ABSTRACT

Over recent years, there has been an upsurge in militant right-wing extremist activities in Russia. However, since 2015, right-wing extremist entities have proved unable to attract any significant following. The key reason for this was the war in Ukraine and state repression of militant extremist groups. The war split the right-wing extremist camp into two groups (i.e. those who supported the annexation of Crimea or the war in Donbass and those who sided with Ukraine and faced state repression), which weakened any further right-wing extremist actions. This chapter gives a detailed overview of the development of militant right-wing extremism in Russia from the beginnings of the Putin era until the elimination of the main opposition nationalist organisations in 2017–2018.