Narrative
Narrative of the Organization's History
Narrative of the Organization's History
Leadership, Name Changes, Size Estimates, Resources, Geographic Locations
Ideology, Aims, Political Activities, Targets, and Tactics
First Attacks, Largest Attacks, Notable Attacks
Foreign Designations and Listings, Community Relations, Relations with Other Groups, State Sponsors and External Influences
Mapping relationships with other militant groups over time in regional maps
RIM’s ideology can be considered white supremacist, monarchist, ultra-nationalist, pro-Russian Orthodox, and anti-Semitic. The group advocates the re-establishment of the pre-1917 Russian empire and calls for the Russian state to exert influence over all territory inhabited by ethnic Russians.[109] In pursuit of this goal, RIM has sent foreign fighters to join pro-Russian separatists in combat in eastern Ukraine.[110] RIM valorizes the institutions of the monarchy and the Russian Orthodox Church, holding that the former holds all political authority and the latter all spiritual authority.[111] As such, the group opposes the current regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin.[112] The Sova Center, a Moscow-based think tank that researches Russian extremist groups, notes that while RIM cultivates relationships with neo-Nazi groups, its own ideology is not neo-Nazi.[113]
RIM’s ideology blends ethnic and religious nationalism. Thee group views the Russian identity as inherently tied to Orthodox christianity. Analysis of the group’s social media show roughly 40% of posts reference Orthodox Christianity. RIM argues many Russian people have disconnected from religion and are being punished by God. RIM inserts itself as a devoted minority living a pure life and serving God. RIM uses this rhetoric to justify violence, stating they use weapons in the hope God will be pleased with their actions.[114]
RIM claims two critical threats faced therefore are threats to Christianity, and threats to the Russian identity. The source of these RIM claims come from Islam, liberalism, and the Russian government. Islam is characterized by RIM as barbaric, violent, and wild, and RIM makes unsubstantiated claims of assaults and murder perpetrated by muslims. RIM also uses Islamaphobic rhetoric to support clash of civilizations concepts, which help center their self-proclaimed role as defenders of Christianity. RIM extends their islamophobia to take hard line anti-immigrant stances.[115]
RIM groups tolerance, democracy, feminism, and gay rights under an umbrella of western liberalism, and they claim this is fundamentally at odds with true Russians. They argue the West is invading Russia with these liberal values, and call upon Russians to actively resist liberalism in favor of traditional values. They use biblical references, especially Sodom and Gomorra, to characterize homosexuality as sinful and abominable, as well as call for death threats against homosexuals.[116]
In addition to its goal of restoring a tsarist regime in Russia, RIM seeks to expand its influence in the far-right movement by building ties to white supremacist organizations in Europe and the United States, ostensibly to defend Western civilization.[117] As part of this campaign, RIM has attempted to make contact with U.S. citizens.[118] RIM’s paramilitary training course furthers this mission; leaders view it as a means to prepare fighters for an upcoming civilizational struggle.[119] Muslims are barred from participation in the program.[120]
RIM holds intense hatred for Jews and Ukrainian nationalists, who are often targets of the group’s propaganda.[121] In addition to the anti-Semitic and anti-Ukrainian content published on its internet platforms, RIM frequently invokes anti-LGBT rhetoric as part of its “traditionalist” doctrine.[122] RIM also sees the U.S. government and European governments as enemies.[123] RIM opposes the immigration of non-ethnic Russians to Russia, and immigrants have served as targets of the group’s demonstrations.[124]
In 2012, RIM joined other Russian far-right nationalist organizations in an attempt to make an impact in electoral politics. This activity came after then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev liberalized political party registration in December 2011.[125] In early 2012, RIM and several member organizations of the Russian Platform umbrella created the New Force, a nationalist party.[126] Though the party’s manifesto professes to respect liberal and democratic values, the New Force proposed restricting immigration to ethnic Russians and holding undocumented immigrants in labor camps prior to their deportation.[127] The party tried to appeal to more moderate nationalists as opposed to neo-Nazis.[128]
In April 2012, RIM participated in the creation of a party associated with the Russians Ethno-Political Association (REPA) umbrella association, a rival of the Russian Platform. Known as the Party of Nationalists, this new party chose the Russian imperial flag as its symbol.[129] Unlike the New Force, the Party of Nationalists was conceived as a “big tent” to appeal to the ideologies of the constituent organizations of REPA, including neo-Nazis, moderate nationalists, and RIM’s audience of monarchists and Orthodox nationalists.[130] Progress soon stalled, however, and a year later, the party lacked a platform or website.[131]
