The following is our monthly review of instances of xenophobia and radical nationalism, along with any government countermeasures, for September 2026.

 

In September 2026, we became aware of hate crimes in which two people suffered injuries. We learned of these incidents via posts on far-right Telegram channels. This year to date, we have recorded 119 incidents of hate-motivated violence, including two murders.

From such Telegram channels, we also learned of two arson attacks on cars belonging to “foreigners” committed in September. In total, we have become aware of 22 acts of xenophobic vandalism since the beginning of the year.

 

On September 6, which marks the Feast of the Synaxis of the Saints of Moscow, about 100,000 people gathered in the city for a procession led by Patriarch Kirill. Similarly to last year, the procession was notable in its inclusion of Russian nationalist organizations. According to observers from SOVA Center present at the scene, about two thousand Russian nationalists participated. Those represented included societies connected to Russian Orthodox oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, including Tsargrad, Russian Druzhina, Double-Headed Eagle, the Union of Orthodox Women, and Brotherhood of Academicians, a student organization. Participants from the “Russian Community” (Russkaya Obschina, RO) and Northern Man also participated in the event, and started a row over queues. In contrast to last year, RO – despite having greater representation than all other groups in the aggregate – did not form a single column this year, nor did they carry their own banners. The procession also included members of the Forty Forties movement, the Cossacks, Society.Future and some other smaller groups: the National-Liberation Movement (NOD), two people from the Call of the People, a few participants of the Moscow branch of the Russian Imperial movement, and six people from the Right Russia Party. Individual participants in the procession included publicist Egor Kholmogorov; leader of the National Party, Ivan Otrakovsky; far-right blogger Roman Antonovskiy; Svyat Pavlov, editor-in-chief of the media project Pod Lyod and co-founder of the Telegram channel Ordinary Tsarism; and MMA fighter Maksim Divnich.

A similar procession was held in St. Petersburg on September 12, and brought out about 90,000 people. We noted participants from many nationalist organizations, including Double-Headed Eagle and the Brotherhood of Academicians, the Forty Forties, “Russian Community” (which, in contrast to the Moscow branch, led its own column), Northern Man, the Russian Imperial movement and with the Imperial Legion, the “Petrograd domain” of Society.Future, members of the Nevsky Cossack community, and other Cossacks from the Nevskaya Sech community of the town of Sestroretsk. It was reported that one participant wore a patch associated with PMC Wagner.

In early September, nationalists also participated in processions in other regions of Russia. One such procession took place on September 6 in Irkutsk. Members of the “Russian Community” participated in the march and also acted as security.

In Kalmykia, the procession took place on September 10 as part of celebrations around the 80-year anniversary of a purported vision of Christ in Elista. Celebrations were reported actively by Tsargrad; the channel’s owner Konstantin Malofeev arrived to Kalmykia ahead of the event. There, he appeared at the graduation of the regional “Club 2050,” awarded participants of the Special Military Operation with “tsargrad crosses,” and referred to Kalmykia as the “southern outpost of the Russian World.”

The “Russian Community” also defended Orthodoxy in other ways. In September, Orenburg members of the “community” accused a Muslim man of illegal missionary work over an argument with a Christian teenager about faith, while in Omsk, they demanded the removal of graffiti depicting Harry Potter, calling for his replacement with depictions of Russian saints.

 

The “Russian Community,” Russian Druzhina and Northern Man all continued their traditional vigilante raids in September.  We have recorded an average of some 16 such raids, which almost exclusively target migrants, per week.

In the Rostov Region, RO protested against the candidacy of the Vasif Yunusov, an “earlier convicted representative of the Azerbaijani diaspora,” for the post of local deputy. To the pleasure of the organization, Yunusov was removed from the ballot.

In Moscow, the September 2026 State Duma elections saw the participation of Aleksandr Shprygin, who is famous among football hooligans by the nickname “Kamancha.” Shprygin was the LDPR candidate for the Leningradsky district, took 2.18% of votes, and dropped out of the race.

RO actively participated in the “security” at poll sites, in particular, in the Krasnodar Krai and Volgograd Region.

 

We are aware of only one September conviction for ideologically motivated violent crimes. In Krasnodar, a court sentenced one Boris Medvedev to four and a half years in a prison colony under paragraph “a” of Art. 111, Part 3 of the Criminal Code (intentional and hate-motivated infliction of grievous bodily harm committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy). In December 2024, together with comrades, Medvedev attacked a passerby after questioning him on his political views. The court noted that, at the time of the attack, the defendant had been a minor.

We also learned of three similar criminal cases, against six individuals, initiated in September. Among them, in the Perm Krai, four members (Efim Nelzin and three minors) of the ultra-right group “Crazy Team” were detained. They are suspected of no fewer than five attacks on people of “non-Slavic appearance,” antifascists, and others they believed to be pedophiles.

In total, we are aware of 19 convictions of 45 people, delivered so far this year on the basis of xenophobic violence.

 

In September we recorded one ruling regarding vandalism motivated by ethnic and religious hatred. In Serpukhov, Moscow Region, two far-right individuals were convicted of their attempted arson of a mosque in December 2024. One defendant was sentenced to 18 years in prison, while the second – who was a minor at the time of commission of the offense – was referred for compulsory psychiatric treatment. So far this year we have learned of five such convictions, against seven individuals.

 

We address prosecution under other provisions of anti-extremism legislation in a separate review.