Russian Nationalism and Xenophobia in February 2024

In February 2024, we recorded seven hate-motivated attacks. We learned of some of these via ultra-right Telegram channels, which published video clips with scenes of brutal attacks on natives of Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as people of «non-Slavic appearance;» others came to light in connection with the arrest of members of an ultra-right cell in Nizhny Novgorod. According to reports from antifascist Telegram channels, the group may be the Nizhny Novgorod Council of Nationalists, which calls itself the «youth wing» of the Russian Community (Russkaya Obschina). Law enforcement identified this gang following a neo-Nazi attack on a motorist in Verkhniye Pechyory. The attacker, 18-year-old Ivan Shikhitin, was detained. Following the news of his arrest, other victims also came forward to the media. The detainee is suspected of committing at least two attacks since the beginning of the year.

In 2024 to date, we have become aware of 30 hate-motivated attacks.

Ultra-right vigilantism continued in February. On February 14, vigilantes from the Russian Community of Obninsk, together with law enforcement agencies, conducted a raid to «check» migrants, including at an Asian restaurant and at three construction sites. On the same day, the Russian Community announced a joint raid with police in the city of Kotelniki, Moscow Region, in places of mass residence of foreign citizens. And on February 12, members of the Russian Community in Ryazan reported that, together with police, they patrolled one of the streets participating in arrests of drunk people.

Among far-right public actions, we note the anti-war action «Enough,» which took place on February 24. In Moscow, attendees laid flowers at the Gogol monument and also wrote «Shame» on a fence and «Stop Disposing of Russians» on a building. In addition to Moscow, analogous actions took place in 20 cities and boiled down to applying anti-war graffiti and posting stickers. In the Stavropol Krai, in addition to graffiti, photographs of dead nationalists also appeared, including Maxim (Tesak) Martsinkevich with the caption «Killed by the authorities.» In Saratov and Chelyabinsk, anti-migrant stickers («Migration is occupation,» «No to Islamization,» etc.) were put up at the same time. The action was coordinated through the Telegram channel NatsDem.

In February, we also became aware of three convictions of 10 people on the basis of xenophobically motivated violence. So far, these are the only such convictions reported in 2024.

In Krasnoyarsk, ultra-right activists who had committed several hate-motivated attacks were sentenced to terms ranging from just under four years in a strict-regime colony, to just under three years’ suspended sentence. Their acts included attacks on antifascists and a teenager from Kyrgyzstan.

In the Yaroslavl region, brothers Maxim Matyash (23 years old) and Mikhail Velkhovoy (37 years old) were sentenced to long prison terms for the hate-motivated murder of a person of «non-Slavic appearance» in Uglich in 2006. Following the murder, the brothers fled to Ukraine, where they ended up in prison in connection with a separate premeditated killing. They (or at least Matyash) were found behind bars in the town of Volnovakha when it was occupied by Russian troops; they were then tried in the Yaroslavl region.

In Khabarovsk, four citizens of Tajikistan were convicted of the beating, combined with ethnically-charged insults, of two Russian teenagers in a mall.

We became aware of two sentences issued in February against two people for xenophobically motivated vandalism.

Our monitoring showed information about 10 court decisions, against as many people, related to aggressive public statements:

— Three people were sanctioned under Part 1 of Article 282.4 of the Criminal Code (CC) for repeated demonstration of banned symbols; they demonstrated their own Nazi tattoos. Two of these were already in prison, while the other received a suspended sentence.

— One resident of Chuvashia received a suspended sentence under Part 4 Article 354.1 CC (rehabilitation of Nazism online) for the May 2022 publication on social media of a video denying the Holocaust.

— Four people were sentenced to prison time under Part 2 Article 205.2 CC (calls to terrorist activity) for various social media publications, the contents of which remain unknown to us. (We know only that they featured a call to torch the offices of the United Russia party, as well as approval of the explosion on the Crimea Bridge.)

— One Andrei Prikazchikov, leader of a certain «Derzhava Union of Defenders of the Fatherland,» was convicted under articles on discreditation of the army and on disseminating fakes about the army, but there is reason to believe that his statements included calls for violent action.

— In February, a verdict was pronounced in the high-profile case of the student Nikita Zhuravel. A Grozny court found him guilty under Part 2 Article 148 CC (public actions expressing clear disrespect for society and committed with the aim of insulting the religious feelings of believers, committed in places specially designed for worship, other religious rites and ceremonies) and Part 2 Article 213 of CC (hooliganism committed by an organized group by prior conspiracy motivated by religious hatred) and sentenced to a minimum-security penal colony for a period of three and a half years. In May 2023, Zhuravel burned the Quran near a mosque in Volgograd and filmed it. The video was distributed by the Telegram channel Morning Dagestan, combined with inflammatory remarks addressed to Muslims. During interrogation, Zhuravel stated that he acted on the orders of the Ukrainian special services and gave them the video for a reward. We consider the charge of hooliganism to be inappropriate, since Zhuravel did not commit actions that grossly violated public order. We also consider the very presence in the Criminal Code of such terms as «insulting religious feelings» inappropriate. However, the action as a whole consisted of a public attempt on a sacred object, which corresponds to the contents of Part 2 of Article 5.26 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO), and was clearly aimed at inciting religious hatred, which could be qualified under Article 20.3.1 CAO or Article 282 CC depending on the circumstances.

This year so far, we have recorded 23 convictions of 25 individuals on the basis of aggressive public statements.

We are aware of four people fined in February under Article 20.29 CAO (production and distribution of extremist materials) for sharing a video entitled «Nasheed of ISIS». This year to date, we know that ten individuals have been fined for the distribution of xenophobic video clips and images listed in the Federal List of Extremist Materials.

We also learned of 27 people punished under Article 20.3 CAO (propaganda and public display of prohibited symbols). The majority were brought to justice for sharing materials with Nazi symbols, symbols of the banned Islamist organizations ISIS, the Taliban and the Caucasus Emirate as well as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) via social media (VKontakte, Odnoklassniki) and via group chats in Telegram and WhatsApp. Six people were punished for offline activities. One of them drew a Nazi swastika in the snow; the second showed a swastika and the numbers 14/88 on rubber gloves; a third walked around a mall wearing a black jacket with odal runes, popular during the Third Reich (the jacket was confiscated and burned). Three more (two of them, prison inmates) showed others their own swastika tattoos. Four of the 27 were placed under administrative arrest, while the rest were fined. In total, since the beginning of the year, we have learned about 49 cases of sentencing for such offenses.

Further, we are aware that 17 people were fined in February for aggressive statements under Article 20.3.1 CAO (incitement to hatred). Fifteen of them were sanctioned for posting statements on social networks (VKontakte, Odnoklassniki), Telegram and WhatsApp directed against natives of the Caucasus and Central Asia, Roma people, Jews, non-Russians in general, Russians, Muslims, security services officers and police officers. Two people were punished for xenophobic shouting and insults (both directed at Russians), on a bus and in a stadium. In total, since the beginning of the year, we know of 32 such court decisions.

The Federal List of Extremist Materials was not updated in February. On February 1, under item 105, another branch of the «Citizens of the USSR» called the Executive Committee of the Council of People’s Deputies of the Krasnoyarsk Krai" was added in the Federal List of Extremist Organizations organization was added.