Russian Imperial Movement Русское имперское движениe | |
|---|---|
 Flag of theRussian Empire from1858 to 1896 | |
| Abbreviation | RIM |
| Leader | Stanislav Vorobyov |
| Founded | 2002; 23 years ago (2002) |
| Headquarters | Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Paramilitary wing | "Imperial Legion" |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Religion | Eastern Orthodox Christianity |
| National affiliation | Russian National Front[7] |
| Colours | |
| Website | |
| rusimperia | |
| Russian Imperial Legion | |
|---|---|
| Русский Имперский Легион | |
 Patch of the Russian Imperial Legion | |
| Commander | Denis Gariyev |
| Deputy Commander | Vacant[a] |
| Foundation | 2014 |
| Motives | Reconvening ofZemsky Sobor to re-establish theRussian Empire |
| Size | 300 (2014)[8] |
| Allies | List of allies |
| Opponents | |
| Battles and wars | |
| Designated as a terrorist group by | |
| Flag |  |
| Colours | Black and white |
| Website | Imperial Legion onTelegram |
TheRussian Imperial Movement (RIM)[e] is a Russian far-right political and militant organization that was founded inSaint Petersburg in 2002.[17][18][19] It consists ofChristian ultra-nationalistneo-Nazis[1] who ultimately seek the revival of theRussian Empire, which collapsed in 1917.[20][21][22][23] The organization formed a paramilitary wing called theImperial Legion in 2008 and has deployed troops to several conflict zones around the world, such asUkraine,Syria,Libya, and theCentral African Republic;[24] RIM is particularly notorious for actively recruiting and trainingfar-right Russians and like-mindedWesterners to fight forRussian separatist forces in Ukraine from 2014 onward.[25] Additionally, it has provided paramilitary training to other far-right or neo-Nazi organizations inEurope andNorth America.[26]
Owing to RIM's ideology and activities in Europe and beyond, it has been designated as a terrorist organization by theUnited States,[27][28]Canada,[14] and theUnited Kingdom.[29] WithinRussia, some RIM publications are blacklisted, but the organization itself operates freely and is believed to have ties withRussian intelligence agencies.[30] The organization's founder and current leader isStanislav Vorobyov, who is sanctioned by theEuropean Union andSwitzerland and designated as a terrorist by the United States.[18][31] The commander of RIM's Imperial Legion is currentlyDenis Gariyev, who is also sanctioned by the European Union and designated as a terrorist by the United States; and the most recent deputy commander wasDenis Nekrasov, who was killed in theBattle of Izium during theRussian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
RIM's website has been found to be part of a broader cluster of websites for political groups in Russia that promote "political [Christian] orthodoxy" andmonarchy, drawing inspiration from the violently ultra-nationalist "Black Hundreds" who supported theHouse of Romanov in the early 20th century.[32] Other groups in this cluster include "For Faith and Fatherland" and the modern revival of the "Union of the Russian People", which was a far-right monarchist political party in the former Russian Empire.[32] The movement believes in the "all-Russian nation" and does not recognize the existence ofUkraine, of whichlarge parts have been under Russian occupation since 2014.[5] According to the U.S.Global Engagement Center, RIM regards itself as standing at odds with a "global Zionist conspiracy" aimed at undermining Russia andrestructuring the world's governments to benefit the Jewish people. Likewise, the organizationdenies the Holocaust, claims thatJews murder Christian children and drink their blood, and claims that theJewish people are conspiring to bring about the coming of theanti-Christ.[33]
On 6 April 2020, theU.S. Department of State added the Russian Imperial Movement and three of its leaders (Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev,Denis Valliullovich Gariyev,[34] and Nikolay Nikolayevich Trushchalov[35]) to theSpecially Designated Global Terrorist list,[27] thereby making it the firstwhite supremacist group to be designated aterrorist organization by the State Department.[36]
The group was officially designated as a terrorist group in Canada on 3 February 2021.[37][14]
On 1 July 2025, the British government announced its intentions to proscribe the Russian Imperial Movement as a terrorist organisation, alongsidePalestine Action and theneo-NaziManiac Murder Cult.[38] The group was proscribed as a terrorist organisation on 5 July 2025.[39][40]
