Brutal raid on woman’s birthday party highlights rise of Russian vigilante group

Submission statement: An investigation on the rise of Russkaya Obshchina, an ultra-nationalist vigilante group primarily staffed by veterans of the Russian invasion of Ukraine terrorizing "alternative" people and immigrants throughout the country, in a dire illustration of the increased brutalization of Russian society under Putinism.

Deriving their name from the traditional peasants' communities of Imperial Russia, the Russkaya Obshchina is the largest internal paramilitary organization in today's Russia, aligning thousands of members in 150 cells distributed across the territory. They are dedicated to enforcing Putin's "cultural war" against liberalism, "Western values" and the "LGBT agenda", and promote a Russian ethnic supremacist platform, leading attacks against Muslim minorities, mainly targeting Caucasian and Central Asian people.

Their modus operandi: nighttime raids of masked and armed men against shops, hospitals, warehouses, hostels, nightclubs and private gatherings they label as "degeneracy", like Katya's 30th birthday party; while the paramilitary found no evidence of "LGBT propaganda" – which is prohibited in Russia – at her home, she was sentenced to a nine month prison term for "blasphemy" due to a crucifix-shaped neon light on her wall.

While attacks by ultra-nationalist gangs have been a regular feature of post-Soviet Russia, they have drastically ramped up since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, amid a severe crackdown on internal dissent and cultural plurality in the name of Putinism. BBC reveals that the Russkaya Obshchina, far from being a purely grassroots movement, is supported by bishops of the powerful Russian Orthodox Church and funded by organizations close to the Kremlin, including an agroindustry oligarch and a media figure who intervened on behalf of the Russian intelligence services in electoral campaigns abroad.

As the casualties of the Russian invasion of Ukraine pile up, another consequence of the aggression comes to pressure Russian society: the return of aimless veterans who turn their military training and lust for blood against their own people.