Russian Nationalism and Xenophobia in February 2023

The following is our monthly review of instances of xenophobia and radical nationalism, along with any government countermeasures, for February 2023.

We recorded only one incident possibly based on ethnic hatred in February 2023: a brawl between two groups of ninth-graders in a Chelyabinsk school. The groups had each appointed a designated fighter, who they came to support. As a result, two Central Asian teens were injured, with one of them being hospitalized. Law enforcement report that the conflict arose out of a domestic issue, but other reports have noted that one of the active participants «was drawn to skinhead ideology.»

The end of February and the beginning of March were marked by mass arrests of fans of the anime series Hunter x Hunter across Russia. The series features a gang called «Genei Ryodan» («Phantom Troupe»), whose members are united by a tattoo with a twelve-legged spider; Russian fans of the series have taken to wearing spider hoodies and plaid pants. Their manner of dress meanwhile drew the attention of other teenage groups, leading to a series of conflicts involving football fanatics, ethnically-aligned groups and others, which have been widely covered in the Russian press. These completely apolitical anime fans have come to be known as «ChVK Ryodan» (ChVK in Russian stands for «private military company,» PMC) The number of detained teenagers, alleged to be participants of ChVK Ryodan, has been estimated as between the dozens and hundreds, depending on the city. For example, following a massive row at St. Petersburg’s Gallery shopping center, police detained about two hundred teenagers on February 24 and 25. We know of similar reports coming from Kazan, Kursk, Novosibirsk, Kurgan, etc., as well as from Ukraine and Belarus. On February 25, 2023, the Cheryomushkinsky Court of Moscow placed a certain leader of «ChVK Ryodan» under house arrest pursuant to Article 213 Part 2 of the Criminal Code (CC) (hooliganism with the use of weapons or objects used as weapons). Three other participants in the fight were also placed under house arrest.

A moral panic quickly took shape around the reports about «ChVK Ryodan.» Its teenage alleged members were discussed widely in the media, including by the Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, with law enforcement alleging that «ChVK Ryodan» stands both against «football hooligans, as well as natives of the Caucasus and migrants.» It was also «confirmed» that «ChVK Ryodan» was imported from Ukraine (with symmetrical theories arising in Ukraine). The wave of media coverage then inspired new brawls, as well as group attacks on alleged members of «ChVK Ryodan.» For example, on March 2 in Surgut, a 15-year-old girl was rounded up and beaten over a photo of a spider posted on her VKontakte page.

In other news, we would draw attention to an episode during a football match between Volga and Zenit in Ulyanovsk: local fans threw a banana at Zenit midfielder Marcus Wendel Valle da Silva. We note that such manifestations of racism have become quite rare in recent years.

We are not aware of any February rulings with regards to hate crimes, or those in which the hate motive was considered. (Here and elsewhere, we report data without reference to court decisions that we consider to be patently improper.) Since the beginning of 2023, 13 individuals have been convicted on the basis of xenophobic violence, while two others have been convicted on charges of xenophobic vandalism.

However this month, three individuals were convicted of participation in extremist communities and organizations, though only one of them likely had any connection to neo-Nazis. Since the beginning of the year, we have recorded eight such rulings, in which 12 individuals have been convicted.

We are also aware of 12 February rulings, convicting the same number of individuals on the basis of aggressive public statements.

Five of them had been charged under Article 205.2 CC (public calls to terrorist activity) over social media posts featuring aggressive language about representatives of the government; in one case, calls for reprisals included instructions to «make explosives.» One of the five was convicted of spreading radical Islamist propaganda while in prison.

Meanwhile, three people were sanctioned under Article 280 CC (public calls to extremist activity) — similarly, for calls for violence against officials.

One person was convicted on a combined charge of both articles, over social media publication of calls for the «destruction» of employees of state organs and the Russian Orthodox Church. Another person was sanctioned under a combined charge of Articles 280 and 148 CC (violation of the right to freedom of conscience and religion) or calls to attack Muslims.

Two people were convicted under Article 354.1 CC (rehabilitation of Nazism) for their publication on social media of comments «approving views of the ideology of Nazism.» One of them stated approval of the Holocaust.

This year in total so far, we have recorded no fewer than 25 court rulings arising out of the public statements of 32 individuals.

We are further aware that eight people were fined under Article 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO) (manufacture and distribution of extremist materials), each of them on the basis of sharing social media posts (including, in one example, a post featuring white supremacist materials). Since the beginning of 2023, we know that 13 individuals have faced similar administrative charges.

No fewer than 22 individuals, meanwhile, were sanctioned under Article 20.3 CAO (propaganda and public demonstration of Nazi symbols and symbols of banned organizations). The majority of these were related to posts featuring Nazi symbols, and symbols of banned Islamist organizations, on VKontakte and in Telegram. Three inmates were fined for demonstrating their own swastika tattoos. One minor was sanctioned for making the form of a swastika in the snow. Another, for throwing a fascist salute in a store. Yet another, for making, then publicly flying, a flag with Nazi symbols. Two individuals were placed under administrative arrest, while the others were fined. Our data show that, since the beginning of this year, 40 individuals have faced punishment under Article 20.3 CAO.

Meanwhile, no fewer than 12 individuals were sanctioned under Article 20.3.1 CAO (incitement to hatred) over their social media posts featuring various xenophobic materials targeting, for example, Black people, Jews, natives of the Caucasus and Central Asia, Chinese people, and ethnic Russians. Two of the offenders were placed under administrative arrest, while the others were fined in sums ranging from 10,000 to 15,000 rubles (ca. €125-185 at the time of publication of this review). This year to date, we have recorded 18 such rulings.

Finally, the Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated four times, on February 3, 6, 17 and 22, to account for new entries 5335–5339. The new items include: issue 5–6 of the Ukrainian almanac Scientific Notes (from 2016), Elmir Kuliev’s book The Beginnings of the Muslim Faith, songs by the rapper Oxxxymiron and the band Ensemble of Christ the Savior and the Crude Mother Earth, as well as the song «Kill the Beggars!» by the punk band Pornofilmy. We consider the majority of the bans listed in February to be improper.