The following is our monthly review of instances of xenophobia and radical nationalism, along with any government countermeasures, for September 2023. This September, we recorded no fewer than eight hate-motivated attacks, and one serious murder threat. We learned of several of these upon their publication on ultra-right Telegram channels: ultra-right activists attacking Black people, migrants, street vendors, communists and anarchists with pepper spray.

On October 11, 2023, the Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated. The list has been expanded to include songs and texts by Nazi skinheads praising the “white race” and calls for xenophobic violence, including the book “Skins. Rus' is awakening,” the song of the anarcho-punk group from Kaluga Anticosial Distancing “Obyvalam,” the famous song of the group Contra la Contra or a cover of it.

A 55-year-old believer is accused under CC. 1.1 and 2 art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code. On April 25, 2024, the investigative department of the Russian Investigative Committee for the Karachay-Cherkess Republic reported that the criminal case of a 55-year-old Jehovah's Witness from Cherkessk, accused under Article 2, had been sent to court. 1.1 and 2 art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (recruitment into the activities of an extremist organization and participation in it).

The accusations against Mikhail Zharikov are related, among other things, to the assessment of the role of the collaborationist ROA in the Prague Uprising. On October 20, 2023, the 2nd Western District Military Court sentenced ex-employee of the Nizhny Novgorod hockey club “Torpedo” Mikhail Zharikov to six years in a general regime colony. He was also banned from administering Internet resources for four years. Zharikov was found guilty under paragraph “d” of Part 2 of Art.

The accusations against Mikhail Zharikov are related, among other things, to the assessment of the role of the collaborationist ROA in the Prague Uprising. On October 20, 2023, the 2nd Western District Military Court sentenced ex-employee of the Nizhny Novgorod hockey club “Torpedo” Mikhail Zharikov to six years in a general regime colony. He was also banned from administering Internet resources for four years. Zharikov was found guilty under paragraph “d” of Part 2 of Art.

We are publishing a review of the main and most significant events in the field of unlawful application of anti-extremist legislation in Russia in September 2023. Rulemaking On September 22, bills were introduced to the State Duma to amend a number of articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Criminal Code.

A “citizen of the USSR” from the city of Zvenigovo in the Republic of Mari El is suspected of participating in the activities of an extremist organization. In October 2023, it became known that in Mari El the investigative committee opened a criminal case under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (participation in the activities of an extremist organization). According to the investigative committee, 47-year-old Vladimir I.

On October 12, 2023, the Kavkazsky District Court of the Krasnodar Territory brought to administrative responsibility for “illegal missionary” a citizen of Uzbekistan, Ilesbek Baltaev. He was found guilty under Part 5 of Art. 5.26 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (violation of legislation on freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and religious associations committed by a foreign citizen).

A 55-year-old believer is accused under CC. 1.1 and 2 art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code. On October 12, 2023, the department of the Russian Investigative Committee for the Karachay-Cherkess Republic reported on a criminal case against a 55-year-old Jehovah’s Witness from Cherkessk. The believer is accused according to CC. 1.1 and 2 art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (recruitment into the activities of an extremist organization and participation in it).