The following is our monthly review of instances of xenophobia and radical nationalism, along with any government countermeasures, for February 2025.
In February 2025, according to our data, eight people were targeted in hate-motivated physical attacks. One of them was beaten to death by a group of adolescents in the Moscow Region.
This year to date, no fewer than 24 people have suffered in hate-motivated attacks.
We did not record any acts of xenophobic vandalism committed in February. So far this year, we have recorded three such incidents.
Ultra-right vigilantism continued this month.
The “Russian Community” and a few other groups demanded that the Kamchatsky Krai administration ban a concert of “sick musicians” and “Satanists” from the group Autopsy Night, and announced the collecting of signatures to petition for its cancelation. In the end, the concert was canceled “on the basis of strong pressure from the side of certain authorities on the concert venue,” as well as because on information that “a certain group of people was preparing a provocation.”
Ahead of Maslenitsa (Butter Week,a Slavic folk holiday before Great Lent), the fight for “traditional values” continued. The “Russian Community” appealed to law enforcement agencies, demanding that they “take measures” against the celebration of Maslenitsa in the Nikola-Lenivets art park. According to the applicants, holding the holiday in the Kaluga Region art park promotes “obviously hostile symbols for the Russian world, both religious and political in nature,” since neo-pagans, esotericists, shamans and even Satanists regularly perform their rituals in this place. The main character of the Maslenitsa celebration at Nikola-Lenivets, the “Russian Community argued,” is the horseman of the Apocalypse, surrounded by 24 ominous mills which symbolize the countries that signed the “Ukrainian agreement” on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington. The height of the towers is 26 meters, which, according to the authors of the appeal, is also symbolic, since this document was also signed by the heads of the European Council and the European Commission.
Opponents of the construction of a mosque in the Perm microdistrict of Verkhnyaya Kurya held a protest in early February: they installed snowmen at the construction site, dressed them in niqabs and attached signs to them saying “I will cool the ardor of any migrant,” “White women for black guests,” an so on.
The “Call of the People”(Zov naroda) movement appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee with a demand to conduct an investigation of a salesperson at Pyaterochka, a chain grocery store, for LGBT propaganda due to dyed hair. Later, Pyaterochka management reported that this person no longer works at the store.
Following public appeals from “Call of the People,” the Yeltsin Center in Yekaterinburg was forced to remove from the exhibition the works of Alisa Gorshenina, whom the organization accused of involvement in the creation of the anti-war video clip “Swan Lake” by the group Pussy Riot.
In February we learned of three rulings, against 14 people, for xenophobically-motivated violence.
Eight participants in the mass riots at Makhachkala International Airport in October 2023 were sentenced to prison time by Stavropol Krai courts under Article 212 Part 2of the Criminal Code (CC) (participation in mass riots accompanied by violence, pogroms, destruction of property, use of objects dangerous to others, as well as armed resistance to a government official) and Article 263.1 Part 3 CC (failure to comply with transport safety requirements at transport infrastructure facilities and vehicles, if this act negligently resulted in major damage, committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy).
Six far-right activists received suspended sentences for attacking anti-fascists in St. Petersburg.
In addition, we learned of four criminal cases against 10 people that were opened in February for attacks motivated by hatred.
In total, since the beginning of the year, we have learned of eight convictions against 30 people for xenophobic violence, and one for xenophobic vandalism.
We also noted three sentences for involvement in extremist communities and organizations against three people: for the creation of the ultra-right Internet community “Omsk Slavic Association,” as well as participation in the activities of the banned “Artpodgotovka” and “Prisoners’ Criminal Unity” (AUE).
In February, there were reports of four new criminal cases opened during the month, against 18 people, for participating in the activities of banned associations of “Citizens of the USSR,” the “Russian Volunteer Corps” (RDK), and an unnamed far-right community.
In total, since the beginning of the year, we have learned of seven sentences against seven people in cases of involvement in communities and organizations recognized as extremist or terrorist, excluding clearly improper sentences.
We have information about 21 convictions for aggressive public statements in February against 21 people. They include:
— Nine people convicted under Article 205.2 Part 2 CC (calls for the implementation or justification of terrorist activity) for posting comments on VKontakte, Telegram, YouTube and unnamed social networks approving the actions of terrorists in the attack at Crocus City Hall and the bombing of the Crimean Bridge, as well as calls for blowing up military registration and enlistment offices, setting fire to police stations, and assassinating the President of Russia.
— Two people sanctioned under a combination of Articles 205.2 and 280 СС (calls for extremist activity): the administrator of the Telegram channel “Shahid,” and a certain native of Central Asia for unknown statements in Telegram.
— One person convicted under Articles 205.2 and 282 Part 1 CC (incitement of national hatred) for sharing xenophobic materials, and a post promoting the ideology of the RDK, via Odnoklassniki.
— One person convicted under a combination of Articles 205.2 and 280.4 CC (calls for activities against state security) for posts on social networks calling for active actions in support of Ukraine.
— One person sanctioned under Articles 205.2 and 275.1 CC (confidential cooperation with a representative of a foreign state) for correspondence on Telegram with employees of the Ukrainian intelligence service and the publication on Telegram of a video calling for joining the ranks of the banned Freedom of Russia Legion and the RDK.
— One personconvicted under a combination of Articles 280 and 275 (high treason) and Article 222 Part 1 CC (illegal acquisition and storage of ammunition) for transmitting information about Russian military personnel to a Ukrainian representative. It is unknown what the calls for extremism were.
