Russian nationalism and xenophobia

We are publishing a review of anti-extremist enforcement in April 2026 as it applies to public speech, organized activity, and attacks on physical objects unrelated to xenophobia.

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

We are publishing a review of anti-extremist enforcement in March 2026 as it applies to public speech, organized activity, and attacks on physical objects unrelated to xenophobia.

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

On the evening of March 20, 2026, a group of young people attacked worshippers as they were leaving Moscow Choral Synagogue, located near the Kitay-Gorod metro station.

This report provides an analytical review of how Russian anti-extremism laws were used in 2025 to regulate public speech and organized activities.

This is an analytic review focused on the phenomenon, known as hate crimes – that is, on ordinary criminal offenses committed on the grounds of ethnic, religious or other similar enmity or prejudice.

Over the course of 2025, the legislation of interest to us — on countering extremism and terrorism, as well as related provisions affecting freedom of expression and freedom of association — underwent a number of significant changes. Most of them were aimed at tightening regulations, with some exceptions. In this report, we summarize the most important changes, as well as several relevant decisions of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Russia.

This report is an analytical review of anti-extremist legislation and its use in 2024 to regulate public speech and organized activities. Unlike in previous years, we have decided to merge the review into one, addressing law enforcement in general and related abuses together. Drawing on our monitoring data and official statistics, we present an analysis of law enforcement across several parameters.

In recent years, SOVA Center has been monitoring the application of specific articles of the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses that regulate public statements. This report summarizes our observations on how these legal norms were applied in 2023 and 2024.

SOVA Center took part in the OSCE conference "ODIHR: three decades and ready for the future" in Warsaw on October 14-15, 2021.

On June 3, 2021, SOVA Center and the Conflict Analysis and Prevention Center held a seminar “Prevention of Right-Wing Radical and Religiously Motivated Violent Extremism. In Search of a Positive Experience.” See the full video of the seminar.