WITH his shaved head, slight beard, and a height of almost two meters, Aztyom looked like a giant. He carried a rifle, equipped with a scope, on his right shoulder. Besides the rifle, Aztyom wore a bulletproof vest wherever he went when battles raged between Russia and Ukraine. A folding knife was tucked into his vest, which had a patch with his blood type, AB+.

Aztyom was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1990. He has been a member of the Azov Regimen