Russian nationalist group denies reported ties with FSB shooter, says he was affiliated with a different Russian nationalist group

A Telegram channel for the Ethnic National Association (ENO) posted on December 23 to deny that Yevgeny Manyurov, the man reportedly responsible for a deadly shootout at the Federal Security Services headquarters in Moscow, was associated with the group.

“We are not terrorists. The Ethnic National Association will never terrorize its own people or kill women, children, or the elderly,” the post read. “Those who organized this provocation aren’t even bothered by the fact that NOD [National Liberation Movement] symbols were found on the shooter. ENO’s and NOD’s ideas and political discourses are (mildly speaking) mutually exclusive. Kind of illogical, right? And the shooter was a member of United Russia [Russia’s ruling party]. Think about it.”

• The St. Petersburg-based outlet Fontanka reported on December 22 that Manyurov was an ENO member. According to the organization’s Telegram channel, the group “unites the ideas of ethnic nationalism with ideas of socialism for a certain nation.” According to Fontanka, the movement’s ideology advocates unity among Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians. The movement’s center seems to be in Kyiv, but it apparently has cells in Moscow, Irkutsk, and Rostov.