In more recent years, RIM’s direct participation in politics has waned. The group has worked closely with the far-right Russian political party Rodina. Also known as the Motherland-National Patriotic Union, Rodina has partnered with RIM to establish the World National Conservative Movement, an umbrella association of extreme-right groups with common grievances against pluralism, liberal democracy, and tolerance.[132] Rodina was founded in 2003 by Russian politician Dmitry Rogozin, who later served as Russia’s deputy prime minister from 2011 to 2018.[133]
Training
RIM is known for its paramilitary training courses. The group conducts exercises at two clubs in St. Petersburg, the Reserve Club (founded in 2007) and the Imperial Legion Patriotic-Military Club (founded in 2014 for foreign fighters to Ukraine).[134] Its general program includes instruction for classes of 20-30 people in martial arts and combat skills with a variety of weapons.[135]
Among the most widely known of RIM’s initiatives is its “Partizan” (which is Russian for “guerilla”) paramilitary training course. The course is reportedly taught by veterans of the Russian armed forces. It covers bombmaking, marksmanship, medical skills, survival skills, military topography, and other tactics in classes of 10-15 students.[136] Through this program, the group has provided instruction in combat skills to Russian nationals and members of extreme-right groups from other countries. Participants in the program include two Swedish white supremacists who committed several terrorist attacks in the Swedish city of Gothenburg in late 2016 and early 2017.[137] Training lasts about one week and consists of daily 12-hour military-style training sessions led by Denis Valiullovich Gariyev, the head of RIM’s Imperial Legion.[138] The syllabus includes training in both urban and woodland assault.[139]
Evidence suggests that students of Partizan may be preparing to fight against the United States or U.S.-aligned forces. One Partizan course is allegedly called “English for Communication with Captured NATO Troops” and includes lectures on the U.S. Army and tips on interrogation.[140] Gariyev has claimed that over 500 students, or “cadets,” received paramilitary training from RIM between 2011 and 2017. 300 of these 500 cadets entered the program in order to support the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine backed by RIM.[141] Independent analysts have questioned these figures, suggesting that the true number of RIM recruits to the Ukrainian conflict is likely much smaller given historically low attendance at RIM’s rallies and contemporaneous accounts.[142]
Not all participants in Partizan join RIM.[143] Some militants from other far-right armed groups, such as the National Democratic Party of Germany, complete the program and return to their organizations (see the “Relationships with other groups” section of this profile). Other “cadets” are unaffiliated when they seek paramilitary training. RIM’s program, open to anyone who aspires to learn combat skills, was conceived as an on-ramp for recruits to the front in Ukraine and a tool to gain supporters.[144]
Kinetic Actions:
RIM militants fought for two separatist forces in Ukraine – the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR). Both the DPR and LPR are breakaway separatist factions in eastern Ukraine said by NATO and Kiev to be backed by Russia. RIM militants first fought under DPR commander Igor Strelkov until his departure from the theater in October 2014. RIM members then moved to fight for LPR leader Alexey Mozgovoi.[145] RIM fighters later returned to fight with DPR forces before RIM’s departure from Ukraine.[146] The Imperial Legion withdrew from Ukraine in January 2016, though some individuals opted to stay and continue fighting.[147] Nevertheless, the Partizan training program continued, and participation threefold by 2017.[148] In 2022, a German intelligence reported Legion fighters near Kharkiv, Ukraine. It is not publicly known how many RIM members have fought in Ukraine since the 2022 invasion began, or exactly what their operational role is.[149]
As early as April 2019 (but possibly earlier), RIM sent fighters to Syria, ostensibly to protect Christians against their enemies in the region, according to the group’s social media.[150] In January 2020, the group acknowledged that two of its fighters had been killed in combat in Libya, where they were believed to be fighting on the side of Russian-backed warlord Khalifa Haftar.[151] Russia has supported Haftar’s Libyan National Army with matériel and mercenaries.[152] It is unclear when RIM’s campaign in Libya began. The exact number of fighters RIM sends or their precise role in these countries is not known based on publicly available information.