In Russia, RIM is politically affiliated with an alliance of orthodox nationalist groups called Russian National Front, consisting of Black Hundreds,Great Russia Party,People's Militia named after Minin and Pozharsky andUnion of Orthodox Banner-Bearers.[7] RIM's military arm is affiliated with a coalition of neo-Nazi military groups taking part in theRussian invasion of Ukraine made up of Atomwaffen Russland,Rusich and Russian ONA, with some overlap.[41][42][43][44][45][46]
TheInternational Centre for Counter-Terrorism described the RIM's relationship with the Russian government as "an adversarial symbiosis"; as long as they do not commit terrorism domestically, they are free to operate and offer training to militants and to send troops to conflicts abroad where Russia has a stake in.[47]
Western intelligence officials say they believe that the RIM has ties with and cooperates with Russian intelligence.The New York Times, citing unnamed U.S. officials, states that RIM is only partially aligned with the Russian government; the movement's leadership has been critical of the government's conduct of the Ukraine invasion, and has accused Putin of corruption. Yet, the RIM and Russian intelligence share common goals abroad, leading to a symbiotic relationship in which Russian intelligence has been able to influence the RIM's actions.[48]
In 2008, RIM formed its paramilitary arm, named the Imperial Legion (Russian:Имперский легион,romanized: Impersky legion), which has been led by Denis Valliullovich Gariyev since at least 2014,[49] and has called for "young Orthodox men" to dedicate themselves to defendingNovorossiya.[32]
The group maintains two training facilities in Saint Petersburg, one of which is known as camp Partizan, located south ofHeinäsenmaa [ru] island. Partizan runs training in urban warfare, shooting, tactical medicine, high-altitude activity, military psychology, and survival.[50][36][51]
After thewar in Donbas broke out ineastern Ukraine in April 2014, the RIM began training and sending volunteer soldiers to the pro-Russian groups in the conflict in July.[18]
Some members of the Imperial Legion have worked asmercenaries in the Middle East and North Africa. On January 30, 2020, it was reported that Vladimir Skopinov, who had also previously fought inDonbas and Syria, haddied in Libya—the second member of the Legion to die there.[52]
Some people affiliated with the movement have been implicated in crimes. Klaud Rommel who was affiliated with Russian orthodox fundamentalist militias has been charged with "sexual violence committed against a victim under the age of 12" for allegedly "systematically" raping a 10-year-old girl. Rommel was arrested after returning from the frontline in Ukraine and having recovered from wounds sustained there. Rommel was also known for producing media from a Russian Orthodox militant perspective and writing about theNew World Order.[53][54][55]
According to the US State Department, RIM provides "paramilitary-style training" to extremists throughout Europe and operates two training facilities there.[20]
There exists a RIM-affiliated fighting club in Estonia. Estonia expelled two ethnic Russian members as a threat to national security. According toEstonian Internal Security Service report in connection to RIM, "Russian citizens have attempted to infiltrate far-right organisations in Estonia".[56][57]
RIM has provided paramilitary training to Finnish neo-Nazis.[58] Finnish neo-Nazis have been recruited for thewar in Ukraine bylocal far-right pro-Russian parties.[59][12] In July 2023 the Finnish police arrested five men inLahti who possessed assault rifles and adhered to accelerationism and Siege and planned to ignite a race war by attacking the infrastructure, electric grid and railroads.[60] The men discussed forming a new Atomwaffen cell, and discussed assassinating Prime ministerSanna Marin.[12] It was reported the men had at least planned training in Russia, and had met withJanus Putkonen. Later multiple sources confirmed the men had acquired training for the use of firearms and explosives.[61] Additionally the group committed burglaries against left-wing targets.[62] RIM initially trained members of its ally Nordic Resistance Movement in Finland, and since its banning it has continued trainingNRM's successor groups includingFinnish Atomwaffen.[63][12]
RIM has provided paramilitary training to German neo-Nazis.[58]
In May 2018, GermanJunge Nationaldemokraten held a gathering inRiesa, Germany, where representatives of RIM took part in together withrelated organizations such as the neo-NaziSerbian Action andBulgarian National Union.[64]
