— You are called Black Lenin.

Does such a party nickname offend you?

Who gave it?

- This nickname was given to me by journalists in the spring of 2014, when I, along with my comrades, held a rally in the center of Donetsk near the monument to Vladimir Lenin.

I think that for my communist views and Marxist-Leninist propaganda they dubbed me Black Lenin.

- Tell us about your parents.

— My parents met in the late 1970s in Moscow.

Mom, Evgenia Dmitrievna, graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Latvia, worked at the Information and Computing Center in Rezekne.

It was an organization that dealt with the settlement and financial operations of the largest city-forming enterprises.

And about once a year she went to Moscow with reports, where she met my future father, Christopher Ayo.

He comes from Uganda, a representative of the ancient Lango tribe.

Father studied at the graduate school of the Institute of Friendship of Peoples.

Patrice Lumumba, studied agriculture.

My father died when I was not yet three years old.

Mom is retired, lives there, in Rezekne.

There, by the way, quite recently, on November 9, a monument to the defenders of the city from the Nazis was destroyed.

Earlier, in August 2022, the Latvian authorities demolished the Victory Monument in Riga, 

- You were born in Latvia, you have the citizenship of an EU country.

Why not sit quietly in a European country? 

- In 2004, in Latvia, education in all Russian schools was translated into the Latvian language.

And we, together with our comrades from the Headquarters for the Defense of Russian Schools in Latvia, organized actions against the destruction of Russian education in the country.

We believe that such a reform is ethnocide - the elimination of a certain national group.

This grossly violates the Framework Convention of the Council of Europe on the Rights of National Minorities.

And about 40% of Russians live in Latvia.

Thus, we are not even a national minority, but along with the Latvians, we are the main state-forming nation.

Hundreds of thousands of permanent residents of Latvia who were born here are deprived of citizenship and the opportunity to participate in elections.

This is apartheid. 

  • At communist actions in Moscow.

  • © Photo from the personal archive of Benes Ayo

In addition, the Communist Party and communist ideology are banned in Latvia, all dissidents are imprisoned.

In Latvia, industry and agriculture that flourished in Soviet times have been almost completely destroyed.

Unemployment reaches 40%, and the able-bodied population emigrate en masse to the rich countries of the EU. 

— How did you end up in the UK?

- In 2005, I was under investigation in a serious political case.

He was in prison, went on hunger strikes.

When he left, he decided to leave for political exile in the UK.

From 2008 to 2010, I studied at the University of London Bierbeck, in the master's program in the Faculty of Biology, graduated from it and received a master's degree in medical microbiology.

Before that, I studied at the Faculty of Biology at the Latvian State University, where I received a master's degree in biology. 

- In 2014, the Latvian authorities again began your criminal prosecution.

What were you accused of?

- I was charged with three particularly serious criminal and political articles: calls for the violent overthrow of the state system of Latvia;

calls for liquidation of Latvian independence;

undermining the territorial integrity of Latvia.

In December 2019, Latvia and the EU put me on the wanted list.

Why did you decide to go to Donbass in 2014?

- In early March 2014, while in London, I received a message that volunteers needed help in Crimea.

They wrote to me that the inhabitants of the peninsula decided to secede from Ukraine after the coup that took place in February.

  • In the NWO zone, October 2022.

  • © From the personal archive of Benes Ayo

March 8 I arrived in Simferopol.

There we carried out campaigning activities.

Our main task in Crimea was to assist in holding a referendum on Crimea's accession to Russia.

In addition, we entered the service in the Crimean self-defense. 

After Crimea, my comrades and I decided to go to Donetsk, because the people's liberation revolution had also begun there.

— What did you do there?

- There was a military branch in the LPR, where many activists served under the leadership of Limonov's Sergei Fomchenkov.

I served in the artillery and infantry.

Participated in the Debaltsevo campaign, was under the village of Lugansk.

We also did humanitarian work, delivering things collected by our comrades throughout Russia to schools, hospitals, and kindergartens.

