Russian Nationalism and Xenophobia in November 2020

The following is our monthly review of instances of xenophobia and radical nationalism, along with any government countermeasures, for November 2020.

This month, no fewer than two people were targeted in xenophobic attacks, both of them in St. Petersburg. Since the beginning of 2020, according to our data, 36 individuals have suffered from such violence, with one killed; another five received death threats.

SOVA Center is aware of two instances of ideologically motivated vandalism of religious structures, in Bashkiria and Chelyabinsk. This year in total, we have recorded no fewer than 24 acts of ideologically motivated vandalism, in 18 regions of the country.

In November, the Russian ultra-right reactivated its use of threats. In one example, the personal details of an expert witness in extremism cases were circulated on a Telegram channel.

The so-called Russian March was once again the primary ultra-right public event of the fall, taking place on November 4. In Moscow, all nationalist actions were held in nontraditional formats, as no mass events were allowed in light of quarantine measures in Russia.

The organizing committee of the Movement of Nationalists called for flowers to be laid at the headquarters of the Federal Penitentiary Service in memory of the death in prison of neo-Nazi Maxim Martsynkevich, as well as the deaths of other members of the ultra-right community that are considered by nationalist to be victims of torture or "extrajudicial executions." In response to the call, participants gathered near the Tsvetnoy Bulvar and Trubnaya Metro stations with flowers, wearing imperial tricolor scarves and other imperial paraphernalia. Police nearly immediately demanded that those gathered disperse and began making arrests at the Metro exit; at least 34 individuals were detained on the spot.

Another organizing committee, consisting of the Institute of National Politics (represented in Moscow by Dmitry Mikhailov) and the Russian Human Rights League, called on supporters to the traditional "march route to Lyublino" (the usual pre-pandemic location of the Russian March). At noon on November 4, a massive police squad, and a few nationalists, arrived to Lyublino. Among those detained included Mr. Mikhailov along with a journalist from Gradus-TV. The rest of the protesters wandered around the Metro station in confusion, eventually dispersing, with some of them moving on to Tsvetnoy Bulvar.

A third action was organized by representatives of the Permanent Council of National-Patriotic Forces of Russia (NDS NPSR) and several adjacent groups, a "March of the Cross" held in Kolomenskoe Park. Approximately 250 people gathered with icons and crosses, but absent any priests or symbols of any organizations. The march proceeded past several churches and stopped near a pond, where participants read a prayer for political prisoners, who by this account are fighting against "enemies, Satanists" occupying Russia. A few police warned participants of the illegality of the march at the very beginning, but ultimately did not attempt to detain anyone.

Last but not least, an organizing committee consisting of representatives of Right Russia, Great Russia, the Black Hundred, and the Moscow branch of the Russian Imperial Movement (RID) limited their actions to a conference entitled Russian March 2020.

Outside Moscow, nationalists led actions in one form or another in 13 cities, but nowhere gathered more than 50 people.

We are not aware of any November court decisions regarding violent hate crimes, which considered the hate motive. (*) This year in total, SOVA Center has recorded three such rulings, convicting six people on the basis of racist violence.

Meanwhile, xenophobic statements were the basis of 13 convictions of 16 individuals this month, in 11 regions of Russia. Four of these rulings were made under Article 280 of the Criminal Code (public calls to extremist activity) – but in none of these cases is the concrete allegation charged known to us. Four other rulings were delivered under Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code (public calls to terrorist activity) – all for public justification of the March 2019 attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Another four were delivered on the basis of both articles, for the publication of certain texts and video clips, "justifying the actions of a terrorist organization, and calling for violent destruction."

Since the beginning of 2020, Russian courts have convicted no fewer than 100 individuals, in 91 rulings in 47 regions of the country, for racist and other unconstitutional statements.

The Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated twice this month, on November 19 and 23, to account for new entries 5120–5130. The new entries include a book by Lors Daryalsky about Nazi collaborationism among Ossetians during the Great Patriotic War; a neopagan poem; a book by former member of the Ingush parliament, Idris Abadiev entitled Ezdel – the Formula for Worldly and Eternal Life; antisemitic songs and poems from VKontakte; yet another song by Stalinist bard Alexander Kharchikov; and various Islamist texts and video clips.

We are additionally aware that 15 individuals were fined under Article 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (manufacture and distribution of banned materials) on the basis of social media posts with photos, poems, songs, audio and video featuring content banned under the Federal List of Extremist Materials.

No fewer than 17 people were sanctioned under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (propaganda and public demonstration of Nazi symbols and symbols of banned organizations). Three inmates in prison colonies in the Kostroma, Belgorod and Tver regions were fined on the basis of their own Nazi tattoos. The other 14 posted Nazi symbols to social media.

Another nine people were sanctioned under Article 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (incitement to national hatred) for the publication of xenophobic commentary on social media. This month, these include the administrator of the Telegram channel "Male State" Vladislav Pozdnyakov, who posted to various media statements that "negatively valued" the following groups: "organs of state and local administration," "Russians," "Caucasians," "Slavic people," "Russian women," Russian men," "Armenians," "Christians," "homosexuals," "security forces," "Russian fathers," "dark-skinned children living in Russia," "mixed-race spouses," as well as "spiritually undeveloped, wordlessly submissive people who submit to someone else's will and allow themselves to be exploited, who have strong habits and skills that have developed under the domination of communist ideology." Also sanctioned was Andrey Matyuzhov, pastor of the "New Generation" church, for a sermon on the love of money, in which he called for the leadership of the country to be thrown into the "trash bin" if they do not repent, while also warning Russian Christians that unless they spread Christianity, in a few years the country will turn into "Tajikistan, Uzbekistan."

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(*)Data regarding criminal and administrative cases are reported without accounting for rulings that we consider patently improper.