On 5 June 2020, the German magazineFocus reported that the German security services were aware of the training of German neo-Nazis in Russia. However, they could not prohibit the Germans from traveling to Saint Petersburg for legal reasons. The authorities assume that Russian presidentVladimir Putin is aware of the camps and "at least tolerates them".[65][66]
In 2022, the German government verified that members of the German NPD youth organizationYoung Nationalists and the German neo-Nazi group "Third Way" trained in Russia in this center.[67]
RIM has also provided paramilitary training to Polish neo-Nazis.[58]
In November 2019, a representative of RIM held a speech at an international conference in Madrid that was organized by the[68] neo-Nazi[69] far-right Spanish political party "National Democracy" which was attended by members ofAlliance for Peace and Freedom.[68]
On 29 April 2020, the SpanishMinistry of the Interior received an intelligence report which stated that RIM was inciting its right-wing extremist contacts in Spain to commit acts of terror, such as attacking the infrastructure, transportation system and using chemical weapons against the public.[70]
The RIM—possibly acting as a proxy for Russian intelligence—is believed to have perpetrated theletter bomb terrorist campaign that targeted Spanish governmental institutions, embassies, and military and defense industry installations across Spain in late 2022. Important RIM members are known to have been present in Spain, and the RIM has fostered ties with Spanish far-right groups.[48]
In 2008, RIM visited Sweden in order to attendKarl XII's Memorial Day inStockholm together with the neo-NaziParty of the Swedes. In autumn 2015 it was noted that RIM had provided support to theSwedish Resistance Movement (SMR), and that RIM's leader Vorobyev had visited SMR in Sweden.[18]
On 26 January 2020, a Russian man named Anatoly Udodov was arrested at theArlanda airport after the police had discovered a cache of weapons belonging to him. The Swedish police had confiscated numerous firearms from him the previous summer due to his connections to SMR. Udodov was described as the representative of RIM in Sweden by Vorobyev and investigators believe he is the local recruiter for the RIM training camps. According to Swedish police Udodov is friends with a convicted terrorist, 23-year-old Viktor Melin. Melin was part of a group of Swedish neo-Nazis who went to Russia for military training, and upon returning was responsible for a string of bombings against minorities and political enemies.[71]
According to multiple sources,Atomwaffen Division Russland receives training from the group. The citizens of the United States who are affiliated with the group are also believed to have taken part in it.[72][73][74][9][75][50] Later, theNational Counterterrorism Center Director Christopher Miller confirmed that American neo-Nazis have had contacts with the RIM; specifically, on previous occasions, they have traveled to Russia to train with the group, however Miller described these connections as "relatively loose and informal".[76][77] The ties between Atomwaffen and RIM reach back to 2015 whenBrandon Russell met with the leadership of RIM.[78][79] Additionally both groups adhere toJames Mason's accelerationism.[2] According to theCenter on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism;
In the last decade, RIM has put considerable effort into connecting with other white supremacist, accelerationist, or ultra-Orthodox organizations abroad. Experts from the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation even speculate that after fighting in the Donbas War, RIM sought to position itself at the forefront of the transnational white supremacist movement in an ambitious networking plan called the "Last Crusade"....The "Last Crusade" proved to be a successful promotion of RIM's training camps to American accelerationists. In 2018, the neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Division's (AWD) leader Kaleb James Cole, accompanied by another member Aiden Bruce-Umbaugh, traveled to Russia to receive training at RIM's facilities. RIM has also provided training to other US nationals affiliated with AWD in St. Petersburg sometime around 2020. At present, the above information suggests an overlap between AWD and RIM in support for antisemitic action and militant accelerationism.[45]
While [ Atomwaffen Division and Russian Imperial Movement ] are serial purveyors of online extremism and often celebrate terrorism in their fora, deeper similarities extend to a shared ideological embrace of "accelerationism" and, in particular, a recently-revived doctrine advanced by the neo-Nazi ideologue, James Mason, now termed "Siege Culture"....terroristic advocacy of "Siege Culture" has a radicalising effect on right-wing extremists.
