Andrew Tate Got "Russian Army Training." He Wants Millions of Young Men to Follow Him
The Tates bring the bloc the Kremlin most covets: tens of millions of young Western men.
On June 7, 2026 — the same week Vladimir Putin's military launched some of the largest airstrikes of the Ukraine war — Andrew and Tristan Tate, dual U.S.–U.K. citizens with a combined ten-million-strong online following, posted videos of themselves firing AK-74U automatic rifles at what their affiliated social media accounts labeled "Russian army training." In one clip, Andrew lit a cigar with what was described as a flamethrower.
The Tates arrived in Moscow on June 2 with a state-style welcome ceremony and told Russian outlet Kommersant their itinerary included meetings with business, media, and cultural figures, plus "filming content for an international audience." The visit came as the U.S. Treasury has sanctioned Russia's RT network for covertly recruiting Western influencers to launder Kremlin propaganda. Tate isn't being recruited unwittingly. He's volunteering.
The Welcome Was the Message
The Tate brothers were greeted at Moscow's airport by a costumed troupe of folk singers and dancers offering bread and salt — a ceremony Russia normally reserves for visiting dignitaries. Russian business daily Kommersant reported the brothers came on a "private visit" during the week of Putin's St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, though their program was not listed as official SPIEF participation. Andrew told press: "We came to Russia because serious countries deserve to be taken seriously. I want to meet people, see how the country functions, understand how people live, and talk about it based on what I've actually seen with my own eyes."
That "content for an international audience" is the operational tell. Russia spent millions of state-broadcaster dollars producing the "Santa Putin" homophobic ad that Tate pushed to his then-3.3 million followers in December 2022. Three and a half years later, the Kremlin no longer needs to dress up the operation — it just flies the influencer in.
Weapons Training During an Active War
The footage shows automatic weapons fire — AK-74Us, which Russian law restricts to military and law enforcement use — at a facility the Tates’ team chose to brand as “Russian army training.” Whether the site was a commercial range catering to foreign tourists, a defense ministry facility like Patriot Park that hosts both foreign military delegations and civilian experiences, or something else remains unverified.
Western governments classify Russia as a hostile state actively waging the largest land war in Europe since 1945. The U.S. State Department advises Americans not to travel to Russia “for any reason” and warns of “wrongful detention.” A dual U.S. citizen filming automatic-weapons content in Russia — while Ukrainian drones were striking oil terminals visible from Putin’s economic forum — and labeling it “army training” is not tourism. It is propaganda. And it was broadcast, as intended, to millions of young Western men.
Putin’s “Christian Values” Sales Pitch
Tate has spent years echoing the Kremlin's framing of the Ukraine war as a defense of Christian civilization against a "Satanic" West, and told Tucker Carlson in 2023 that Putin should be credited for "curing Covid" by invading Ukraine. The pitch is aimed at young Christian men in America and Britain who feel alienated from secular liberalism.
The reality on the ground is the opposite of the sales copy: Russian forces have bombed and shelled hundreds of Ukrainian churches, Moscow has decriminalized some forms of domestic violence, and the regime persecutes evangelical and non-Moscow-Patriarchate Christians in occupied territories. The country Tate is promoting to Western Christians is invading a Christian neighbor.
Even Pro-Kremlin Russians Are Embarrassed
The Tates' presence was so awkward that pro-war Russian commentators publicly objected. Rybar, a million-subscriber pro-war Telegram channel, called the brothers a "bad pick" and their visit "embarrassing." Yekaterina Mizulina, who heads the Kremlin-aligned Safe Internet League, noted the Tates are accused in three countries of "forming an organized criminal group for human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and sexual violence, including against children" — and asked how Russia "will look after welcoming them with bread and salt."
Nationalist blogger Roman Antonovsky labeled Tate "a human trafficker, misogynist, Islamist and rapist." When the Kremlin's own warbloggers can see the optics, the operation isn't subtle. BBC Russian's report noted bluntly: "Who invited the Tates to Russia and why is not specified."
A Pattern, Not an Incident
The Tate visit fits a wider Kremlin push. American podcaster Candace Owens appeared on RT and at SPIEF; actor Steven Seagal sat on a "cultural dialogue" panel; convicted pedophile and former weapons inspector Scott Ritter attended as a pro-Kremlin commentator. Each is a recognizable voice to a different Western audience — manosphere, MAGA, anti-establishment left, conspiracy media.
The Tates bring the bloc the Kremlin most covets: tens of millions of young Western men. The brothers were free to travel only because Romanian authorities lifted their restrictions, while Britain has declined to seek extradition despite outstanding rape and human trafficking charges.
The Bottom Line
An accused human trafficker facing rape charges in two Western democracies just filmed automatic-weapons content in Russia in the middle of an active war against a Western-aligned nation — labeled it “Russian army training” — and broadcast it as aspirational content to millions of young American and British men.
This is not a quirky news cycle. It is a foreign adversary handing propaganda ammunition, literally and metaphorically, to one of the West’s most-followed voices, and trusting him to point it at home.