Rado Sytnyk

Rado Sytnyk is a Mordvanian arms dealer.

Sytnyk is believed to have served in both the Severyane and Mordvanian Armed Forces. He has reportedly made a significant amount of money through his multiple air transport companies, which shipped cargo mostly in Skathia and Near East during the 1560s and 1570s. Sytnyk's network has also worked allegedly in the Kaljurand Civil War, and also in Alstaria and Keszaria.

Sytnyk claims he has done little more than provide logistics, but many intelligence sources have defined him as one of the more active arms dealer of the last decades.

Personal history

Intelligence leaks and Sytnyk himself both state his birthplace as Krastov, Kubaniza (in the territory of Pomimorya, between Calgarov and Saratov), possibly on 4 Vintyr 1532, but a few other birthplaces have been suggested (including Severyane, Saratov, Mordvania, Ceribia, Nentsia, Biyra, Volta, and Kaljurand). A 1572 Sequoian intelligence file listed him as Saratovian in origin, with the official name of Vadim Volodymyrovich Sverdlev. However, most sources establish that Sytnyk was more likely born as Radoslav Volodymyrovich Sytnyk, only son of Volodymyr Sytnyk (born in Roslavl, Severyane, 1501) and Szymona Kwyatkowska (an ethic Ashkuban, born in Kubaniza).

Sytnyk's and his family moved to Severyane in 1536. It is believed that Sytnyk's father was working for the Ministry of Defense shortly after. Sytnyk's parents divorced in 1539. Two years later, Sytnyk's mother married with Slavoj Dolenz (born in Chlyb, Mordvania, today Republic of Mordvania). Dolenz was a Mordvanian emigrè exiled in Severyane, and founder and leader of the Revolutionary Party of Mordvania, a far-left political party, which disappeared in 1569.

Severyane military service

There is some confusion regarding Sytnyk's military career although it is clear he served in the Severyane Armed Forces. He is said to be fluent in eigh languages. These include Snyatin, Kubanizan, Askhuban, and Mordvanian languages, which he had already learned by age 12.

Several sources claim that Sytnyk served in the Severyane Army as a translator, from 1550 to 1563. He is thought to have been discharged in late 1563 with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. It is reported he moved to Ceribia in late 1563, and a year later he registered a company in the Angirisian Empire. Sytnyk is said to have visited Kingdom of Arbere several times between 1564 and 1565, years where the country was in a long and bloodthirsty civil war. He allegedly supplied weapons to both the far-left Kyrzbek Revolutionary Army (KRG) and the left-nationalist Self-Defense Forces of Kyrzbeksitan (KBB), and even to the short-lived Akhadic Republic of Kyrzbekistan. Sytnyk, however, has denied dealing with Akhadist armed groups.

Republic of Mordvania

Although he returned to Severyane in early 1566, a few months later he moved to Mordvania. Sytnyk joined the Republican Army and later served as Deputy Chairman of the Republican Guard in the city of Amsberg. Partly because his maternal grandmother was born in Southern Mordvania, and because his service during the war, he was granted Mordvanian citizenship. He left, or was expelled from, the Republican Guard a few months later, in unclear circumstances.

Between 1568 and 1569, Sytnyk was involved in the only openly political and legal work which is known in his biography, serving as advisor on military and foreign affairs in the Mordvanian parliament. He, however, did not join any far-left political party, not even the left-republican RSRP, but rather the center-right National Democratic Republican Party, one of the most moderate republican Mordvanian political parties. During those years, he was also an employee in MAM-Bek, a technological company owned by the Mordvanian Armed Forces. He reportedly left the country a few weeks after the legislative elections of 1569.

It has been also said that Sytnyk worked for the MERSEK, Mordvania's military intelligence, but this unconfirmed. According to some sources, he had been working for Mordvanian intelligence while he was still living in Severyane.

Skathia

A 1574 Nylander intelligence report stated, “...Brigidnan arms manufacturing companies had exported large quantities of different weapons between 1570 and 1572 on the basis of forged end-user certificates from Arianko...”, and that “with only one exception, the company Zrak Transport, owned by R. Sytnyk, was the main transporter of these weapons from Arianko and Cyan”. This was the first time Sytnyk was mentioned in connection with arms trading, and the weapons may have been destined for use by the PNLF armed group in Batavia.

Sytnyk has also been linked as a main arm dealer in the Tambossan conflict several times, although he has openly denied such claims.

Sytnyk reportedly visited Sequoia and Maurnnia several times in 1573 and 1574, and sources claim he was personally involved in the conflict in Maurnnia.