— Three people convicted under Article 280 CC for posting comments on social networks and YouTube calling for violent actions against ethnic Russians, non-Russians and the authorities in power in the Russian Federation.
— One person convicted under Article 282 Part 2paragraph "a" CC (incitement of hatred with the threat of violence) in connection with statements against ethnic Russians in an audio chat on Telegram. The recording of the conversations was distributed in the public domain through the channel of the far-right blogger Vladislav Pozdnyakov.
— Two people punished under Article 282.4 Part 1 CC (repeated display of prohibited symbols) for tattoos with Nazi symbols. One of them, a prisoner, showed tattoos to other prisoners; the second posted his own photos with tattoos on VKontakte.
Fourteen people were imprisoned, three given suspended sentences, four were fined, and one was sentenced to corrective labor.
Some of those sentenced to imprisonment for their statements were convicted under other articles of the Criminal Code or were already in prison.
In the absence of information about the circumstances that would have led to the imposition of imprisonment, seven people were sentenced to such punishment.
The First Western District Military Court sentenced the creator of the Telegram channel “Shahid,”Sardorbek Umidbekugli Otakhanov, to five years in a minimum-security penal colony under Article 205.2 Part 2and Article 280 Part 2 CC for publishing in his own public channel the posts “Modern Theory of Jihad” and “In order to cut Jews...”; the first of them called on Muslims to engage in terrorist activity, the second – to exterminate Jews.
The Second Western District Military Court sentenced low-current systems installer Abdinasir uulu Bekzat, a citizen of Kyrgyzstan, to three years in prison under Article 205.2 Part 2 CC for a comment in a Telegram channel, where he called the terrorists from Crocus City Hall “handsome guys” and “expressed regret” that they were detained.
The First Western District Military Court sentenced a native of Central Asia to five years in a minimum-security penal colony under Article 205.2 Part 2 and Article 280 Part 2 CC for posting certain statements on Telegram “aimed at justifying terrorist and extremist activity.”
The Southern District Military Court sentenced a 48-year-old resident of Krasnodar to two years in a minimum-security penal colony under Article 205.2 Part 2 CC for four comments in a public chat on a messenger: he called for setting military registration and enlistment offices and police stations on fire and overthrowing the government.
The Central District Military Court sentenced a resident of Perm Krai to six years in aminimum-security penal colony under Article 205.2 Part 2 CC for sharing materials justifying the bombing of the Crimean Bridge.
In the Murmansk Region, a court sentenced a local resident to three years in a minimum-security penal colony under Article 205.2 Part 2 CC for posting comments on a social network approving a terrorist act in Murmansk.
In Samara, a court sentenced musician Andrei Shabanov to six years in a minimum-security penal colony under Article 205.2 Part 2 and Article 280.4 Part 2 paragraph "c" CC for posts on social networks about the actions of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine. According to investigators, Shabanov called for fighting Vladimir Putin and the current government as a whole by financially supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the “Freedom of Russia” Legion and RDK, as well as through sabotage.
We also learned about nine new criminal cases opened in February on the basis of public statements.
In total, since the beginning of the year, we have learned of 56 convictions, of the same number of people,on the basis of aggressive public statements.
We know of seven people fined in February under Article 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO) (production and distribution of extremist materials) — for sharing on VKontakte the film Romper Stomper, popular with the ultra-right; a xenophobic picture with the caption “Take an axe! Meet the guests from the mountains”; material with the slogan “Orthodoxy or death”; and an audio recording of “Nashid – theanthem of ISIS.” Since the beginning of the year, we have learned of 12 cases of penalties for distributing materials from the Federal List of Extremist Materials.
We also learned of 22 people punished under Article 20.3 CAO (propaganda and public display of prohibited symbols). Two thirds of them (15 out of 22) were sanctioned for publishing materials with Nazi symbols, while one third had posted symbols of banned Islamist organizations ISIS, Taliban and “Caucasus Emirate.” The publications were mainly made on VKontakte and groups in Telegram and WhatsApp. Four people were punished for offline actions: three showed their own tattoos with Nazi symbols, and one drew a swastika on a piece of paper. Six of the 22 were sentenced to administrative arrest, and the rest were fined. In total, since the beginning of the year, we have learned of 78 cases of punishment for such offenses.
We have information about 17 people punished in February for aggressive statements under Article 20.3.1 CAO (incitement to hatred). Sixteen of them were held accountable for publications on social networks (VKontakte, Odnoklassniki) and in Telegram groups for statements about natives of Central Asia, the Caucasus, non-Slavs in general, ethnic Russians and citizens of Russia generally, as well as calls for violence against the president and corrupt officials. A Moscow resident was fined for a xenophobic street attack on two sisters wearing hijabs, accompanied by demands to “go back to their country” and statements that their appearance supported male violence against women. One person out of the 17 was sentenced to administrative arrest and the rest were fined. In total, since the beginning of the year, we know of 40 such rulings.
The Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated three times in February (on February 5, 7 and 19), with entries 5455–5457 added. The list came to include songs condemning the actions of the Russian military in Ukraine, one of them associated with the “Freedom of Russia” Legion, and Dmitry Dvoryadkin's book The Word of the Prophet Antichrist, the content of which raises doubts about the author's mental adequacy.
