🕳️ Released Phantom Node 42: Sergey Shoigu. The Butcher of the Empire
- Foundation date
08 August 2025
🕳️ Released Phantom Node 42: Sergey Shoigu. The Butcher of the Empire
War as a craft. Human life as expendable material.
Who is he?
Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation with long-standing immunity from accountability. Commands the army as a tool of permanent aggression, manages military budgets, and turns human lives into a resource for war. Has created and maintained the cult of the army, where death and violence are presented as the highest form of patriotism.
Type of node:
Military-power structure
Status:
Above the law, untouchable within the system
Form of control:
Full command over the army and the military-industrial complex, monopoly on military procurement, glorification of war through state-controlled media
Phantom image:
A minister in a bloodstained uniform, holding a butcher’s knife over a map of the front lines
Instead of the phantom:
A war machine feeding on bodies and budgets
Essence of the node:
What held it together?
Personal loyalty to the dictator, unrestricted access to finances and resources, a system of impunity for the security bloc.
How did it become a phantom?
Gradually merged his personal identity with the image of the “eternal minister of war” — a title he keeps through perpetual mobilisation.
Why does the phantom still exist?
Because the army remains the regime’s main instrument, and the cult of war is embedded in state ideology.
Current state of the phantom:
Active, public, legitimised, controlled only by the dictator.
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His mobilisation machine consumes not only the marginalised and convicted.
It sends to the front those who could have shaped the future — in their own country or anywhere in the world.
They find themselves in a meat grinder where talent and courage become expendable material, and death is just part of the statistics.
This meat grinder takes the lives of both those he throws into the fight and those they fight against.
For Ukraine, these losses are not covicts, but the best of the best, defending their home and future.
The true crime is that the aggressor destroys both their own and others, but never themselves.
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After the regime:
– Investigation of war crimes and corruption schemes in the military-industrial complex
– Dismantling of the cult of war in state ideology
– Transfer of military budgets to public oversight
– Restoration of civilian technologies and sectors neglected due to militarisation
Collective reaction:
We do not call slaughter heroism.
We remember who threw the best into the jaws of war.
Key principle:
Where a minister turns life into a resource, war never ends.
Peace begins with the rejection of the cult of death.
Alt-text:
Sepia-toned graphite portrait of Sergey Shoigu in a military uniform with blood stains. In his hands — a large butcher’s knife, on the table — a map of the front lines. Behind him — a flag with imperial symbols and shadowy silhouettes of soldiers. Style: aged paper, symbols of the cult of war and decay.
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Anna Pivtorak Kostyuk
📍🗺️
08.08.2025
🫧 Phantom Node Dossier: Sergey Shoigu. Deep Network of Control
Key Aspects of the Phantom:
"Architect of the Military Machine" (or "General-Builder of Aggression"). This phantom symbolizes his role as a key figure responsible for the transformation of the Russian armed forces and their use as the main instrument of foreign policy. He embodies the fusion of military power with political ambitions, creating a system capable of waging large-scale aggressive wars and suppressing resistance. His influence lies in transforming the army into a closed, loyal-to-the-regime structure operating on the principles of silovik rule.
Regimes (which he directly shapes/supports):
⚔️ Militarism / Expansionism: Shoigu is the main architect and executor of the policy of strengthening Russia's military power and its application for expansion. He directs direct military aggression against other states.
🟠 Authoritarianism: His activities are aimed at strengthening the economic foundation of the authoritarian regime by using military force to achieve internal and external political goals, suppress dissent, and create an image of a "strong state."
🕵️ Siloviki / Chekism: Although not a former special services officer himself, his long tenure at the head of power agencies (EMERCOM, and then the Ministry of Defense) has made him an integral part of the power vertical that operates on the principles of "Chekist" control and loyalty.
⛓️ State-Military Complex: He heads a system where the military-industrial complex and state power are closely intertwined, functioning as a single organism aimed at meeting the military needs of the regime and the personal enrichment of elites.
💰 Kleptocracy (Through the MIC): Although this is not his primary profile, the enormous budgets of the Ministry of Defense and the opacity of military procurement create favorable conditions for large-scale corruption and embezzlement within the military-industrial complex.
Tools (which he actively uses/oversees):
🛡️ Armed Forces of the Russian Federation: The main instrument of aggression. He manages all aspects of the army – from strategic planning and troop deployment to logistics and supply.
📈 Military-Industrial Complex (MIC): Control and management of the MIC for maximum production of armaments, ammunition, and military equipment necessary for waging war.
💸 Military Budget and Procurement: Disposal of colossal military budgets, allocation of orders, and control over financial flows in the defense sector.
🗣️ Military Propaganda: Formation and dissemination of military propaganda, glorification of war, creation of an image of an "invincible army," and demonization of the enemy through official Ministry of Defense media and controlled media outlets.
⛓️ Mobilization: Direct organization and conduct of mobilization measures to replenish troops, including forced conscription of citizens.
🌐 Military Operations and Interventions: Planning and leadership of military interventions and aggressions outside the Russian Federation (Ukraine, Syria, etc.).
Civilizational Influences (which he embodies/exploits):
🦅 Post-Soviet Space / Reincarnation of Empire (Through Force): Shoigu is a key figure who provides the military aspect of Russia's neo-imperial policy, the desire to restore spheres of influence through military might.
⚖️ Cult of Lawlessness and Impunity: His activities, including war crimes and violations of international law, contribute to the spread of a cult of impunity and disregard for any norms other than the "right of the strong."
😈 Degradation of Human Life: The transformation of human life into a resource for war, ignoring the losses and suffering of both soldiers and the civilian population.
🧠 Brainwashing (Military): Active participation in military-patriotic education and propaganda that brainwashes the younger generation, preparing them to participate in aggressive wars.
💀 Cult of Death and Violence: Through the militarization of society and the culture of the army he represents, a cult of violence, war, and death as the "highest manifestation of patriotism" spreads.
💡 Technological Degradation (Civilian): The redirection of resources to the MIC and military confrontation leads to the decline of civilian technologies and the overall backwardness of the country.
Anna Pivtorak Kostyuk
📍🗺️
08.08.2025