Non-Violent Tactics:
RIM publishes a variety of propaganda content online. Their rhetoric targets a variety of perceived enemies including Jews, Ukrainian nationalists, immigrants, and LGBT populations.[153] RIM is active on social media platforms. This included Youtube and Facebook until 2020 when the U.S. government designated RIM as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity. Since then their digital presence is primarily on Telegram and Vkontakte. It publishes propaganda videos advertising paramilitary training and ideologically narratives. These posts include both Russian and English language versions for mass appeal. RIM uses social media primarily to define its enemies, spread ideological propaganda, and recruit new members.[154]
RIM used its online platform to spread misinformation about COVID 19, misdirecting attention to HIV/AIDS to spread disinformation about the LGBT community.[155]
RIM uses Vkontakte to coordinate protests in Russia and internationally. In December, 2021 RIM staged a protest supporting “anti-Serb policies” outside the embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Moscow. A simultaneous protest was carried out by Serbian Action in Belgrade at the Ukrainian embassy.[156] RIM joined several other far-right groups for a February 2016 protest in St. Petersburg against the settling of Syrian refugees in Europe.[157]
Disclaimer: These are some selected major attacks in the militant organization's history. It is not a comprehensive listing but captures some of the most famous attacks or turning points during the campaign.
June 2014–January 2016: RIM trained and equipped foreign fighters for the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where members of the group’s Imperial Legion fought alongside pro-Russian separatists (unknown casualties).[159]
November 11, 2016: Viktor Melin, a member of the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM) who was trained by RIM through the Partizan paramilitary course in August 2016, bombed a left-wing bookstore-café in Gothenburg, Sweden.[160] The U.S. State Department cited this attack as justification for RIM’s Specially Designated Global Terrorist designation (no casualties).[161]
January 5, 2017: Viktor Melin and a man with no RIM affiliation, Jimmy Jonassons, bombed a shelter for refugees in Gothenburg, Sweden.[162] The U.S. State Department cited this attack as justification for RIM’s Specially Designated Global Terrorist designation (none killed, one wounded).[163]
January 25, 2017: Viktor Melin and Anton Thulin, both of whom were trained by RIM in August 2016, attempted to bomb a public campground that housed asylum seekers in Gothenburg, Sweden. Melin and Thulin cooperated with Jimmy Jonassons, a man with no RIM affiliation, when carrying out the attack.[164] The U.S. State Department cited this attack as justification for RIM’s Specially Designated Global Terrorist designation (no casualties).[165]
April 2019 (approximate): Researchers have confirmed the presence of RIM fighters in Syria as early as April 2019, though exact dates are unknown. According to the group’s social media, the goal of its campaign in Syria is to protect Christians in the country (unknown casualties).[166]
January 2020 (approximate): In January 2020, RIM acknowledged that two of its fighters had been killed in combat in Libya.[167] Analysts believe that Imperial Legion militants form RIM are fighting alongside the Libyan National Army of Russian-backed warlord Khalifa Haftar.[168] It is unclear when this campaign began (unknown casualties).
November-December 2022 (approximate): In November and December 2022, six letter bombs arrived at the residence of the Spanish Prime Minister, the American and Ukrainian embassies in Spain, and the Spanish Ministry of Defense. One person was injured and none were killed in the attack. Spanish and U.S. officials blame RIM for the attacks, and U.S. State Department officials claim the attack was ordered by Russian Intelligence services.[169] One man was arrested by Spanish authorities who are still investigating the attack.[170]
RIM and its leaders Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev, Denis Valiullovich Gariyev, and Nikolay Nikolayevich Trushchalov have been listed as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) by the U.S. Department of State. This is the first time that a white supremacist organization has been designated as a terrorist group by the United States.[171] RIM has also been designated as a terrorist entity by the Canadian Department of Public Safety.[172]
The State Department’s SDGT listing is distinct from the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) listing, the U.S. government’s second and more well-known terrorism designation. The two listings are authorized by different acts of Congress and provide different tools for U.S. counterterrorism authorities.
Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) Listing
Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act allows the Secretary of State to designate a group as an FTO based on three criteria: the organization must be foreign, it must engage in terrorist activity or terrorism (or have the ability to do so), and the terrorist activity or terrorism must threaten U.S. national security.[173] When an organization is designated as an FTO, the FBI and Justice Department are able to pursue criminal cases against any individual who provides support to it.[174] Since September 11, 2001, the material support charge has been the most common terrorism-related penalty levied by the U.S. government and has been applied to cases of terrorist financing, terrorist training, foreign terrorist fighters, and terrorist plots against the United States.[175] No white supremacist or far-right extremist organization has been designated an FTO as of August 2020. The designation has most commonly been applied to jihadist organizations, such as Al Qaeda or the Islamic State.
Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) Listing
The SDGT designation stems from the President’s authority to declare national emergencies under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the basis for Executive Order 13224.[176] This executive order allows the Secretary of State or Secretary of the Treasury to designate foreign groups or individuals that have executed, or are at risk of executing, acts of terrorism that threaten U.S. national security as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.[177] Under E.O. 13224, the U.S. government can block the assets of anyone affiliated with SDGTs.[178] As a result, any U.S.-related transactions with a SDGT, such as RIM, will be interdicted.[179] Though the SDGT listing can lead to criminal prosecutions, it is most commonly enforced via civil penalties.[180] RIM is the only white supremacist or far-right extremist group to be designated a SDGT as of August 2020.
In summary, the SDGT designation focuses mainly on the disruption of terrorist groups’ financial networks, while the broader FTO designation encompasses any type of material support for a terrorist group. Both apply only to foreign groups and are not mutually exclusive (i.e., the U.S. government can designate a group both as an FTO and SDGT). There is no mechanism for the U.S. government to designate domestic groups as terrorist organizations.
RIM operates relatively openly in Russia. The group is not included in Russia’s lists of designated terrorist and extremist groups.[181] The group’s training facilities in St. Petersburg are not covert; its Partizan paramilitary instruction course is open to members of the public. The Washington Post reported in 2017 that RIM’s program appeals to white-collar and self-employed Russian men with a desire to ready themselves for combat amidst the war between Russia and Ukraine.[182]
RIM leverages social media to gain support from the public both in Russia and abroad. Prior to RIM’s April 2020 designation by the U.S. State Department, the group maintained active pages on Facebook and YouTube to disseminate propaganda with the goal of spreading its ideology, defining adversaries, and recruiting new members.[183] Facebook and YouTube shut down RIM’s accounts after it was listed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the United States.[184] RIM, the Imperial Legion, and the Partizan paramilitary training program all maintain pages on the Russian social media platform VKontakte (VK) with more than 30,000 followers.[185]
RIM has aggressively cultivated ties with other white supremacist and extreme-right groups in Europe and the United States. One of the group’s top leadership roles is responsible for managing RIM’s relations with peer organizations in Western Europe. RIM largely focuses on expanding its ties to other groups in two significant ways: networking at conferences with other far-right organizations and providing paramilitary training to members of foreign groups at its Partizan camps in St. Petersburg. In 2015, RIM cooperated with the far-right Russian political party Rodina to co-found the World National Conservative Movement, a transnational network of far-right extremist organizations.[186] This activity suggests that RIM plays a major role in the transnational white supremacist movement.
Relationships with U.S. groups
While RIM has aggressively built ties with European white supremacist groups, its outreach to U.S. organizations appears to historically occured on a personal – rather than a formal or institutional – basis. As of 2020, this pattern may be changing, given RIM’s alleged relationship with the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division’s Russian affiliate.
