Is it true that a photograph from 1994 shows Dmitry Rogozin, “zagging for apartheid”?

Over the past few years, a photo has been circulating on social networks in which a man resembling the former head of Roscosmos makes a Nazi gesture at a racist rally. We checked whether the photo is really of young Dmitry Rogozin.

According to the most detailed caption to the photo, which mentions Rogozin’s name, we see a rally of nationalists against the abolition of apartheid at the South African embassy, ​​Moscow, 1994. The fact that it is Dmitry Rogozin in front of us has been confirmed by various sources and posts on social networks for about four years (2018 - Facebook, LJ, Cont.ws, Twitter, 2019— Twitter, 2020— "Odessa Courier", Politua, "All Kharkov", VK, 2021— "Bryansk news", 2022— "InfoViyska Ukraine", LJ).

In many sources, the photograph from 1994 is on a par with footage from a rally of Russian nationalists in 2007, at which, allegedly, Dmitry Rogozin also spoke. And indeed, a year earlier Rogozin recreated "Congress of Russian Communities", as well as entered to the public council for the preparation of the second “Russian March” - an event known for its nationalist slogans and subject to criticism, including from the authorities. Well, on April 14, 2007 on Bolotnaya Square on rally right-wing radical organizations under the slogan “Moscow is a Russian city,” Rogozin spoke out against the appearance of Kadyrov Street in the capital, warning that at this rate Kitai-gorod “will be called Chechen-aul,” and at the end of his speech he demonstrated a gesture similar to a zig (only with a closed fist), to which his comrades responded with a completely canonical zig:

Another right-wing rally with the participation of Rogozin took place in Moscow a little earlier, on January 28, 2007. Readers familiar with these facts quite naturally perceive the black and white footage of the 90s with Rogozin zigging. However, let's take a closer look at what we know about that rally.

Indeed, on March 22, 1994, members of the youth national-patriotic organization “Front of National Revolutionary Action” (FNRD, leader - Ilya Lazarenko) together with the Radical Right Party (leaders - former image makers Vladimir Zhirinovsky Sergei Zharikov and Andrey Arkhipov) picketed South African embassy, ​​protesting against the abolition of the apartheid system. In October 2018, when there was a wave of posts with a photo of the young Rogozin, the aforementioned Ilya Lazarenko responded with a post on Facebook, where stated: “For the third day there has been some kind of hysterical discussion of this photo on Facebook. Users think that Rogozin is wearing it! Well, that is, few people doubt it. However, I can assure you that the organizers and many participants in this action are still alive and know that there was no Rogozin there. Pictured here is a 1994 rally in support of Afrikaners at the South African Embassy. It was carried out by our “National Revolutionary Action Front” (FNRD) and the Radical Right Party of Sergei Zharikov. That year we established contacts with some Afrikaner organizations and even hosted one of their leaders in Moscow. Specifically, this guy in the photo is an ultra-right partygoer from Blanca, call sign Mayonnaise. Well, yes, he looks like Rogozin, the devil.”

In the comments, some of Lazarenko’s acquaintances confirmed that the photo shows a certain activist Ruslan, nicknamed Mayonnaise. Based on first-hand accounts, there is no doubt about this.

Now let's see what Dmitry Rogozin looked like in those years. Here he is in the mid-80s:

Here he is on Congress young political leaders in Moscow in March 1991:

And on the August putsch:

And here he is with General Alexander Lebed at congress "Congress of Russian Communities" in 1995:

As we see, in the first half of the 1990s, Dmitry Rogozin, who at the time of the picket at the South African embassy was already walking 31st year, looked much older than the guy in the photo, the author of which, according to some data, was the photographer Igor Stomakhin. In particular, this is noticeable by the bald spot on the front of the politician’s head, while the young man’s forehead is covered by thick bangs. In other words, all the facts indicate that this is not Rogozin.

Cover image: social media.

Not true

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