxist/Leninist ideologies among young people.
* The National Bolshevik Party was one of the largest opposition groups in early 2000s. It was against Putin. The NBP combined elements from far-left and extreme-right ideologies. It advocated for the establishment of “National Bolshevik State” that would be socialist and nationalist. In 2007, the Russian Supreme Court ruled that the party was extremist.
* He was imprisoned in 2006 for two years for a confrontation against a pro Kremlin youth group called Mestnye.
Makarov, who was facing further extremism accusations in Russia after the NBP had been declared an extremist group, decided to flee to Ukraine to avoid a second prison sentence in January 2009.
His activities in Ukraine
* He was a former member of the Ukrainian far right nationalist group Bratstvo. The organization is devoted to the idea of a Ukrainian National Revival and has strong anti-communist and anti-Western feelings.
* In 2010, he a was arrested and sentenced for over a year of prison in Odesa, because he already had a record of political activism. Makarov, for example, was involved in an incident involving a smoke-bomb at the Kyiv city council in 2008 organized Bratstvo to fight corruption in the Ukrainian Government.
* In 2011, he fled from Russia to Sweden with the assistance of human rights activists to prevent his extradition.
* He learned the language in Sweden and worked as a mailman, a loader and an employee of a center for information, among other jobs, until he arrived in Ukraine to fight against Russian aggression.
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