RIM’s primary contact within the U.S. white supremacist movement appears to be Matthew Heimbach, founder of the neo-Nazi Traditionalist Workers’ Party (TWP) and an organizer of the August 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. TWP is a neo-Nazi political party that was founded by Heimbach and his wife’s stepfather Matthew Parrott in 2015. The group promotes white supremacy extremism and advocates for the creation of a homeland for white people in the United States. Though TWP does not promote violence, Heimbach and several of its members have brawled with protestors.[187] TWP became defunct in March 2018 after Heimbach was arrested for assault against his wife and father-in-law following an affair with his wife’s stepmother.[188]
Heimbach has cited Russia as an inspiration for his organization and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as the “leader of the free world.”[189] During the September 2017 visit of an RIM delegation to Washington, D.C. and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Heimbach hosted RIM leader Stanislav Shevchuk and posed with him for a photo in front of the White House holding an imperial Russian flag.[190] This meeting is reportedly the first between U.S. white supremacists and a Russian far-right organization on U.S. soil.[191] In an interview with liberal news outlet ThinkProgress, Heimbach highlighted similarities in goals shared by his group and RIM. He declared his intention for TWP to represent the U.S. extreme right in dialogues with RIM.[192] Heimbach has allegedly received funds from RIM and met with the group’s representatives in the United States several times.[193] Though he has received invitations to travel to Russia and train with RIM, it is unclear if he or any other members of the TWP have done so.
Though Heimbach and his Traditionalist Workers’ Party appear to be at the center of RIM’s efforts to expand its U.S. presence, the group has pursued other contacts in the U.S. extreme right. RIM networked with U.S. white supremacists Sam Dickson, a lawyer affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan, and Jared Taylor, editor of the white supremacist publication American Renaissance, at the March 2015 International Russian Conservative Forum conference. The group reportedly offered to provide paramilitary training to organizers of the August 2017 “Unite the Right” rally of the extreme right in Charlottesville, Virginia, including Richard Spencer, Jason Kessler, and Eli Mosley. However, both RIM and the U.S. white supremacists deny these reports.[194] As of June 2020, no U.S. citizens are known to have participated in RIM’s paramilitary training.[195]
Researcher Mariya Omelicheva of the National War College suggests that RIM’s presence in the United States may be limited.[196] Heimbach, seemingly RIM’s primary contact in the United States, was arrested in 2018 for assaulting his father-in-law. Heimbach’s neo-Nazi group, the Traditionalist Workers’ Party, became inactive that same year.[197]
In June 2020, the Argentinian news outlet Infobae reported that RIM had forged ties with the Russian affiliate of the U.S. neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division (AWD). On May 31, 2020, AWD announced a new branch in Russia and released Russian translations of its ideological texts.[198] The official name of this Russian affiliate is unclear; for ease of reference, this profile has adopted the term “AWD Russia.” Advertised on AWD Germany’s Telegram channel, AWD Russia also maintains a page on the Russian social networking platform VK and solicits applications from prospective members.[199] According to Infobae, an unknown number of AWD Russia members have received training from RIM’s Partizan paramilitary course.[200] As of July 2020, this reporting has not been independently confirmed.
U.S. extreme-right groups invited to RIM and Rodina’s World National Conservative Movement in 2015 include the following:
Relationships with European groups
The Azov Movement – one of the most well-known extreme-right groups in Ukraine and formally a part of that country’s national guard – is an adversary of RIM in the Ukrainian conflict.[202] Azov recruits foreign fighters on the basis of its white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideology to fight against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. In 2014 and 2015, RIM’s paramilitary force fought alongside the separatists. Though Azov and RIM share some white supremacy extremist beliefs, they have fought on opposite sides in Ukraine’s civil war.