I filmed reports on the consequences of the Bandera aggression in the LPR, took photos and videos of the destruction, and disseminated all this objective information around the world.

After Debaltseve, hostilities in the LPR subsided, many activists left for Russia or moved to the DPR.

I moved to the DPR in 2016, where I served and fought until 2020 in a motorized rifle unit.

I will add that in parallel with the service, from 2015 to 2019, I studied in absentia at Luhansk University.

Dahl at the Faculty of Social Sciences and received a master's degree in political science on the topic of "colored pseudo-revolutions". 

  • At an environmental action in Moscow.

  • © From the personal archive of Benes Ayo

— You often act as an environmental activist.

Tell us about this activity.

- One of the latest examples is the fight against the construction of a landfill in Shies.

The local population organized a protest tent city.

We blocked the entrance of trucks with garbage and building materials to the landfill, held rallies, wrote complaints to various authorities, explaining that the garbage in Shiyes would pollute groundwater and drain into the Urdoma River, and then from there to the Northern Dvina and the White Sea.

We have achieved results.

In 2020, the governor of the Arkhangelsk region, Igor Orlov, who supported the construction of the landfill, resigned.

In his place was appointed Alexander Tsybulsky, who spoke out against the landfill.

In February 2021, the court of cassation ordered the defendant to demolish the landfill, the position was supported by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

The developer complied with the court decision and removed all the buildings of the landfill.

Living in Moscow from 2020 to 2022 (I received temporary political asylum in Russia), my comrades from the “Forests of the Earth” movement and I actively participated in the protection of the Bitsevsky and Troitsky forests from cutting down, development and littering.

Under our pressure, and also thanks to complaints to the environmental prosecutor's office and the court, the authorities began to gradually clean it up. 

  • At a meeting in the Moscow City Duma with the public movement "Forests of the Earth", May 2022

  • © From the personal archive of Benes Ayo

— Are you back in Donbas now?

Where are you fighting?

What military specialty do you own?

What is your call sign?

- When the special operation began, I thought that it would last no more than a month, that the Ukrainian military machine would be destroyed and the Armed Forces of Ukraine would surrender en masse.

However, the West began to pump weapons into Ukraine.

In addition, shelling of the Donbass by the Armed Forces of Ukraine intensified sharply in July.

Considering all these circumstances, in agreement with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, since August I have been taking part in a special operation as part of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

My call sign is Dzerzhinsky.

- Which of the foreigners, fighters or volunteers, did you meet in the Donbass?

- Of the well-known fighters, I met with the famous militia from the United States, Russell Bentley (call sign "Texas").

In 2018, Texas and I participated in an unsanctioned rally in Donetsk near the monument to Lenin for the reunification of Donbass with Russia and the entry of Russian troops.

I also know the famous Serbian sniper Dejan Beric.

I served with him for some time in the same unit.

I know a well-known militiaman from Great Britain, Ben Stimson, who spent five years in his homeland in connection with his service in the army of the DPR.

Kazakh militia Yevgeny Shcherbak, who was extradited to Kazakhstan from Russia for violating immigration laws and spent four years there in connection with his service in the army of the DPR.

He knew the late commander of "Pyatnashka" Mamiev ("Mamai"). 

  • With Colombian militia communist Alexis Castillo (left)

  • © From the personal archive of Benes Ayo

I also served with the famous militia from Latvia, from the cities of Liepaja and Ludza - Anatoly Matyukovsky and Grigory Kosnikovsky.

And recently we said goodbye to my good friend, a communist from Colombia, Alexis Castillo. 

— Do you think you and your comrades managed to at least partially achieve the goals set eight years ago? 

Yes, we have achieved part of the goals.

The DPR and LPR were recognized by Russia in February 2022, and in October, our young states, following a national referendum, that is, in accordance with the UN Charter and international law, became part of Russia.

This is a great achievement!

Unfortunately, about 40% of the DPR and several villages in the LPR are still under Bandera occupation.

We are now liberating these territories.