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

In November 2023, we recorded no fewer than 20 hate-motivated attacks; two victims were killed in such attacks. We learned of the majority of these by way of video clips posted to ultra-right Telegram channels depicting attacks on migrants and unhoused people.

Among these were nine clips uploaded on November 4: groups of young men pepper-sprayed a halal food seller, a man presumed to be a migrant, and a drunk person (who they also kicked while he was on the ground). They also chased passersby, slashed bicycle tires, torched a car with Chechen license plates, broke glass in a vegetable stall, slashed a banner advertising halal products, slashed tires on a van, and kicked cars. The author of a video showing an attack on a van was detained by police.

Aside from those, two armed men barged into the Moscow restaurant Hello, India!, threw the fascist salute and shouted both pro-Palestinian and antisemitic slogans. There were no injuries, and both men were detained.

Since the beginning of the year, according to our data, 118 people have suffered as a result of hate-motivated attacks, three have been murdered, and one received a serious death threat.

We also recorded two acts of xenophobic vandalism this month. In the village of Marushkino, in Novaya Moskva, unknown assailants attempted to torch a church erected in honor of the Georgian Icon of the Mother of God. Meanwhile, in St. Petersburg, neo-Nazis destroyed an impromptu memorial at the site of the November 13, 2005 murder of antifascist musician Timur Kacharava.

In total, we have become aware of 19 acts of xenophobically-motivated vandalism so far this year.

Russian nationalists came out in force on November 4 for the “Russian March,” conducting “agit-raids” and going on historical tours. Approximately 15 people gathered for an “educational excursion” at the Vasiliev Museum of Slavic Culture in northern Moscow. Meanwhile, another group of ultra-right Russians from the Nationalist Movement made their way to the Solzhenitsyn Museum of the Russian Abroad in Central Moscow. In St. Petersburg, about ten people attended an exhibition entitled “Empire on the Way to Modernity” at the Historical Museum. One attendee, Dmitri Vasiliev, was detained by police as he exited the museum, taken to the station and fined 500 rubles for petty hooliganism.

In Veliky Novgorod, five people with Russian imperial and modern flags held a protest “against Islamization” in support of Nikita Zhuravel, a teen known for burning a Quran.

In Nizhny Novgorod, members of the local Council of Nationalists held a meeting that gathered 16 people, who took pictures with the imperial flag.

In Perm, an impromptu memorial was built “in memory of 10 million Russians” – the number by which the population of ethnically Russian people decreased from 2002 to 2021, according to census data. In addition, a teen pasted a leaflet “Down with the Tsar, save Russia” on the Grieving Mother monument at a local cemetery; a criminal case was initiated against him under Part 1 of Article 280 of the Criminal Code (CC) (public calls for extremist activity) – in our opinion, without proper grounds.

In Yaroslavl, six people carrying the imperial flag gathered at the monument to Yaroslav the Wise, and also wrote the slogans “Freedom to Russians” and “Glory to Russia” on a residential building. Propaganda campaigns took place in 24 regions total, with activists pasting stickers on poles and fences, and painting graffiti on walls and benches.

As far as other ultra-right activity in November, we would note the November 24 march in Volgograd: about a dozen skinheads from the Russian National Sunrise threw the fascist salute and shouted various nationalist slogans including “Glory to Russia,” “Russians forward” and “Russia for Russians,” as well as the regionalist slogan “Volga Region for Volzhans.”

According to our data so far, there were no hate crime convictions in November.

However, the Second Western District Military Court sentenced the well-known neo-Nazi Denis Kapustin (Nikitin, also known as “White Rex”), leader of the Russian Volunteer Corps, to life in absentia for committing a terrorist act (para “b” of Part 3 Article 205 CC), illegal trafficking in weapons (Part 4 of Article 222 CC) and illegal trafficking in explosives (Part 4 of Article 222.1 CC).

This year to date, we have recorded 18 convictions on charges of xenophobic violence, delivered against 36 individuals; and five convictions, of eight individuals, on xenophobic vandalism charges.