The Free Russia Legion is a unit formed by Russian citizens who traveled to Ukraine to fight against Russian forces there. At least one former RIM member joined this group and is now fighting against the Russian invasion. Members go through extensive screening to protect the unit from infiltration of Russian spies. The legion trained near Kyiv and operates under the umbrella of the Ukrainian International Legion which includes foreign fighters from all over the world.[203]
RIM has pursued ties with German neo-Nazi groups, particularly the National Democratic Party (NPD), an illiberal, anti-Semitic, white supremacist political party. Founded in 1964, the NPD remained marginal in German politics until it began attracting more support in the 2010s.[204] Though the NPD officially disavows violence, gangs have committed acts of violence in the party’s name.[205] The German government has sought to ban the NPD three times (in 2003, 2013, and 2016), but it remains active.[206] The NPD campaigns for offices in state, federal, and European Parliament elections. However, the party has consistently received low vote shares as it has been forced to compete with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.[207] Between 2014 and 2019, former NPD leader Udo Voigt held a seat in the European Parliament, though he lost it in the 2019 election.[208] As of 2019, the NPD had 3,600 members, down from 4,000 members the year before.[209] Both RIM and the NPD attended the International Russian Conservative Forum conference hosted by far-right Russian political party Rodina in March 2015.[210] In June 2015, RIM invited the NPD to join its World National Conservative Movement.[211] According to the German government, RIM provided firearms and explosives training to members of the youth wing of the NPD in 2020 though Partizan.[212]
RIM has also furthered a relationship with the Third Path (“Der III. Weg” in German, also translated as the “Third Way”). The Third Path is a German extreme-right, anti-Semitic political party. Like the NPD, the Third Path engages in political activities but has seen little electoral success.[213] Members of the Third Path have conducted patrols of neighborhoods, ostensibly to protect communities against “criminal foreigners.” The group has also organized collections of food and winter clothing to support exclusively ethnic Germans.[214] In 2019, the Third Path boasted 580 members, up from 530 in 2018.[215] Along with the NPD, members of the Third Path also received firearms and explosives training from RIM in 2020.[216]
RIM has also cooperated closely with the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), a Swedish-based neo-Nazi organization that seeks to merge all Scandinavian countries into a single nationalist-socialist state. Founded in 1997, the group boasts 250-300 members as of 2017 and has active chapters in Sweden, Finland, and Norway with supporters in Iceland and Denmark.[217] The Trump administration’s 2018 National Counterterrorism Strategy cited NRM as an example of a white supremacist armed group that poses a threat to the United States.[218] NRM’s leader, Simon Lindberg, stated in August 2017 that his group “sees [RIM] as friends.”[219] RIM leader Vorobyev spoke at the NRM’s “Nordic Days” event in 2015, where he railed against Jews and so-called threats to Western civilization.[220] RIM has reportedly given NRM advice on attracting more widespread support by establishing a political party. RIM also provided NRM with funds, though Vorobyev claims that this financial support only amounted to $150.[221] RIM invited NRM to take part in its World National Conservative Movement umbrella association in 2015.[222]
Most notably, RIM provided training to two members of NRM who committed three terrorist attacks in Sweden in late 2016 and early 2017. Anton Thulin and Viktor Melin enrolled in the Partizan program in August 2016 and spent 11 days learning combat skills from RIM.[223] Between November 2016 and January 2017, the men and an unaffiliated accomplice bombed a left-wing bookstore-café, a refugee shelter, and a campground housing asylum seekers.[224] One victim was injured.[225] U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited the attacks as a justification for RIM’s terrorist designation.[226] In addition to training, RIM has provided NRM with weapons; in January 2020, Swedish authorities arrested a Russian-born individual who was reportedly trafficking firearms from RIM to NRM.[227]
European extreme-right groups invited to RIM and Rodina’s World National Conservative Movement in 2015 include the following:
Relationships with Russian groups
In the late 2000s and early 2010s, RIM frequently networked with domestic Russian far-right organizations. The group joined several umbrella associations as part of a bid to maximize the power of the far-right movement in Russia. RIM avidly cultivated ties with peer organizations until a 2014 schism over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in Eastern Ukraine fractured the Russian far right.
In late 2014, RIM joined a coalition of Russian-far right groups named the Russian National Front. As of 2020, this umbrella includes other ultra-nationalist organizations such as the Great Russia Party, the People's Militia in the Name of Minin and Pozharsky (NOMP), the Movement For Nationalization and De-Privatization of Strategic Resources of the Country, the Initiative Group for the Referendum “For a Responsible Power” (IGPR “ZOV”), the Russian People’s Council, the Union of Orthodox Banner Bearers, and the Black Hundred.[229] The Russian National Front promoted ethnic Russian nationalism, including but not limited to supporting the “Novorossiya” project in Ukraine.
