The annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas transformed Russia's ever-changing nationalist scene. Up to that point, Russian nationalist organisations had practised a peculiar form of division of labour, with each organisation specialising in certain issues – for example, the rights of ethnic Russians, or immigration. In this way, the nationalist organisations were not competing for the same followers, but complemented each other. Despite constant internal conflicts, Russian nationalists could be said to have formed an integrated network that had many leaders and that made possible multiple affiliations. This strategy granted them a measure of flexibility and enabled them to survive under Russia's hybrid regime, which since the 2011–12 wave of protests has taken an increasingly authoritarian turn (Hale 2015; Gel’man 2016).

The events in Ukraine, however, posed new challenges to the Russian nationalists. A major dividing line soon became evident within the moderate segment of the nationalist opposition: national democrats supported Putin's policies, whereas national liberals saw such support as a betrayal. This chapter explores how Russian nationalist organisations located on the extreme right of the political spectrum responded to the Euromaidan events, the annexation of Crimea and the armed conflict in Donbas, as well as the Kremlin's strategies towards them. My focus is on Dmitrii Bobrov's National (People’s) Socialist Initiative (Natsional’naia (narodnaia) sotsialisticheskaia initsiativa, NSI), an organisation clearly inspired by Hitler's German National Socialist Worker's Party (NSDAP). In addition, I examine the NSI's closest ideological allies, including the Movement Against Illegal Immigration (Dvizhenie protiv nelegal’noi immigratsii, DPNI) and the Slavic Union (Slavianskii soiuz, SS), and the circles around these organisations. My aim is to uncover the main ideological positions of the nationalists who flirt with totalitarianism, and thereby contribute to a better understanding of the internal dynamics of the Russian nationalist scene today.

I begin by presenting my conceptualisation of Russian nationalist organisations as a social movement with a multifaceted network that includes ‘uncivil society’ groups, as well as the concept of an internal ‘division of labour’ within this movement. Then I turn to the NSI and a presentation of its leader, far-right activist Dmitrii Bobrov, and the organisation's ideological lineage, its strategies and the role it has played within the ‘ethno-nationalist network’.