Alexei Baranovsky is a Russian neo-Nazi who fled to Ukraine and became an assistant to former Russian MP Ilya Ponomarev there. Baranovsky [became](https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2011/04/08/6113-chto-takoe-pravozaschitnaya-organizatsiya-russkiy-verdikt-v-kotoroy-rabotala-volonterom-podsudimaya-hasis-i-kogo-ona-zaschischala) famous among nationalists in Russia for becoming a lawyer for the Nazis and defending their rights as part of the Russian Verdict human rights centre. This centre was founded in 2009 by nationalist Ilya Goryachev, subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment in 2015 for founding the terrorist group “Combat Organization of Russian Nationalists” (BORN), organising five murders (including the high-profile murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov), gangsterism and arms trafficking and sentenced to life imprisonment.
**Short bio**
Aleksey Baranovsky was born on 20 January 1981 in Smolensk. He worked as a journalist for various publications and assisted nationalist politicians. From October 2013 to March 2014, correspondent of Kommersant-Ukraine newspaper. Also published on the Ukrainian business portal Delo.UA.
Baranovsky was a member of several major nationalist groups. He has been a member of the Advisory Council of the Russian DPNI since 2008 and of the Central Council. Between 2005-2008, he was a member of the National Stalinist group Red Blitzkrieg (KB), where he was considered an “ideologue”. Baranovsky was also the spokesperson for Russian March 2006 and maintained a LiveJournal under the nickname soberminded, where he described himself as a Russian Nazi: “A Russian National Socialist is not someone who worships Pannevitz and/or Hitler, a Russian National Socialist is someone who actually DOES something for the Motherland, the race and the Nation”.
In 2005-2006, assistant to Nikolai Kuryanovich, a nationalist deputy in the State Duma. Spokesperson for the Russian March 2006. At the Congress of the Congress of Russian Communities in Moscow on 9.12.2006 he was elected to the Central Committee of “Rodina. The Congress of Russian Communities”. In 2007, he was an assistant to State Duma deputy Dmitry Rogozin.
During the investigation into the murder of the lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova, was interrogated as a witness. During a court hearing in the case on 5.04.2011, he stated an alibi (false) for the accused Evgenia Khasis, who was soon sentenced to life imprisonment together with Goryachev. Baranovskiy then reported that he was a suspect in a deliberately false statement. He was amnestied by the Preobrazhensky district court in Moscow on 23.06.2015 in connection with the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
**After moving to Ukraine**
At first, Baranovsky positioned himself as a journalist and lawyer. In June 2022, he [began](https://www.facebook.com/baranovsky.a/posts/pfbid01Gutwfx5uQXtQSEXk1rUfc1JALrgvtYqq74nt6aNYV26pw8bW7XtiAU7UpQNk3djl) appearing in videos on Ilya Ponomarev’s YouTube channel, February Morning. He became his assistant in all close quarters, including the congress of Russian MPs on 5 November near Warsaw, where Baranovsky acted as a spokesman.