Singan

Sytnyk was reportedly seen in Singan and Tieguo several times in 1571 and 1572. He was been accused of supplying weapons to the communist insurgence in Northern Singan. Sytnyk recognized to have spent several weeks in Singan in late 1571, but he claimed he was merely acquiring aircraft for one of his companies and that his activities there were perfectly legal.

Wadiyah

Sytnyk was suspected of supplying General Ahman Tariq with arms for use in the Wadiya Civil War. Eyewitnesses describe personal meetings between the two in late 1572.

However, Yahya Abd Lakhmi, a close collaborator of Sytnyk in the Near East -both men are said to have met in 1564, during the Arberian-Kyrzbek War (1559-1568)-, claimed that Sytnyk supplied weapons to the Socialist Republic of Silistria as well, through another of his companies, Bodnar Inc. Lakhmi was detained in 1574 in Mestra, and it is considered the closest collaborator to Sytnyk in Near East.

Kolhar

Sytnyk was reportedly seen meeting with KPFP officials in Mordvania during the failed Mestarka Peace Conference in 1573. However, some sources claim he was actually in Khanid when the meeting took place.

Nabotho

Sytnyk is suspected of supplying weapons to numerous armed groups in the Nabotho civil war in 1573.

Kaljurand Civil War

During 1575 and 1576, Sytnyk was reportedly seen at least three times in eastern Kaljurand. It is reported that Sytnyk supplied several rebel groups with weaponry. It is not clear if he worked independently or alongside the Mordvanian Armed Forces or Mordvanian intelligence.

The Mordvanian government has denied any collaboration or cooperation with Sytnyk during that time.

Places of residence

Sytnyk has lived in various countries, including Kubaniza, Severyane, Mordvania, Nentsia, Khanid, Arianko, Sequoia, Maurnnia, Khokharsa, Ceribia, Angiris, Singan, Keszaria, and Magentina.

His current whereabouts are unknown.

Alleged Severyane and Mordvanian governments and intelligence ties

During many years, Sytnyk was believed to be mainly a Severyane agent. Nowadays, however, it is believed that he probably only worked for Severyane intelligence during the Arberian-Kyrzbek Civil War (also known as Kyrzbeksitani National Revolutionary War), if he ever did. Even it is not clear if Sytnyk was working independently back then. Severyane's government has always denied any collaboration, or even Sytnyk's alleged past as Severyane citizen.

It is thought that Sytnyk was of help to Mordvania's intelligence agencies at least until 1573, and he is alleged to have had connections to ranking Mordvanian officials, including Miroslaw Wolinsky, former Chairman of MERSEK, Mordvanian military intelligence agency. Sytnyk allegedly worked alongside MERSEK agents promoting unrest and armed resistance against Kaljurand's military junta during 1572, although both sides deny this allegation. However, the Mordvanian government has also denied any links with Sytnyk after 1569.

Order and warrants regarding Sytnyk

Sytnyk's strategy of constantly moving location and owning numerous companies made it hard for authorities to make a case against him.

Sequoian authorities requested an international warrant against Sytnyk on charges of money laundering and tax fraud. Sytnyk's lawyers stated that because he failed to appear in court a Sequoian warrant for his arrest was issued but later cancelled. They claim that the Sequoian case against him was dismissed due to his lack of a fixed residence and because the case could not be prosecuted in a timely fashion.

An international warrant was requested by the Batavian government against Sytnyk in 1573.

Arianko trial

Charged in 1575 with forging documents in Arianko, Sytnyk was judged in absentia, but the charges were later dropped.

Reputation

Sytnyk's fame as one of main Siora arms dealer, if not the most famous, is increasing in later years. A Nyland film studio was reportedly preparing a biopic about his, but the project was recently abandoned.

Sytnyk has hinted several times, through testimonies of people close to him, that he can be considered a "moral arms dealer", providing assitance of national liberation, progressive, and left-wing organizations fighting oppression. This claim, however, would openly contradict at least Sytnyk's often claim that his companies often offer logistics and humanitarian assitance. His lawyers have claimed as recently as 1576 that he has never been involved in arms trafficking.

Such ideological claim, however, can only be disputed. Sytnyk has allegedly offer his services to communist militias in Silistria and Singan, on one hand, and Keszarian ultra-nationalist in Carpathia and far-right Askhuban groups in Alstaria, in the other. He has also allegedly supplied weapons to several factions in civil war such as Kyrzbekistan, Nabotho, or Wadiyah. Although some of those claims are disputed.

Death

Sytnyk's death has been claimed several times, including Khanid (1574), and Kaljurand (1575), and Caladria (1579). He was also reportedly suffered severe wounds in Nabotho in late 1573, but it is not clear if he was even in that country at that time. Sytnyk was seen alive for last time reportedly in early 1577, in New Zealmark, but this has not been confirmed so far.