RIM adopted a strategic approach to building relationships across the Russian far right. In the early 2010s, a rivalry between the Movement against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) and the Russian Social Movement (ROD) made it difficult to consolidate the Russian far right into a cohesive whole. This rivalry ultimately resulted in the establishment of two parallel umbrella associations.[230] DPNI formed the “Russians Ethno-Political Association (REPA, known as the “Russians”) in April 2011.[231] REPA’s leadership positions are distributed among the constituent organizations, which included RIM, DPNI, the National Socialist Initiative (NSI), the Slavic Force (SS), the Union of the Russian People (SRN), the National Democratic Party (NDP), and the Memory Russian Liberation Front.[232] RIM quit REPA in September 2014 when the umbrella’s leadership largely opposed the pro-Russian separatist movement in Ukraine, which RIM had supported.[233] REPA essentially disintegrated not long after RIM left the group.[234]
RIM joined the rival umbrella, ROD’s Russian Platform (RP) the same year that it joined REPA. In September 2011, ROD founded RP and welcomed RIM, NSI, the Russian Citizens Union, and the Moscow Defense League, among other smaller organizations.[235]
In addition to the rivalry between DPNI and ROD over leadership of the far-right movement, the dueling umbrella associations also clashed over ideology. REPA was reportedly more extremist and partially neo-Nazi in its membership. RP presented a more moderate face, though it did not rule out the use of violence.[236] Like REPA, RP reportedly ceased to operate by 2015.[237]
RIM has indirect ties to the Wagner Group through Task Force Rusich, a far right paramilitary group operating in Ukraine. Rusich is widely considered to be subordinate to Wagner, and operate semi-independently but within the chain of command of Wagner’s leadership. Members of Task Force Rusich previously fought alongside Wagner in Syria, and in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and 2015. The founders of Task Force Rusich, Aleksey Milchakov and Jan Petrovksy, both went through the Partizan training center run by RIM.[238] Additionally, RIM fighters were killed in action in Libya while fighting on behalf of Khalifa Haftar.[239] Haftar is supported by the Wagner group as well, but exact ties between the RIM fighters present in Libya and Wagner’s operational presence is not exactly known.
Relationships with groups outside the United States and Europe
Though RIM has invested more heavily in its relations with U.S. and European white supremacist organizations, it has established contacts with groups outside these regions. RIM invited over 50 groups from 28 countries to its World National Conservative Movement in 2015, including the following:
Relationships with separatists in Ukraine
RIM has close ties to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, with whom it has fought against Ukrainian government forces. Leaders of the group travelled to Ukraine to meet with separatists in spring 2014 as the conflict in the country broke out. RIM began sending foreign fighters to support the separatists later that year.[241] The group has also trained separatists through its Partizan program.[242] Igor Gorkin, a former Russian intelligence officer and military leader in the separatist Ukrainian region of Donetsk, congratulated RIM on its U.S. terrorist designation in April 2020.[243]
The Kremlin has tolerated RIM when the group’s activities further its own interests, though no evidence suggests that the Kremlin formally supports the group.[244] Michael Carpenter, a former official in the U.S. Department of Defense, has characterized the Moscow-RIM relationship as one of “adversarial symbiosis.”[245] RIM opposes the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin.[246] Prior to the war in Ukraine, the RIM’s hostility to Putin’s regime prompted police raids on its facilities; these raids ebbed when the group decreased its focus on Russian domestic politics and turned its attention to Ukraine.[247] In 2014, RIM began fighting alongside pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.[248] In 2016, a member of the Imperial Legion interviewed by the BBC described the Moscow-RIM relationship: “we don’t receive any support, but at the same time, we aren’t hampered [by the Russian government].”[249] Currently, RIM and its paramilitary training program operates openly in Russia.[250]
Moscow has protested the April 2020 listing of the RIM as Specially Designated Global Terrorists by the U.S. State Department.[251] For example, the Office of the Russian Prosecutor General has claimed that RIM’s activities are limited to Russian Orthodox religious festivals.[252] Nevertheless, Russia has previously recognized RIM as an extremist group; its website and several of its publications have been listed as “extremist material” by the Russian Ministry of Justice since 2012.[253]
Analysts have noted that RIM’s activities advance Moscow’s goals in two major respects: supporting Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine and seeking to fuel white supremacist extremism in Europe and the United States.[254] This latter effort serves to undermine Western liberal democracy, a key goal of the Kremlin.[255]
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[7] Verkhovsky, Alexander, ed. “Galina Kozhevnikova. Spring-2008: Depression and Déjà Vu.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. August 18, 2008. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2008/08/d13944...
[8] Verkhovsky, Alexander, ed. “Galina Kozhevnikova. Spring-2008: Depression and Déjà Vu.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. August 18, 2008. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2008/08/d13944...