Wagner shares with some American militias a particular apocalyptic philosophy: accelerationism, or a desire to foment immediate radical social upheaval. Perhaps the most well-known American accelerationists are the Boogaloo Bois...Accelerationism wants to bring on the war soon, while whites are perceived as still being in a better position to win. "The Boogaloo and the Russian Imperial Legion share a common worldview", Rondeaux said.
The RIM has also provided specific paramilitary training to far-right groups in Finland. Some members of these groups have fought on Russia's side in Ukraine, while others have attempted to establish a Finnish cell of the international neo-nazi Atomwaffen Division. Police raids in 2023 also unveiled plans to assassinate the then Finnish prime minister, Sanna Marin.
Russian Imperial Movement is just such a partner to help achieve a sort of internationalized nationalism, especially out of Russia.
operating out of Russia with supporters around the world.
Palestine Action,Maniacs Murder Cult and Russian Imperial Movement set to be banned following advice from cross-government experts.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)The Imperial Legion, the paramilitary arm of the Russian Imperial Movement, calls, for instance, for "young Orthodox men" to commit themselves to defending Novorossiya.
This group, made up of mercenaries with neo-Nazi and neo-pagan beliefs, is involved in serious war crimes that have sparked controversy even within Russia. Some members of the group are connected to satanic and neo-Nazi organizations such as the Order of Nine Angles.
RIM has developed supportive relationships with other transnational violent extremist groups grounded in mutual aid and training. The closest of these connections are with...the Russian neo-Nazi organization Rusich, and the transnational accelerationist neo-Nazi organization Atomwaffen Division...Rusich and the Russian Imperial Movement [have] U.S. nationals sympathetic to their cause [like] far-right organizer Matthew Heimbach and U.S. cells of the extremist Atomwaffen Division.
We also observed significant overlap between members of [RIM and Rusich] and well-known transnational White supremacist organization Atomwaffen Division...adherents of the Russian Imperial Movement, Rusich and related identitarian paramilitary groups such as...Atomwaffen Division
Some sources link the DSHRG "Rusich" with an international neo-nazi and Satanic network, the Order of the Nine Angles (ONA), accused of terrorist practices, child abuse and human sacrifice, and which in Russia also has one of its branches in the so-called Ave Satan Legion.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)"Johan Backman says that he continues to help Finns who have gone to Eastern Ukraine to fight. He does not feel responsible for the people he recruits." Johan Bäckman is an important central figure for Finnish fighters, who had organized their travel from Finland to the Donbas and engaged them in illegal activities there. Janus Kostia Putkonen arrived in Donbas from Moscow via Rostov, southern Russia, in March 2015.
according to intelligence reports, members of the AWD trained with the Imperial Russian Movement in a camp outside of St. Petersburg
With Trump out of office, a worrying number of fascist groups today are repeating the revolutionary turn of the 1980s, from neo-Nazis like the Atomwaffen Division (also known as the National Socialist Resistance Front), which has sought military training with both the Ukrainian Azov Battalion and the Russian Imperial Movement
There has been an AWD cell in Russia since 2020 and it has close relations with the paramilitary, radical right group known as the Russian Imperial Movement. Many of the members of AWD have received military training from the latter.
Among those listed, the Atomwaffen Division, founded in the USA, which is closely connected to both Russian and Ukrainian ultra-right groups, is certainly still operating illegally. In doing so, it cooperates with the Azov battalion, which is banned on the territory of Russia, and the Russian imperialist movement, which the US State Department estimates enables the training of white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Europe.
Meanwhile, Canada and the U.S. recognized the RIM as a terrorist organization, which is suspected of being involved in mailing improvised explosive devices in late 2022. Besides, two RIM members were killed in Libya, which is validly suggests their affiliation with the GRU. In 2022, organization members took part in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The RIM is also reported to have a relationship with the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division's Russian affiliate. We see common features in the structure and functioning of Atomwaffen Division and the NRM, which suggests common sources of their organizational development.
Russell traveled to a neo-Nazi event in Russia in 2015, where he made contact with organizations such as Greece's Golden Dawn, the Nordic Resistance Movement, and designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM).