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Discussion

As soon as one year after the start of the war in Ukraine, the rise of the far-right movement, which had been in crisis for several years, became one of the significant changes in Russian political landscape. Its far-right end, almost completely eliminated in 2015-2018, gave new sprouts, and since 2023 we are able to state that the history of Russian nationalists has begun a new cycle.

The most rapidly developing segment of the nationalist field has been the "new far-right," which, unlike their fellow nationalists of the 2000s and 2010s who focused on "fighting the system," seeks the opposite: to integrate into it and exploit the dangerous convergence of the official political language with the far-right ideology. The Special Military Operation, anti-migrant rhetoric of the officials, the fight against liberal values and their proponents, moral conservatism and intolerance to many manifestations of "otherness" - these are the trends coming from above that the "new far-right" today are using as guidance in their interaction with the authorities, positioning themselves as the vanguard of the struggle for the "new order".

It was largely due to the rise of such groups that those ultra-right who were not planning to converge with the system and play by the rules have also become more active. The latter are, first and foremost, the new nationalist groups that focus on street violence. True to the modus operandi and style of the militant neo-Nazis of the 2000s, they revived, in a short period of time, almost all forms of activity of this milieu. Street warfare against anti-fascists, attacks on people with “non-Slavic appearance,” “hunting down pedophiles,” and marches under neo-Nazi slogans - these are just some of the phenomena that seemed to have faded into oblivion, but have returned to the agenda.

While loyal nationalists are lining up in the shape of letter Z, marching in religious processions, participating in police raids, and writing denunciations against political and cultural enemies, the new “autonomists” are slashing tires and burning cars with Z-symbols, putting up flyers with protest or anti-migrant slogans, beating up non-locals and those whose lifestyle and thoughts they do not like.

Together with officials and public figures who promote imperialist and right-wing conservative values, these two segments, while often hostile and critical towards each other, are bringing Russian nationalism back into the life of the Russian society.