Investigation: Unmasking the anonymous hosts of 'Russians With Attitude,' a pro-war podcast popular with US far right

Editor’s note: This story is a collaboration between the Kyiv Independent and TUA Research, an independent OSINT group.

It's not uncommon for artillery soldiers to write messages on shells before firing them — for the sake of posting them online. They can be vengeful or mocking.

But one signed shell that Russians fired around August 2024 stood out as unusual. It promoted a podcast.

"Subscribe to 'Russians With Attitude'," read the message, scribbled across the shell.

Launched in 2020, "Russians With Attitude" ("RWA"), a podcast and social media project, has built a following among English-speaking right-wing audiences, predominantly in the United States. The project produces content on all things Russia, with a focus on history and politics, consistently framing events through an ultra-nationalist lens.

Despite their growing influence, the men behind the microphones have remained anonymous, known only by their podcast names — “Kirill” and “Nikolay.” They don’t appear on camera and avoid sharing personal details that could reveal their identities.

The Kyiv Independent has unmasked the anonymous creators of the “Russians With Attitude.” They are two ultranationalist Russian bloggers — one of whom has lived most of his life in Germany — who once openly fundraised for the Russian soldiers invading Ukraine but later scrubbed those posts from their channels.

This investigation led to the “RWA” podcast being pulled from Patreon, after the platform was shown evidence of the hosts’ activities.
The findings are backed by research from the independent OSINT and digital forensics group TUA Research, which compiled background research on the two men behind “RWA,” including social media posts and network links, and shared its findings with the Kyiv Independent. The Kyiv Independent independently verified the information and used it to build this investigation.

'RWA' podcast: Exporting Russian war rhetoric to the West

On their podcast, “Kirill” and his co-host “Nikolay” call for parts of Ukraine to be annexed by Russia, promote the idea of a “forced, hostile Ukrainian identity,” and advocate for the banning of the Ukrainian language.

"But I would just ban it. It’s just rude. I don’t know, it’s against basic human decency. This language, it’s an insult," "Kirill" said in a 2024 episode of “RWA,” as he struggled to pronounce the name of a Ukrainian town.

On the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, “RWA” posted an inflammatory text declaring that “the enemy deserves to be annihilated.”

Their commentary closely mirrors Russian propaganda talking points to justify what they term a “special military operation,” the euphemism the Kremlin uses to downplay the invasion and obscure its objectives. Russian authorities have penalized people who publicly call it a war.

“RWA” has distributed its episodes on major Western platforms, including YouTube, Patreon, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Gumroad, and Boosty. Although YouTube removed the channel in 2025 for violating community guidelines, the podcast continued to expand on Patreon, where it had around 5,600 followers, including around 1,100 paid subscribers, with many episodes behind a paywall.

According to their official Patreon page, the podcast offered membership tiers starting at €5.50 per month. Based on the subscriber numbers, this suggests that “Kirill” and “Nikolay” earned at least €6,000 per month from Patreon.

On X, the “RWA” account has over 422,000 followers, where the podcast’s messaging appears tailored to an American audience. Its profile describes the podcast as “navigating the globe-spanning American monoculture,” and in a May 2025 post, the account stated that the United States makes up its largest audience share, accounting for 27.6% of followers.

“RWA” has maintained an ongoing collaboration with Costin Alamariu, known online as “Bronze Age Pervert,” a prominent figure in U.S. far-right intellectual circles who has cultivated a following among misogynistic influencers.

Other episodes have featured Donbass Devushka, a former U.S. Navy noncommissioned officer who ran a pro-Russian account on X and reportedly shared leaked classified documents about the war in Ukraine; the late American pro-Russian blogger Gonzalo Lira; Alexander Dugin, the chief ideologue behind the worldview justifying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and widely regarded as “Putin’s brain”; and Sasha Meets Russia, a foreign influencer funded by Russia to promote a softer Kremlin image abroad.

The real identities of "Kirill" and "Nikolay"

The hosts were identified by tracing social media accounts, linked email addresses, and phone numbers, and cross-referencing them with biographical details they occasionally shared on the podcast.

The man known as "Kirill" has been identified as Kirill Kamenetsky, a Russian publicist and far-right activist who spent much of his life in Detmold, Heidelberg, and Hanover, Germany, before moving back to Russia in early 2025.

The investigation found that Kamenetsky used multiple X accounts over the years under several pseudonyms, including "Noetic_Pirate," "Fatalist_Rus," and "Kirill Kaminets." Under the name "Kirill Kaminets," he posted about launching the “RWA” podcast and said in an interview that he emigrated from Russia to Germany as a child.

Open-source tools revealed a connection between the "Kirill Kaminets" X account and an email address used in order records linked to an address in Detmold, Germany, under Kirill Kamenetsky's name. According to leaked Vapstore.de data, Kamenetsky ordered goods to that address. The building's architectural design appears to match a photograph of "Kirill Kaminets" that has circulated online since 2018.

The leaked delivery data also shows that Kirill Kamenetsky also used another email associated with his Google account, "Kirill K," to place orders in Detmold.

Additional locations linked to him, including a Burger King and a donut shop he reviewed on Google Maps under the account "Kirill K" in 2020, as well as a spot near a Star Tankstelle gas station where he was photographed before 2019, further indicate that he previously lived in Detmold.

Kamenetsky has a documented history in German and Russian far-right circles. A Swiss website lists his affiliation with the Burschenschaft Normannia Heidelberg fraternity, which was suspended following extremist and anti-Semitic incidents. A German Antifa website published a report including a leaked email allegedly sent by Kirill Kamenetsky in 2017, suggesting he held a leadership role in the group; the message listed his full name as the sender. The Kyiv Independent was unable to independently verify the document.

The "Kirill Kaminets" Telegram account has shared an image featuring neo-Nazi symbols and ultranationalist paraphernalia. In 2017, Kamenetsky was photographed in Germany holding a banner supporting the Trump–Pence campaign, reflecting his engagement with far-right movements beyond Europe.

He previously contributed to Sputnik i Pogrom, a Russian nationalist outlet that criticized the Kremlin for not being committed enough to separatist projects in Ukraine. In 2014, the publication backed Russia's annexation of Crimea and the seizure of parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts by armed pro-Russian forces.

Kamenetsky appears to have been residing in Germany and recording “RWA” episodes from there until 2025. On the April 2, 2025 podcast, “Kirill” said he returned to Russia after German police searched his home and seized his electronics over alleged “thought crimes.” According to statements by “Kirill” and “Nikolay,” the search likely took place between January and March 2025.

The second host, known online as “Nikolay,” has been identified as Eldar Orlov, a blogger from Yekaterinburg, Russia, who has been active in nationalist online communities for nearly a decade. This marks the first public disclosure of his identity.

As this investigation found, like Kamenetsky, Orlov used multiple accounts and aliases, most notably "pigdog," "paypigdog," "LibertarianPedo," and "diogen_tv." The latter account posted about launching the podcast with "Kirill."

A leaked 2020 Telegram database links the "paypigdog" account to a phone number registered under Eldar Orlov's name. That number is currently associated with a Telegram account under the username @pgd7779 and the name "N," suggesting a link to his pseudonym "Nikolay."

Other users saved this number as Eldar Orlov, according to a service disclosing how people write down contact names in their phone books. The same number was also used to order food delivery in Yekaterinburg under the name Eldar, and it is simultaneously linked to a Yandex account with the name “Nikolay.” In an interview given under the name “pigdog,” he also stated that he was from Yekaterinburg.

Orlov emerged as an anonymous online figure in English-speaking communities during the so-called "frogtwitter" movement around 2017, an alt-right subculture associated with Pepe the Frog imagery, nationalist politics, and meme-driven messaging. He later hosted the ROGPR podcast, which sought to import U.S. alt-right online strategies into Russian nationalist movements.

Before launching “RWA”, Orlov collaborated with "Kirill Kaminets" between 2018 and 2020 on another project, Diogen TV, which featured figures popular in online right-wing communities.

Orlov also worked closely with “Bronze Age Pervert,” translating and recording the Russian-language audiobook of his book Bronze Age Mindset, according to posts on Orlov’s former Telegram channel, Diogen TV. The project sought to introduce American alt-right ideas and strategies to revitalize the Russian far-right and ultra-nationalist movement.

Raising funds for sanctioned Russian military groups

Since 2022, both Kamenetsky and Orlov have used their Telegram channels, then active, to share fundraising appeals for Russian soldiers.

Kamenetsky did so on his channel, Kirill Kaminets [AKD], with AKD referring to the "Aristocratic Club Donbass," a network of St. Petersburg-based volunteers soliciting aid for the Russian war effort. Many of these individuals appear to be part of the growing "Alt-Z" movement. The bio of Kamenetsky's now-defunct channel said: "We are helping to supply Z fighters."

Archived versions of Kamenetsky's channel show that between 2022 and 2024, he posted donation requests for Russian soldiers, including bank account details for an unidentified person, and reported on the results of the fundraisers. Orlov amplified one of those efforts by resharing Kamenetsky's post on his Telegram channel, Diogen TV.

Even on the official “RWA” Telegram channel, they shared posts soliciting donations for Russian volunteers, asking people to donate via crypto. Archived versions show that all of these posts were eventually deleted, with most removed by early 2025.

Kamenetsky eventually deleted his channel. Orlov removed his fundraising post in January 2025, notably around the same time "Kirill's" home was reportedly raided by German police.

The posts supported Russia's proxy forces in occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and Rusich, a Russian neo-Nazi paramilitary group. All are under international sanctions. Since late 2022, the proxy forces in occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts have been integrated into the Russian army.

The Rusich unit, linked to Russia's Wagner Group, has a documented history of subjecting Ukrainian POWs to brutal treatment, including torture. Its Telegram channel has featured content showing decapitations, the humiliation of prisoners, and executions, openly defying the Geneva Conventions.

Since Kamenetsky only returned to Russia in 2025, the evidence suggests he may have donated cryptocurrency to the Rusich group from Germany, where the group is officially sanctioned.

In a January 2026 interview, "Kirill Kaminets" said German police had opened a criminal case against him "for supporting the terrorist organizations of the DPR and LPR." According to him, authorities acted because he had been reposting fundraisers for humanitarian aid. But the posts identified by this investigation suggest some of the fundraisers were intended to purchase military equipment for Russian units.

On the podcast “Nonzero” with Robert Wright, "Kirill" said he had been closely involved since 2014 with people active in Donbas on both the humanitarian and military sides.

Patreon bans podcast following Kyiv Independent request

Until recently, “RWA” had an active account on Patreon with 5,600 followers, including 1,100 paying ones.

Patreon's Community Guidelines prohibit works that "praise, support, or represent dangerous organizations or affiliated individuals." Still, the podcast remained on the platform from 2021 until March this year.

Only after the Kyiv Independent’s inquiry, which included evidence of the hosts' fundraising for the Russian military, the platform removed the “Russians With Attitude” account on March 27. Orlov and Kamenetsky's personal accounts, Diogen TV and Kirill Kaminets, were also removed.

"Kirill" and "Nikolay" lashed out at Patreon’s decision, claiming it was punishment for their criticism of the war with Iran, and announced a relaunch on Substack, an American platform where all episodes would be hosted. As of March 31, their Substack page already had over 5,000 subscribers — but there is no way to know how many of them pay.

They also said they’re now using another American platform, Gumroad, as “RWA”’s primary page for podcasting.

“We’re not giving up. Русские не сдаются (Russians don’t surrender), as you’ve certainly heard,” they wrote on X.

The Kyiv Independent has contacted Substack, Gumroad and Boosty, seeking an explanation for why the podcast continues to operate openly on these platforms. The platforms haven’t responded by the time of publication.

The Kyiv Independent also reached out to Kamenetsky and Orlov to comment on the findings. Kamenetsky declined our call. When we texted him to ask for a comment about the podcast, he replied with a mocking GIF and deleted the chat minutes later. Orlov also deleted the chat and altered his username.

