Night Wolves base, Dolná Krupá. (source: Jozef Jakubčo, SME)
“Stop right there, or I’m using my gun. Stop right there!” Jozef Hambálek addressed the threats to journalists from Radio Slobodná Európa (Radio Free Europe) in summer 2018.
The founder of the Slovak branch of the Russian nationalist biker gang Night Wolves did not like the sudden media attention focusing on an area near Dolná Krupá, a western Slovakia village near Trnava.
The area drew attention after aerial photos were published. They discovered that a shooting range was hidden behind two-meter walls and barbed wire, along with military equipment, including infantry fighting vehicles, deployed in the area.
Night Wolves base. (source: Jozef Jakubčo, SME)
Hambálek, who appeared at Bratislava's Slavín – a monument remembering fallen Soviet soldiers – in the company of Russian ambassador Igor Bratchikov only a day before Russian troops crossed Ukrainian borders, has been on the European Union (EU) sanctions list since July.
“They blocked all my accounts and cards,” complained Hambálek on social networks ever since.
In July, sanctions approved by the member states affected a Slovak and European Union citizen for the first time.
Now it is also possible that Hambálek will also lose access to the property he owns in the Czech Republic.
"The Financial Analysis Office is investigating the companies owned by Jozef Hambálek. So far, it has issued six orders, a preliminary step in the process of freezing of assets," Czech Television reported on Tuesday.
They helped Russian specialists in Crimea and Donbas
In the Czech Republic, Hambálek owns the Brno-based real estate company Simple McTrade and is director of the Zlín company Ekotherma fasteners, which deals in the wholesale of screws and other fasteners.
On his Facebook profile, the founder of the Slovak branch of Night Wolves complains about his "absurd inclusion on the list of sanctioned persons", then again about the "insidious silence and inaction of state authorities".
He claims that the reasons for sanctioning him, which are stated in the decision of the Council of the European Union, are not true and he does not understand why he is on the list.
The Council of the EU – the ministers of individual member states – states in the decision that Hambálek and his activities "materially or financially support actions that disrupt or threaten the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine."
The Night Wolves is a motorcycle gang considered to be an unofficial part of the Russian army. The gang has been proven to have cooperated with the army in the past. In 2014, the Night Wolves participated in the rapid occupation of the Crimean Peninsula alongside Russian special forces. The gang later recruited volunteers as units of pro-Russian separatists who fought against Ukrainians in the Donbas.
Jozef Hambálek (on the right) during Chechnya visit posing with Night Wolves flag under portraits of Vladimir Putin and a two Chechnyan leaders Achmat Kadyrov and his son Ramzan. (source: Archive of Jozef Hambálek)
“Rossija” on the back, but without the wolf emblem
When reporter Ivana Svobodová from the Czech magazine Respekt managed to rech the area near Dolná Krupá four years ago, she noticed the details on Hambálk's motorcycle club vest.
"It's little different from the one worn by the Surgeon – a gang leader and Putin's close friend Alexander Zaldostanov," Svobodová noted.
Hambálek had "Rossija" written on his vest in Cyrillic letters, but the circular wolf emblem on his back was missing. "In the world of motorcycling, this means that he is not yet allowed to wear the so-called 'full colors' of the club. He is already a member, but so far only in trial mode. To obtain the wolf emblem, members must fulfil certain tasks for the club," noted Svobodová, and Hambálek confirmed the statement.
However, Hambálek did not want to talk about his relations with the Russian headquarters. "Everything takes time, I hope I'll earn my colors soon," he said. He then became angry when a photojournalist from the the Czech weekly magazine Respekt took a photo of him next to the Russian flag with tsar motifs, which is popular among the Night Wolves. Hambálek had it on display in the clubhouse of his complex.
"I want to be in the photo only with the Slovak flag, as a sign that I am a Slovak patriot," he explained the request to delete the previous photo.
In the stone age, Hambálek complains
"I lost the ability to deal with any movable and immovable property, the banks blocked all my accounts, cards, loans. I cannot pay for anything. Simply put, I found myself in the stone age," Hambálek said on Facebook at the beginning of August.
Additionally, the sanctioned businessman disseminates videos where is being defended by former prime minister and Smer chair Robert Fico, or Milan Uhrík, head of the extremist right-wing movement Republika.
Hambálek was also once supported by former Interior Minister for Smer, Robert Kaliňák, who knew him well.
"Unfortunately, we don't meet as often as I'd like. We all have different jobs and see each other only to a limited extent. I don't know what you want to define as friendship, but yes, we know each other very well," Kaliňák commented on his relationship with Hambálek in July 2018 in an interview for a Slovak daily magazine, Pravda.
The former minister trivialised the possible risks and threats connected with the presence of the Night Wolves in Dolná Krupá.
Russian state media wrote about European headquarters
In 2018, Alexander Zaldostanov pledged himself to the Slovak branch of the Night Wolves. Zaldostanov could not attend the opening ceremony of the "European branch" of the biker gang back then. At that time, he was already a persona non grata in making within the EU.
For example, Zaldostanov claimed that the Night Wolves wanted to have "just a small museum" in the village near Trnava, which "liberal Western media obsessed with Russophobia and infected by anti-Sovietism" are trying to prevent.
He described the Night Wolves branch in Dolná Krupá Zaldostanov simply as a "clubhouse".
However, other representatives of the biker gang spoke to the Russian state media about the establishment of their "European headquarters".
In addition, Hambálek let the paramilitary extremist organization and paramilitary group Slovenskí branci (Slovak Levies) train in this area, which he later admitted himself. The group ceased to exist not so long ago.
Former insemination station with tankodrome
In the decision of the Council of the European Union, it is stated beside Hambálek's name that the Slovak businessman "may be connected to President Vladimir Putin and other representatives of the Russian government."
Hambálek admits to one personal meeting with Putin, which took place at a motorcycle rally in 2017. The head of the Kremlin shook his hand, also captured in a photo that Hambálek makes no secret of.
Jozef Hambálek (on the right) shaking hands with Vladimir Putin. In the background (on the left with a hat on) is the head of Russian Night Wolves Alexander Zaldostanov. (source: Archive)
The document furtherly explains that Hambálek may currently be participating in the training of Night Wolves members involved in the fighting in Ukraine. "His ongoing activities also reportedly include training members of the Night Wolves to fight in Ukraine." The sanctioned businessman calls it "colossal nonsense."
However, the unanimous decision of the European ministers to sanction Hambálek [when deciding on sanctions, the consent of all member countries is necessary, editor's note] also contains a factual error. The document states that the Slovak businessman built the European headquarters of the Night Wolves on the foundations of a "former military base".
The building is actually a former insemination station for pigs. Hambálek painted it in military khaki colors, turning it into a training ground with a tankodrome. In the meantime, he has transferred his ownership of the complex to his daughter.
©Sme
