(New York, N.Y.) – On Monday, the U.S.
Department of State designated the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM)
as a global terrorist organization. The RIM has reportedly provided
training and resources to white nationalist groups around the world
and seeks to promote the idea of a “mono-ethnic state” led by a
Russian autocratic monarchy. In 2018, the White House had added the threat of transnational white
supremacist groups to the government’s National Strategy for
Counterterrorism.
White supremacist groups in the United States and Europe
propagate racism, hatred, and violence. Individuals belonging to these
groups have been charged with a range of crimes, including murder,
civil rights violations, racketeering, solicitation to commit crimes
of violence, firearms and explosives violations, and witness
tampering. Europe also suffers from the growth of ethno-nationalist
and white supremacist movements that manifest in far-right political
parties, neo-Nazi movements, and protest groups under the guise of
populism.
In Russia, far-right, ultra-nationalist extremism has
been on the rise since the 1990s. Ultra-nationalist extremists have
set up paramilitary training camps in Russia to teach weapons
handling, bomb making, and other skills. The RIM runs one such camp in
St. Petersburg, called Partizan, to train people for impending global
chaos.
Russia has also become a source of financial and
logistical support for some U.S.-based and European white nationalist
groups. Security scholars have accused the Russian government of
supporting white nationalist extremist groups in the West in order to
weaken Western governments and sow division within Western societies.
U.S. intelligence officials have accused the Russian government of
seeking to stoke racial tensions in the United States in order to
influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Despite the U.S. designation, the RIM continues to
maintain a presence on social media, including on Facebook and
YouTube. CEP has redacted links to the pages and accounts detailed
below.
To read CEP’s Russia resource, please click here.
To read CEP’s U.S. White Supremacy Groups
resource, please click here.
To read CEP’s European Ethno-Nationalist and White
Supremacy Groups resource, please click here.
RIM-Affiliated and RIM Official
Social Media Accounts:
YouTube
RIM-Affiliated Imperial Legion YouTube
Channel
Subscribers: 316 (April 7,
2020)
Views: 58,096 (April 7,
2020)
Channel created: April 8,
2015
Most recent video upload: April 29,
2018
Description: A channel containing 29 videos
from the RIM affiliated Imperial Legion. Videos include footage from
the war in Ukraine, speeches from Imperial Legion leaders, and
instructional videos on using AK series rifles.
RIM-Affiliated Imperial Legion YouTube
Channel
Subscribers: 279 (April 7,
2020)
Views: 31,376 (April 7,
2020)
Channel created: December 26,
2012
Most recent video upload: September 30,
2013
Description: A channel containing 18 videos
from the RIM affiliated Imperial Legion. Videos include instructional
clips on using AK series rifles and footage from the group’s training
courses.
Facebook
Facebook Profile for RIM-affiliated
SDGT
Name: Nicholas
Truschalov
Friends: 563 (April 7,
2020)
Last post: January 3,
2018
Description: The personal Facebook page for
Nicholas Truschalov, one of the three individuals listed as a
Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the U.S. Treasury
Department. Truschalov used the Facebook page to make connections with
European far right groups. The page has been inactive for
approximately two years.
Inactive Facebook Page for RIM Affiliated
Training Group ‘Partizan”
Last post:
June 12, 2017
Description: A Facebook page for the
RIM affiliated paramilitary training group Partizan, which is led by
SDGT designee Denis Valliullovich Gariev. Partizan offers firearms and
tactical training, and has trained volunteers who have gone on to
fight in the Ukrainian separatist territories. Two members of the
Nordic Resistance Movement who were convicted for the January 2017
bombing of a shelter for asylum seekers in Sweden are alleged to have
attended the Partizan trainings. The page has 91 “likes” and 99
followers.
Telegram
RIM Telegram
Account
Subscribers: 354 (April 7,
2020)
Description: RIM maintains a Telegram
account where they recruit as well as share news and propaganda. The
account is updated several times per day.
Twitter
RIM Twitter
Account
Last post: September 10,
2014
Description: An inactive Twitter page for the
Russian Imperial Movement. The account was following 20 other
accounts, and had 585 followers on April 7, 2020. The page has been
inactive for approximately five and a half years. The account tweeted
pro-RIM news.
VK
RIM Accounts on
VK
Followers: 13,815 (April 7,
2020)
Description: The main RIM VK page is updated
several times per day. The page has videos, news, propaganda, and
links to recruitment forms. The page has spread conspiracy theories
about the coronavirus, and promoted homophobia and radical
nationalism. The page has links to a half dozen additional RIM
affiliated VK pages, including one for a RIM chapter in the breakaway
Moldovan state of Transnistria. VK is owned by the Russian company
Mail.Ru.
Ok.Ru
RIM Account on
Ok.Ru
Description: A group page for
RIM on the Russian website ok.ru. The page has 45 participants and has
posted video interviews with the group’s leaders, links to content on
other platforms, and propaganda.
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