Russian Nationalism and Xenophobia in December 2021. Preliminary Results of the Year

In December 2021, we recorded only one victim of a xenophobic attack, which occurred in Tyumen. In total, according to our data as of the end of December, 62 people in 18 regions of the country suffered from this type of violence in 2021; three of the victims died. Five more people received death threats. These and other data for 2021 are only preliminary. But we can already say that the level of violence exceeded that observed in 2020, both in relation to "ethnic others" and LGBT people, and may reach the levels of 2017–2019. In 2021, we also recorded 28 cases of ideologically motivated vandalism in 20 regions of the country, which is just comparable to the previous year. In early December 2021, the Radio Liberty journalist and FemVremya Telegram channel host Karina Merkurieva received a series of threats for her position on LGBT and feminism. Merkurieva said that the threats came from three different Telegram groups.

The hearings on the liquidation of International Memorial (previously recognized as a foreign agent) haven’t gone unnoticed by pro-government nationalists. During the final session, activists from the National Liberation Movement (NOD) gathered in front of the Supreme Court building in Moscow. Fortunately, there were no clashes. The activists addressed provocative questions to the Memorial supporters and held signs accusing Memorial of defending Nazi criminals.

Other nationalists continued to actively oppose QR codes and vaccination. On December 12, a protest against the introduction of QR codes, organized by the Labour Russia (Trudovaya Rossiya) and the Permanent Meeting of the National Patriotic Forces of Russia (PDS NPSR), was held on Revolution Square in Moscow; the introduction of QR codes is considered unconstitutional by supporters of the PDS NPSR, so the protest was held on Constitution Day. Judging by the video, about 30 people gathered for the rally.

On December 4 and 18, several supporters of the Nationalists’ Movement held pickets and propaganda raids against the introduction of QR codes for visiting public places. On December 12, a picket against the QR code system, organized by the founder of the Peoples’ Will movement (Volya Narodov) Ivan Volkov, was also held in Yekaterinburg. Several activists from the Russian All-People's Union (ROS) and the Yekaterinburg Conservative movement joined the rally. The People's Gathering against QR codes was also held in Voronezh. The gathering was the initiative of a new organization – the Army of Defenders of the Fatherland, founded by Ivan Otrakovsky at the end of September.

In December, the Moscow City Court sentenced three young men for attacking Kyrgyz citizens in the center of Moscow on July 26. And this is the only sentence for xenophobic violence that we are aware of for the month of December.

However, several joint trials are being prepared. On December 13, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) reported arrests in 37 regions of Russia of 106 neo-Nazis belonging to the Maniacs: Cult of Murder (M.K.U.) group on suspicion of preparing terrorist attacks and mass murders in Russia, and on December 17, it was reported that the FSB detained another M.K.U. supporter, who was planning an attack on a journalist in the Rostov region.

In total, since the beginning of the year, we have information about 11 convictions (*) for hate-motivated violence against 34 people in eight regions, and this is several times higher than the number of such convictions handed down in 2019 (five convictions against 11 people) or 2020 (five convictions against eight individuals). In 2021, we recorded two sentences against seven people for hate-motivated crimes against property, which is noticeably higher than in 2020 (one convicted) and 2019 (none).

In December 2021, we recorded 14 sentences for xenophobic statements against 14 people in 14 regions.

Two people were convicted under Article 282 of the Criminal Code (incitement to hatred): one for unspecified xenophobic statements in a social network, the other – a serviceman in Irkutsk – for xenophobic non-statutory relations in the army (Article 335 of the Criminal Code was also applied): “threatening physical violence, wrote the word “Ingushetia” with shaving foam on the backs of conscript soldiers... arranged a photo shoot against their background and posted these images on social networks.”

Four people were convicted under Article 280 of the Criminal Code (public calls for extremism) for calls to attack law enforcement officers posted on social networks. Two people received sentences under Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code (public justification of terrorism), both for radical Islamic publications praising suicide bombers or calls to go to ISIS. Four people were found guilty under Articles 280 and 205.2 of the Criminal Code, also mainly for radical Islamist propaganda.

Another one – an inmate in a penal colony – was punished under Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code (denial of facts recognized by the international military tribunal, approval of the crimes established by the said tribunal, committed in public) for drawing Nazi symbols and notes praising Adolf Hitler made on the pages of a library book, as well as approval expressed to other prisoners of the SS activities, including those during the occupation of Kalmykia in times of World War II.

In total, since the beginning of 2021, according to our data, at least 184 sentences were handed down for racist and other unconstitutional statements to 186 people in 175 regions of the country. This is definitely more than in the previous year (107 sentences against 119 people), both in terms of lawful sentences and questionable ones.

In December 2021, in the Mari El Republic, a court sentenced a 69-year-old local resident, coordinator of the local branch of the Citizens of the USSR organization (founded by Sergei Taraskin), to compulsory psychiatric treatment. The ideology of the Citizens of the USSR is based on the belief that the Soviet Union never disintegrated, so the current government of Russia is illegitimate. On July 15, 2019, Taraskin's USSR organization was recognized as extremist. The coordinator from Mari El was charged with Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code (participation in the activity of an extremist organisation). According to the case materials, the accused called for attacking “one of the nationalities” and law enforcement officers and for the armed seizure of government buildings in Mari El.

In total, in 2021, 13 sentences were handed down to 21 people in 13 regions for leadership and participation in extremist organizations and communities, and, if we are to subtract unlawful sentences, there is practically no change in comparison to the previous year.

In December 2021, the Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated twice (on December 6 and 27) with entries 5231–5253. The following materials were added: xenophobic neo-Nazi videos and audio clips, tracks by the Tver group Ensemble of Christ the Saviour and Mother Crude Earth, videos by the former leader of the banned movement Minin and Pozharsky People’s Militia (NOMP) ex-colonel Vladimir Kvachkov, a video containing quotes from William Pierce, an American white supremacist and founder of the ultra-right National Alliance, and materials praising the criminal subculture known as AUE. In total, in 2021, the list was updated 23 times and grew from 5,144 to 5,253 entries, that is, 110 new entries were added, which is slightly less than a year earlier (139 entries).

We have information about eight people that were fined in December under Article 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (production and distribution of banned materials). Seven of them were fined for sharing via social media the flag of the banned ISIS organization and materials included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials, including the text titled “The David Lane’s 88 Commandments” and the neo-pagan video titled "Games of the Gods". One person, an individual entrepreneur from Penza, was fined for selling books that are on the Federal List of Extremist Materials.

We also have information about 10 people punished under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (propaganda and public display of Nazi symbols and symbols of banned organizations). Five inmates of penal colonies in the Vladimir, Tver, and Chelyabinsk regions displayed their tattoos with Nazi symbols to other inmates; one showed his tattoo in a local cafe. The others shared Nazi symbols via social media.

We know of 18 people punished under Article 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (incitement to hatred, corresponding to Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code and applied in case of single violation within a year) for posting videos, images, texts, and comments with insults in social networks, and in some cases calling for attacks on natives of Central Asia and the Caucasus, Jews, Russians, police officers, bailiffs, and paramedics.

These data on the application of the anti-extremist articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses are fragmentary; judging by the data of the Supreme Court for the first half of the year we may assume that in 2021 the number of those punished under Article 20.29 decreased slightly compared to 2020, while the number of those punished under Articles 20.3.1, and especially Article 20.3, increased.

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(*) Our data on criminal and administrative cases does not take into account those court decisions that we consider to be patently improper.