The following is our monthly review of instances of xenophobia and radical nationalism, along with any government countermeasures, for December 2024, as well as a preliminary overview of the year.

In December 2024, we recorded nine hate-motivated attacks. We learned of most of these incidents from far-right Telegram channels that posted videos of direct actions, including pepper spray and flares fired at people of “non-Slavic appearance,” and attacks on migrants by far-right individuals armed with hammers.

Since the beginning of the year, we have learned of 244 victims of hate-motivated attacks, one murder and one serious death threat.

In a month, we learned of only one act of xenophobic vandalism: in Serpukhov, unknown individuals tried to set fire to the Nur mosque on Pushechnaya Street. A cell of the NS/WP network, recognized in Russia asterrorist, claimed responsibility. Since the beginning of the year, we have recorded 20 incidents of xenophobic vandalism.

In December, the public activity of Russian nationalists remained as usual.

Activists from the “Russian Community” carried out anti-migrant raids. The “Call of the People” movement boasted that it had achieved the cancellation of a concert of Andrei Rudoy and the Arkady Kots group in Moscow by way of complaints to the FSB and the Prosecutor General's Office.

In Kostroma, a group of activists calling themselves “representatives of the Council of Citizens of the City of Kostroma” filed a statement with the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Kostroma Region, demanding that all dual-citizen Chabad rabbis be recognized as foreign agents.

We have information about five December rulings convicting 29 people of xenophobic violence. All these sentences were issued in cases of mass riots at Makhachkala International Airport in October 2023.

We also learned of one new case on the basis of xenophobic violence, which was initiated this month against two individuals.

Since the beginning of this year, we have recorded 20 such rulings, in which some 64 people were convicted in cases of xenophobic violence.

By our data, there was only one December sentence for xenophobic vandalism. In total, over the course of the year, we learned of seven such sentences, against seven people.

We have noted eight December rulings, convicting 24 people, for participation in extremist communities and organizations. These include “Citizens of the USSR,” supporters of the Ukrainian Freedom of Russia Legion, and AUE. We also learned of three new criminal cases opened in December against three people for participation in AUE and the NS/WP. In total, since the beginning of the year, we have recorded 91 sentences against 175 people for involvement in organizations whose ban we do not consider to be improper.

Meanwhile, we learned of 22 rulings related to aggressive public statements, in which the same number of people were convicted. These include:

• Eight people who were sanctioned under Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code (CC) (propaganda of terrorism) for expressions of approval on social networks of the actions of terrorist groups that attacked a synagogue, churches and traffic police officers in Derbent and Makhachkala; calls for violent acts against Komi State Council Deputy Oleg Mikhailov, State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin and Russian President Vladimir Putin; approval of the activities of Ukrainian groups recognized in the Russian Federation as terrorist — the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC, RDK) and the Freedom of Russia Legion. One person expressed approval of the RVC's activities by writing a corresponding slogan on the wall of a house (and was also convicted under Article 214 CC).


• Four people who wereconvicted under Article 280 CC (public calls for extremist activity) for calls on social networks for violence against Jews, Russian military personnel, police officers, and the Russian president.


• Two people who were convicted under the combination of these two articles for statements that had “signs of incitement to the physical destruction of the President of the Russian Federation and his press secretary” for unknown comments on social networks.


• One personwho was convicted under Article 354.1 CC (rehabilitation of Nazism) for postingtext and photos on a social network, the content of which, according to the findings of a linguistic study, was “aimed at denying the facts established by the verdict of the International Military Tribunal.”


• Five people who were sanctioned under Article 282.4 CC (repeated display of prohibited symbols). Two of them showed their own tattoos with Nazi and AUE symbols, while three of them published prohibited symbols on social networks.

Fourteen of the 22 people were sentenced to imprisonment, four to suspended sentences, three to fines, and one to correctional labor.

Most of those sentenced to imprisonment were convicted under other articles of the Criminal Code or were already in prison.

Five people were convicted for statements made in the absence of information about the circumstances that contributed to the sentencing of these people to imprisonment:

• A military court in Yekaterinburg sentenced a resident of Chelyabinsk to six years in a minimum-security penal colony under Article 205.2 Part 2 CC; the defendant had posted a comment of approval on social media under a news post about the riots in Derbent and Makhachkala.


