In 2022, the section of the International Workers Association in the region of Russia called for a boycott of the provocateurs, Anatoly Dubovik and Alexander Kolchenko. The statement said:
“The latter means that these fake anarchists, by publishing the addresses of anti-war activists located in Russia, are directly inciting Russian secret services and nationalist thugs against them, as opponents of the war, in order to deal with them with their hands! In the conditions of ongoing harassment, dismissals, threats and physical repression against anti-military-minded people in Russia, such actions are tantamount to real denunciation with a direct indication of whom the repressive forces should turn their attention to.”
It is now necessary to reiterate this issue. The snitches Kolchenko and Dubovik continue to be given space while their intrigues are concealed or downplayed. Both continue to organize support for the Ukrainian State in the name of anarchism, and others provide media space for their war propaganda. Specifically, these include Ondrej Slačálek (1) in the academic journal Kontradikce, the Anarchist Federation website, the Belarusian website pramen.io (2) and the Russian-language website avtonom.org. Kolchenko and Dubovik are denouncing our anarchist comrades in the region of Russia, therefore they deserve contempt. Slačálek, the editors of afed.cz and others who uncritically support the denunciators must all accept the consequences.
For those who are not yet familiar with the context, here are some important facts. Kolchenko and Dubovik made use of doxing, i.e. the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about anarchists who, in times of war, oppose a State that applies an aggressive war policy. Anarchists obviously oppose all States that engage in war. It must be taken into account that at the same time as the Russian State is invading Ukraine, it is also cracking down very harshly on any anti-militarist criticism and activity. Those who were relatively “safe” to declare their anti-militarist position in Russia before the outbreak of the war are now, for security reasons, expressing their position covertly. The risk for open anti-militarism is now too great, and people are ending up in jail for even just standing with an anti-war picket in a public place.
In wartime, Kolchenko and Dubovik broke the anonymity of the anarchists and deliberately used doxing as a means to expose them to harassment or legal sanctions by the State. After the information about the doxers’ activities was disseminated, they attempted to deny everything. The article “Lies are being spread about Ukrainian anarchist Anatoli Dubovik” was precisely intended to do that. However, shortly after its publication, evidence was presented. It turned out that there was an attempt on the part of the denunciators to cover their tracks by falsifying the content of the history of posts on the Facebook profile. The editors of Autonomous Action first retracted the article, and it was clear from a brief comment that the reason for the retraction was that the original text had proven the guilt of Dubovik and Kolchenko. Later, however, even this justification was replaced on the website by another. However, this is so vague that a person without knowledge of the context can hardly understand what actually happened. The original article is replaced by the following text:
“This blog has been retracted as it included erroneous results of an investigation due to technical issues with the Facebook. Eventually all the contents had to be removed because they could gain access to some personal information. Apologies to everyone involved.”
By the way, the context is well illustrated by the post in the discussion below this statement:
“You are lying. We can all see that the comment has indeed been edited as well check its edit history, where we easily see that Dubovik has indeed been doxing people.”
One thing is sure. Certain structures are consciously engaging in war, defending the Ukrainian State and reproducing NATO’s war propaganda. According to the logic of “those who are not with us are against us”, they are ready to jointly destroy their opponents in the anarchist milieu. These people are open to side with anyone who says the same things about the war as they do, even if it means siding with denunciators.
History is replete with examples of how revolutionaries deal with denunciators and their accomplices. Snitches must expect that there may be a strong response.
Anti-Militarist Initiative [ AMI ], April 2024
Notes:
(1) We mention Slačalek specifically because he was the one who pushed for the publication of the texts by Dubovik and Kolchenko in Kontradikce, despite the criticism of his colleagues. Although he claims that he did not know about the activities of the informers before, he continues to defend the provision of space for their voices. Among other things, he said: “(…) This enquiry is not a political act, but an attempt at a cognitive procedure of a professional journal, although certainly a journal with a certain profile. So, yes, under certain circumstances I can imagine that I would address people with an even more unacceptable profile to the enquiry of such a journal (…)”.
(2) Pramen.io, for example, published the following text, which quotes Dubovik as a relevant source without any critical reflection: Vadim Damier’s Myth of “Classical Anarchist Internationalism” https://pramen.io/ru/2023/08/otvet-na-tezisy-vadima-dame-o-vojne-mezhdu-ukrainoj-i-rf/ (published on 21/08/2023)