Following the Kyiv Independent's inquiry, Orlov's wife, Darya Orlova (Ryabova), who, according to her Facebook page, works as a correspondent for the Russian outlet URA.RU, locked down her Telegram account and removed her profile pictures.

Nationalist and alt-right rhetoric under Kremlin influence

Both Kamenetsky and Orlov have preserved their anonymity for years, likely because of fear of repression within Russian nationalist circles, a TUA researcher who monitors “RWA” told the Kyiv Independent.

“Kirill and Eldar seem aware they could be seen as outsiders in Russian nationalist circles — Kirill having lived in Germany, and Eldar’s Turkic ancestry, which he appears to partly conceal,” he said.

The researcher also noted that Kamenetsky’s support for internationally sanctioned entities while living in Germany, as well as a criminal case opened by German police following these activities, may explain why he and Orlov deleted their fundraising posts from social media.

While Kamenetsky and Orlov openly support Russia’s war in Ukraine, they have also criticized the Kremlin for not acting sooner, arguing a full-scale invasion should have begun years earlier.

“I personally believe that it is ethically correct, the military intervention. But Putin has been very opposed to actually intervening militarily in Ukraine for eight years,” “Kirill” said in 2023 on the podcast “Nonzero,” hosted by Robert Wright.

This criticism of Putin is common among Russian nationalists, including war correspondents and Z-bloggers, many of whom have pushed for a more aggressive campaign and greater bloodshed in Ukraine, Jussi Lassila, a senior research fellow in the Russia, EU's Eastern Neighborhood and Eurasia research programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, told the Kyiv Independent.

Lassila studied Sputnik i Pogrom, where Kamenetsky previously worked, and noticed a pattern.

“They were sharing this extremely aggressive attitude advocating for the total annihilation of Ukraine, and a complete fascist-style rhetoric, while remaining highly critical of Putin,” he said.

At the same time, after the outbreak of Russia's war in Donbas in 2014, and even more so after the full-scale invasion in 2022, Russian nationalists increasingly adopted the Kremlin's traditional imperial narrative as authorities sought to use them for state purposes.

“What we have seen are constant attempts by the Kremlin to co-opt them and grant them more official access. Some have become much more loyal than they previously were, while others have been repressed,” Lassila said.

Projects like Sputnik i Pogrom and the “RWA” podcast resemble the internet-driven U.S. alt-right movement that supported the presidency of Donald Trump. They share provocative rhetoric and distrust of evidence-based knowledge, often portraying mainstream narratives as partisan distortions or conspiracies that threaten traditional national values.

The “RWA” hosts’ presentation as “wise white male nationalists” reflects an overtly intellectual, almost aristocratic self-image shared by many Russian nationalist online bloggers, setting them apart from American alt-right tendencies.

Lassila said he saw the same posture at Sputnik i Pogrom.

“When I did some interviews with them, there was a clear purpose to be a true kind of aristocrats and elite, and separating themselves from the common people, which is, unfortunately, a common feature for many Russians,” he said. “This is maybe one of the problems for the Russian opposition and political movements that there is no genuine interest towards the common people.”

This posture of intellectual superiority extends into the online activity of “Kirill” and “Nikolay,” where nationalist messaging is adapted for international audiences and monetized through foreign platforms.

As this investigation shows, openly supporting Russia’s war efforts does not prevent Russian bloggers like Kamenetsky and Orlov from generating income through American platforms — or continuing to influence audiences.

Sanctions are one tool for limiting that influence. The European Council has recently sanctioned additional pro-Russian influencers accused of spreading propaganda and conspiracy theories.

“EU sanctions provisions stipulate that Russian propagandists who promote support for the war in Ukraine can be targeted with sanctions. The U.S. also has this option, but for more than a year, America has hardly used sanctions tools against Russia,” Roman Steblivskyi, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Economic Security Council of Ukraine (ESCU), who focuses on sanctions, told the Kyiv Independent.

Note from the author:

Hi, this is Linda, the author of this story.

Working on this investigation was a reminder of how little we often know about the people shaping conversations online. In a space with so little safeguarding, where anonymity makes it easy to build influence without accountability, it’s important to look more closely at who is behind the microphones, what they believe, and what influences the influencers.

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