The argument of the Russian president, when he invaded Ukraine in 2022, it was among others “the de-Nazification of Ukraine”. In a way, Putin was implying that there are no violent far-right movements, no far-right political violence. But according to data from RUSI, the British Institute for Defense and Security Studies, between 2000 and 2017, 495 incidents of far-right political violence were recorded in Russia, which caused the death of 459 people.
The two groups for and against Putin
The violence of the Russian Far Right has come back into the news with a recent BBC documentary about the far-right organization “Russian Community” (Russkaya Obshchina), whose members target immigrants and . The “Russian Community”, which supports Putin, carries out raids and operations in cooperation with the security authorities. There is, however, another part of the Russian Far Right, which, although it also praises Christian Orthodox Russia and is hostile to “corrupt west”, opposes Putin and fights against him in Ukraine. The most powerful representative of this anti-Putin Far Right is the organization “Corps of Russian Volunteers”.
Speaking to “Vima”, o Alexander Verkovsky, head of the independent research center Sova (which Putin suspended in 2023 and now operates under a new regime), reports that “Among the many organizations of Russian nationalists, the “Russian Community” is the largest. It functions more like a paramilitary group “taking the law into its own hands”. He supports traditional values, the government, the Russian Orthodox Church and the war against Ukraine. Its targets are mainly immigrants and those who develop “non-traditional activities”, and not only actions related to LGBTI issues. The Russian police do not stop her and in many cases (about 40% of their raids in recent months) cooperate with her.”
Riots with the police
OR Elisabetta Goffmanassistant professor of Russian Politics at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, points out in “Vima” that “The raids of the “Russian Community” against “illegal immigrants” and non-Slavic ethnic groups often result in pogroms. The organization is popular in Russia – it has around 600,000 subscribers on Telegram.” From 2023 to 2025 members of the organization took part in more than 900 raids and operations, of which 300 were carried out together with police forces.
Although it claims to run on donations from its members, according to the BBC’s investigation the “Russian Community” is funded by foundations linked to the Sergei Mikheev, political analyst and supporter of Putin, and the billionaire Igor Khudokormovalso a supporter of the Russian president.
Khudokormov, owner of the agricultural group Prodimeks, with a fortune of 1.7 billion dollars, is ranked 90th on the “Forbes” list of Russian billionaires. Known as the “sugar king”, he is considered one of Russia’s largest landowners. He rarely appears in public and participates in the circle of the vice president of the Russian government Dmitry Patrusev.
Official cooperation with the Russian Church
“Russian Community” was founded in 2020 as a community “which unites Russians on the basis of mutual aid” and has more than a hundred branches across the country. “From 2025, the Russian Church officially cooperates with it, something quite unusual for itself” Verkovski points out in “Step”.. “The organization has strong ties to Orthodox far-right organizations, such as the ‘Sorok Sorokov’ movement, an Orthodox fundamentalist organization. The religious dimension is strong in many of its actions. For example, he actively participates in campaigns against the construction of mosques in Russia” adds Gauffman.
The founders of the “Russian Community” are mentioned as Andrei Tkachukformer vice-chairman of the city council of Omsk, o Yevgeny Chesnokovformer coordinator of the anti-abortion movement “Za Zhizn!” (For Life!), and o Andrei Afanasyevhost of the religious TV channel Spas.
According to the independent Russian media outlet Meduza, many of its members are ex-soldiers who have returned wounded from the war in Ukraine and are looking for a role in Russian society.
Neo-Nazis against the Kremlin
On January 26, the “anti-Putin” far-right organization “Russian Volunteer Corps” presented the political program it intends to implement if it succeeds in seizing power by force. The Russian historian Marina Simakova reported in the French political review “Le Grand Continent” that the war in Ukraine opened a new phase in “fight to the end” between the Putin regime and Russian nationalists such as the “Russian Volunteer Corps”.
This organization was founded in August 2022 by the neo-Nazi activist Denis Kapustina former organizer of boxing matches in Moscow, who, according to the “Washington Post”, has been banned from entering Western Europe since 2019 due to far-right hooliganism. Russia considers Kapustin a terrorist.
Gaufman tells “Vima” that the main motivation of this organization’s participation in the war for Ukraine is, as stated on her Telegram channel, that “Putin and his people are destroying Russians as an ethnicity. Therefore, the battle against Russia is linked to the organization’s ultimate goal: the creation of an ethnically “pure” state on Russian soil.”.
On the contrary, for Verkowski, “the ““Russian Volunteer Corps” was founded by neo-Nazis who fled Russia years ago, acts as part of the Ukrainian military and has no influence inside Russia”. Himself considers more dangerous “the small underground groups of neo-Nazi teenagers who focus on hate crimes targeting workers, immigrants, the homeless and LGBTQI’.
As for the role of Russian nationalists in the war in Ukraine, Verkovsky tells us that “the Russian army has no real nationalist battalions. There are two units created by football hooligans (most of whom were far-right), but the main hooligan order, called ‘Espaniola’, was disbanded this year.”.