[9] Other far-right groups that signed the declaration included the Russian All-National Union (RONS), Russian Citizens Union (RGS), Russian Social Movement (ROD), Movement against Illegal Immigrants (DPNI), the National Socialist Initiative (NSI), the Union of the Russian People (SRN), the Slavic Force (SS), and the National Democratic Party of Russia (NDP). For more information, see Verkhovsky, Alexander and Galina Kozhevinoka. “The Phantom of Manezhnaya Square: Radical Nationalism and Efforts to Counteract It in 2010.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. May 5, 2011. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2011/05/d21561/.
[10] Verkhovsky, Alexander and Galina Kozhevinoka. “The Phantom of Manezhnaya Square: Radical Nationalism and Efforts to Counteract It in 2010.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. May 5, 2011. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2011/05/d21561/
[11] Yudina, Natalia and Vera Alperovich. “Spring 2011: Causes Célèbres and New Ultra-right Formations.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. July 12, 2011. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2011/07/d22101/
[12] Yudina, Natalia and Vera Alperovich. “Spring 2011: Causes Célèbres and New Ultra-right Formations.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. July 12, 2011. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2011/07/d22101/
[13] Yudina, Natalia and Vera Alperovich. “Autumn 2011: The Ultra-right’s Pre-Election Maneuvers.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. February 14, 2012. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2012/02/d23665/
[14] Yudina, Natalia, Vera Alperovich, and Alexander Verkhovsky. “Between Manezhnaya and Bolotnaya: Xenophobia and Radical Nationalism in Russia, and Efforts to Counteract Them in 2011.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. April 5, 2012. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2012/04/d24088/
[15] Groups with leadership positions in the umbrella group included the Movement against Illegal Immigrants (DPNI), the National Socialist Initiative (NSI), the Union of the Russian People (SRN), the Slavic Force (SS), and the National Democratic Party of Russia (NDP). It also included the Memory Russian Liberation Front, which did not sign the Declaration of the Russian National Organizations. For more information, see Yudina, Natalia and Vera Alperovich. “Spring 2011: Causes Célèbres and New Ultra-right Formations.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. July 12, 2011. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2011/07/d22101/
[16] Yudina, Natalia, Vera Alperovich, and Alexander Verkhovsky. “Between Manezhnaya and Bolotnaya: Xenophobia and Radical Nationalism in Russia, and Efforts to Counteract Them in 2011.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. April 5, 2012. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2012/04/d24088/
[17] Yudina, Natalia and Vera Alperovich. “Autumn 2011: The Ultra-right’s Pre-Election Maneuvers.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. February 14, 2012. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2012/02/d23665/
[18] Yudina, Natalia, Vera Alperovich, and Alexander Verkhovsky. “Between Manezhnaya and Bolotnaya: Xenophobia and Radical Nationalism in Russia, and Efforts to Counteract Them in 2011.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. April 5, 2012. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2012/04/d24088/
[19] Yudina, Natalia and Vera Alperovich. “Winter 2011–2012: The Ultra-right — Protest and Party Building.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. May 7, 2012. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2012/05/d24364/. Yudima, Natalia and Vera Alperovich. “Spring 2012: Ultra-right on the Streets, Law Enforcement on the Web.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. July 27, 2012. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2012/07/d24976/
[20] Yudina, Natalia and Vera Alperovich. “Winter 2011–2012: The Ultra-right — Protest and Party Building.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. May 7, 2012. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2012/05/d24364/
[21] Yudima, Natalia and Vera Alperovich. “Spring 2012: Ultra-right on the Streets, Law Enforcement on the Web.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. July 27, 2012. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2012/07/d24976/
[22] Yudina, Natalia and Vera Alperovich. “The Ultra-Right on the Streets with a Pro-Democracy Poster in Their Hands or a Knife in Their Pocket: Xenophobia and Radical Nationalism in Russia, and Efforts to Counteract Them in 2012.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. April 26, 2013. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2013/04/d26972/
[23] Yudima, Natalia and Vera Alperovich. “Spring 2012: Ultra-right on the Streets, Law Enforcement on the Web.” SOVA Center for Information and Analysis. July 27, 2012. https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2012/07/d24976/
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