Russian Security Forces Target Neo-Nazis In Mass Arrests In 81 Regions Across The Nation

Memri

05-06-2025

In mid-May 2025, Russian security services carried out large-scale operations aimed at preventing the further spread of an "ideology of violence, mass murder, and suicide" among minors. The operation covered 81 regions (of 89 total) in the country. According to news reports, preventive measures have been taken against 305 minors who "fell under the influence of foreign moderators promoting destructive ideology."
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On May 15, 2025, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) disclosed it had arrested six people involved in the preparation of attacks on schools in Moscow and Tyumen. The FSB also detained 57 administrators of Telegram channels and chatrooms which featured terrorist and neo-Nazi ideology. The investigative activities were carried out by the FSB together with the officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Investigative Committee, and troops from the National Guard of Russia. The operation went beyond the 81 Russian regions, but extended into the occupied regions of Ukraine.
The screenshot of a video clip by a Russian state-owned media outlet showing weapons found during searches of the homes of the detainees.
According to the FSB release, components for making homemade explosive devices, weapons, plans of armed attacks, symbols, and propaganda materials of neo-Nazi and terrorist organizations were confiscated from the detainees' homes. Video of one of the arrests (apparently of the detainees suspected of preparing terrorist attacks) shows smoothbore guns, sawed-off shotguns, revolvers and cartridges for them, knives, batons, various flags, books about the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, and about Alexander Pichushkin, an infamous Russian serial killer, as well as various items bearing neo-Nazi and occult symbols.
The authorities didn't report what Telegram channels were blocked. However, the video of the arrests shows that apparently one of the blocked channels was dedicated to Brenton Tarrant, who attacked two mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, which resulted in the deaths of 51 people.
Russia's main newspaper, Rossiskaya Gazeta, (RG) reported that in total, the raids resulted in preventive measures against 305 minors, who, according to the paper, "fell under the influence of foreign moderators promoting destructive ideology." Additionally, according to the media, while searching the detainees' phones, the FSB officers found correspondence with "Ukrainian curators," and "instructions on sabotage and terrorist attacks, as well as on the manufacturing and use of means of terror."
The Legal Process
It seems that the charges have been already brought against four teenagers in Mari El Republic, one in Udmurtia Republic, and one in the city of Rostov-on-Don. In the latter case, a minor made homemade explosives, which he stored in his apartment. The case of the four teenagers arrested in Mari El seems to be different in nature. According to the RG, the accomplices were physically attacking foreigners on the street. Two of those arrested, who are minors, had joined an unnamed terrorist organization after which, "on the instructions of a curator from Ukraine," for a material reward of 32,000 rubles (about $400), they set a car on fire using "patriotic symbols" in the village of Ryabinka (Mari El).
A screenshot of a video clip by a Russia's state-owned media outlet shows an arsenal belonging to one of those arrested during the police raids.
It's not known whether the cases of all those arrested are related to each other. Only the four minors detained in Mari El were organized in a group. On May 19, 2025, a Telegram news channel reported on a case from the Russian city of Nefteyugansk. In this case, a 16-year-old ninth grader received a call from a man who introduced himself as the head teacher of his school and was able to obtain personal information from the teen. A few hours later, the teen received a call allegedly from Rosfinmonitoring, which informed him that someone had gained access to his family's bank accounts and that a criminal case would be initiated against his family for transferring money to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The scammers first forced the student to transfer 200,000 rubles (about $2,500) to them, and then convinced him to search the city for cars with St. George ribbons and stickers in honour of Victory Day, and to set them on fire. In a few hours, the teenager managed to set four cars on fire.
In Russia, it is quite common for fraudsters to force victims to set fire to administrative buildings, cars, military registration centers, or enlistment offices. Usually, the scammers' victims in such cases are elderly people or teenagers. For example, one newspaper reported another case. On December 27, 2024, a 70-year-old woman from Kursk, after a call from scammers claiming to be representatives of the special services, set fire to the "MFTs" premises on Shchepkina Street using a flammable liquid.
A case was launched against the woman under Article 205, "Terrorism," of the Russian Criminal Code. A maximum sentence is up to 20 years in prison.
Neo-Nazi groups support members who commit direct actions: For example, assaults, dissemination of National Socialist propaganda and arsons. One group unites autonomous neo-Nazi gangs and financially supports "comrades, who have already proven themselves." The group adds, however, that this is not a payment, but "support for further similar activities."
However, neither this group, nor another large grouping of autonomous neo-Nazis, reported on the arrests of their members in the raids. In one chat room, users were surprised by the arrests and assume that those arrested "simply didn't know the basics of anonymity and conspiracy."
Previous Raids And Arrests
A month before the security services' raids, in April, Moscow's Tagansky Court fined Telegram seven 7 million rubles for refusing to remove channels calling for terrorist attacks and protest rallies. In 2024, the FSB reported raids in 78 regions and the detention of "pro-Ukrainian radicals" who were prompting others to commit criminal activities via social networks. In 2024, the authorities claimed that the arrested were found to have chats on Internet, in particular on the Discord messenger, with Ukrainian curators, "containing instructions on how to conduct sabotage and terrorist activities, the production and use of terrorist weapons, and plans for preparing armed attacks." Also in 2024, before the security services operations, Moscow's Tagansky Court had fined Discord 3.5 million rubles for failure to remove 947 illegal materials, which included "child pornography, calls for extremism, suicide, LGBT propaganda, and pro-drug[-addiction] content."