According to our data, 15 people were convicted in November for participation in extremist communities and organizations, among them, the “Citizens of the USSR,” supporters of the Ukrainian “Right Sector” and participants in ultra-right groups, for example members of NORD and NS/WP, which Russian courts have designated as a terrorist organization.

The NS/WP member was institutionalized, while sentencing is pending on the other cases.

So far this year, we have recorded 83 such convictions, issued against 134 individuals.

In November alone, we recorded 18 convictions on the basis of aggressive public statements, issued against 24 individuals. Among them:

- Three people were convicted under Article 280 CC (public calls for extremist activities) for social network posts calling for violence against the president of Russia, police officers, members of the National Guard and other government officials, as well as for the arson of administration buildings and military registration and enlistment offices.

- Three people were conviction under Article 205.2 CC (propaganda of terrorism) for publications in which the Crimean Bridge was named as a legitimate military target, calls to blow up the Ostankino TV tower and other calls for terrorist activities, the content of which is unknown to us.

- Two people were sentenced under a combination of these two articles for promoting Islamic State (banned in Russia as a terrorist organization), and for calls for violence against non-Muslims and law enforcement officers.

- Three people were convicted under Article 354.1 CC (rehabilitation of Nazism). Of these, two had been charged for online publications of certain materials “endorsing the ideology of Nazism and the activities of the SS troops” and posts “directed against the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland, expressing disrespect for Victory Day.” A third was sentenced to forced labor for throwing a Nazi salute at the monument to Olga Berggolts, heroine of the Siege of Leningrad.

- Seven people were convicted under Article 282.4 CC (repeated propaganda or public display of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols, or paraphernalia or symbols of extremist organizations). Five of them were colony inmates convicted for showing their own swastika tattoos, while the other two had repeatedly posted pictures of Nazi symbols on social networks.

- One person was convicted under Article 205.2, 282 (incitement of national hatred) and Article 148 CC (insulting the religious feelings of believers) for publishing comments on the Znak.com Telegram channel inciting national hatred, calling for violence against law enforcement officers, and supporting certain “radical movements” – as well as calls for sabotage. 

- The rest were convicted under a combined charge of Articles 280 and 205.2 CC, plus other terrorism-related articles, for unknown propaganda offenses.

This year so far, we have recorded no fewer than 206 rulings on the basis of public statements, in which 234 people were convicted. (As noted above, this does not account for rulings we consider to be improper.)

Our monitoring did not show any cases in November in relation to Article 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO) (production and distribution of extremist materials). In 2023 to date, we know that 95 individuals have been sanctioned under this particular article.

In November we know of 35 people punished under Article 20.3 CAO (propaganda and public display of Nazi symbols). Eight people – seven of them being colony inmates – showed others their tattoos with swastikas and other Nazi symbols. One person, in Izhevsk, painted three swastikas on the facade of a building. Another played an audio recording of a speech by Hitler over a loudspeaker at the Yaroslavl-Glavny railway station. Five people were sentenced to administrative arrest, while the rest were fined. In total, since the beginning of the year, we are aware that 516 people have faced some kind of sanction for such offenses.

Our monitoring also showed that 16 people were sanctioned in November for xenophobic statements under Article 20.3.1 CAO (incitement to hatred) for publication on social networks (VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and Telegram) of materials directed against Black people, Ukrainians, ethnic Russians, Tatars, Jews, Roma, non-Slavs in general and unspecified “representatives of certain ethnic groups,” as well as Muslims and ministers of the Orthodox Church, and also of calls for violence against representatives of government bodies and police officers. Of the sixteen, one person was sentenced to community service, two were sentenced to administrative arrest and the rest were fined. In total, since the beginning of the year, we know of 277 such rulings.

Finally, the Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated three times, on November 13, 14 and 15, to account for new entries 5396–5405. The new additions include racist poems by Marina Strukova, Russian National Unity member since 1998, songs by the neo-pagan nationalist group Planych and Ogneyar, and an interview with Сhechen militant leader Shamil Basaev killed in 2006.