Their views are popular but government repression and internal strife have stunted the influence of Russia’s far right — while some fight alongside Kremlin’s troops in Donbas others reject the war as fratricide.
A few dozen small groups make up Russia’s right-wing nationalist scene. They call themselves “Nationalist Movement,” “Conservative Russia,” or simply, “The Conservatives.” Some support President Vladimir Putin and are fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, others reject the Kremlin outright.
A glimpse of just how splintered Russia’s right-wing scene is was evidenced by the varying positions they took in 2014 in reaction to the pro-European Maidan movement and the start of the conflict in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.