• The Central District Military Court in Samara sentenced 30-year-old electrician Vladimir Bayramov to two years in prison under Article 205.2 Part 2 CC for a comment on VKontakte in which Bayramov suggested “fighting” Putin and his officials because they are forcing people to participate in the Special Military Operation.


• In Tver, the Moscow District Court sentenced a 32-year-old man to two years in a penal colony under Article 280 Part 2 CC for publishing materials on Telegram calling for violence against “Russians” and “Russian military personnel.”


• The Kirov District Court of Crimea sentenced a resident of Stary Krym to two years in a penal colony under Article 280 Part 2 CC for comments in chat communities on Telegram, in which he expressed a “negative attitude” towards the Special Military Operation and called for “carrying out extremist activities motivated by national hatred against individuals who are Russian by nationality.”


• The Vasileostrovsky District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced Marina Voronova to one year and two months in a penal colony underArticle 280 Part 2 CC for publishing a post on Facebook under the pseudonym “Olesya Ukrainka” in which experts found a call to commit violent acts, the end result of which was the “proclamation of a sovereign Ural state.”

This year in total, we have recorded 266 rulings on the basis of aggressive public statements, in which 283 people were convicted.

We also learned of 14 new cases initiated in December on the basis of similar such statements.

We know of only two people fined in December under Article 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO) (production and distribution of extremist materials) for distributing a xenophobic text and audio recording. Since the beginning of the year, we have learned of 103 people punished under this article.

We have also learned of 17 people brought to justice under Article 20.3 CAO, for publicly displaying Nazi symbols. Three people, including two prisoners, displayed their own tattoos with the swastika and other Nazi symbols; one drew the swastika on his neighbors’ door; and another threw a fascist salute. The rest posted prohibited images on VKontakte and Telegram. The court sentenced one to administrative arrest, while the rest were fined. Since the beginning of the year, we have noted 710 cases of punishment for displaying symbols of prohibited organizations adhering to xenophobic ideology.

We have information about 10 people fined in December for aggressive statements under Article 20.3.1 CAO (incitement to hatred). The reason was posts on social networks (on VKontakte, Facebook and Odnoklassniki) directed against natives of the Caucasus and Central Asia, Russian citizens living in Georgia, medical workers, migrants, Azerbaijani skinheads, representatives of the “Great Turan,” a certain group of people “which includes Ivleeva,” motorcyclists and representatives of unnamed ethnic groups. In total, since the beginning of the year, we know of 339 such court decisions.

The Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated twice this month, on December 5 and 17, to account for new entries 5443–5444. The list was supplemented by the Russian-language edition of The Satanic Bible by American occultist Anton Szandor LaVey, and the track “Columbine” by rappers Slava KPSS (Vyacheslav Mashnov) and Zamai (Andrey Zamai). In total, the List was supplemented by 38 entries so far this year.

The list of organizations recognized as extremist by Russian courts was expanded twice in December. Another association of “Citizens of the USSR” was added, as well as an “Association whose members are: Kolesnikov Boris Viktorovich, born on 25.10.1962 in Donetsk, Akhmetov Rinat Leonidovich, born on 21.09.1966 in Donetsk, Akhmetova-Aidarova Tatyana Igorevna, born on 28.06.1983, Kiy Sergei Viktorovich, born on 21.12.1969 in Susuman, Magadan Region, Taktashev Renat Zhiganovich, born on 24.07.1986 in Moscow, Taktasheva Raisa Saitovna, born on 20.06.1960 in Donetsk, Taktasheva Elmira Zhiganovna, born on 03.05.1984 in Mosrentgen, Leninsky district of the Moscow region, Chertkov Yuri Dmitrievich, born 16.05.1962 in Donetsk.” In total, the Federal List of Extremist Organizations was replenished by 13 new entries over the course of this year. At the same time, item 109, under which the “Anti-Russian separatist movement” and its structural divisions were included in the list, contains 55 different associations.