Last modified: 2025-03-15 by rob raeside
Keywords: russian national unity | swastika | hammer and sickle (black) | blade | national bolshevik party | bolshevik | russian national union | cross: double vertical arm | hammer cross | saltire (black) | pamyat | national social |
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Image by Victor Lomantsov, 5 May 2009
Seen in a TV news report, a Russian nationalist demonstration with participants waving imperial black-yellow-white flags, some of which had a logo in the center consisting of a word under a white
and black white supremacist-style circle-cross.
Eugene Ipavec, 5 May 2009
It is flag of ultra-right "Movement against illegal immigration"
Victor Lomantsov, 5 May 2009
Image by A. Sedano, 5 Feb 2012
The Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) is a Russian nationalist hate group and anti-Illegal immigration organization. The DPNI was founded in 2002 by Vladimir Basmanov, in 2008 leadership passed to Aleksandr Belov (Potkin), the former press spokesman for ultra-nationalist Pamyat's leader, Dmitry Vasilyev. In 2010 the leadership changed once again, and Vladimir Ermolaev now leads the group.
Human Rights Activists had filed complaints with the Russian authorities because they believed the DPNI was "pursuing a fascist agenda," exemplified by slogans such as "Russia is for Russians!" Because the Movement continued to repeatedly take part in events aimed at igniting inter-ethnic hatred, it was finally banned by the Moscow City Court in 2011. At the present time, a suspension of the activities of the organization remains in force. The Movement Against Illegal Immigration was one of the more active political organizations in Russia with about 5000 members in 30 different regions.
Pete Loeser, 13 July 2012
Mikhail Revnivtsev reported today to RussoVex the flag of "Pamyat" ("Memory" or "Memorial"), the ultra-nationalist organization is appearing under two names:
The National Patriotic Front, a splinter group from the Pamyat (Memory) Union, is a Russian ultra-nationalist organization sometimes identifying itself as the "People's National-Patriotic Orthodox Christian Movement." It has been accused of racism, xenophobia, and antisemitism.
The groups most well-known leader, Dmitry Vassilyev (who died in 2003), made the Pamyat Union the most prominent organized group of Russian nationalists in the 1980s. After several splits and name changes, and the imminent dissolution of the USSR, the organization launched its own newspaper "The Pamyat" in 1991, with print runs of 100,000 copies, and started their own radio station.
However, by the end of the 1990s, the original Pamyat had disappeared being replaced with smaller groups with names like "The National Patriotic Front" and "The Russian National Unity." The Russian National Unity promoted the cult of the swastika, a symbol which, they claimed "acts on subconsciousness and paralyses, weakens and demoralizes non-believers."
Pete Loeser, 13 July 2012
Image by Tomislav Todorović, 5 Jun 2010
The People's National Party (Narodnaya Natsional'naya Partiya) was founded in 1994. Its
ideology, called Russism, is meant to be a "localized" form of Nazism. The party flag is white with a large black cross potent in the centre; the cross has an inner white and an outer black fimbriation. The aspect ratio is 1:2, as can be seen at the photo gallery from the party website. As Vladimir,Popov, party leader's deputy, wrote in his book "Returning of Russia: On the Path Towards the Russian State", the party emblem is the combination of two swastikas, one right-facing and one left-facing.
Sources:
Tomislav Todorović, 5 Jun 2010
Image by Tomislav Todorović, 21 Nov 2011
These are flags used by a Russian neo-Nazi organization called the National Front. The National Front is led by Ilya Lazarenko. First formed in 1991 as the"Union of Russian Youth," then renamed the "Front of National-Revolutionary Action" in 1992, and finally named the "National Front Party" which it has
remained since 1994. Its doctrine is racist and fascist envisioning a "Great National-Socialist Russian Empire" under a "national dictatorship," which explains their use of flags reminiscent of both Nazi Germany and Imperial, Russia.
Pete Loeser, 17 Nov 2011
Image by Victor Lomantsov, 21 Nov 2011
The National Front Skinheads wear traditional black fascist uniforms and display their black Celtic crosses on their banners which they claim are based on the crosses of Novgorod and Jerusalem instead of the traditional swastika which is illegal in Russia. According to Lazarenko, his movement has contacts with the Russian National Unity (RNE) of Alexander Barkashov, but the relations are generally cool because they view the policies of the RNE as "absolutely erroneous."
Pete Loeser, 17 Nov 2011
Image by Pete Loeser, 21 Nov 2011
At demonstrations the National Front Party has been seen displaying flags using the traditional neo-Nazi red and white, but also flags using the Romanov Imperial colors (such as the Front of National-Revolutionary Action Flags, and even re-purposing and using the last Russian Imperial State Flag of 1914.
Pete Loeser, 17 Nov 2011
Image by Pete Loeser and Tomislav Todorović, 20 Nov 2011
National Socialist Movement - Russian Division claimed to be the branch of the National Socialist Movement, or National Socialist Movement 88, a neo-Nazi movement from the USA. They used a
red flag with a large white disc, charged with a variant of wolfsangel symbol in black. The image of this flag could be seen at the movement website, which is no longer available online (the
movement probably disbanded itself, the members leaving to join other
similar organizations), but can still be found at the Internet archive.
Tomislav Todorović, 20 Nov 2011
Images by Tomislav Todorović, 9 July 2012 (left) and Victor Lomantsov, 9 Nov 2011 (right)
National Socialist Initiative (Natsional'naya Sotsialisticheskaya Initsiativa) was formed in St. Petersburg in 2009 by Dmitriy Bobrov, nicknamed Shul'ts, previously the leader of
Shul'ts-88, an informal group of Nazi skinheads which were active in St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region 2001-2007 before the police suppressed them. Bobrov himself was arrested in 2005 and sentenced to six years in jail on a conviction of violence, but was released in 2009. In early 2010, National Socialist Initiative has spread to the city of Cherepovets, Vologda Region. This branch of the organization was deemed extremist by the Vologda City Court in May of 2010, but the main body seems not to have been illegalized yet.
(modified text from "Historical Flags of Our Ancestors" website)
National Socialist Initiative uses black flags with a white disc, charged with the black Cyrillic monogram NS (НС), shaped so as to resemble the sunwheel. In the complex flag design, the disc is surrounded with a red wreath and a small black shield, fimbriated red and charged with red initials nsi (нси), placed over the bottom end of the wreath. The simple design adds only a red fimbriation to the disc. Photos showing both flags can be seen at the Nazi Watch website.
Tomislav Todorović, 9 July 2012
Images by Tomislav Todorović, 29 September 2012
Russian Obraz (Russkiy Obraz) is an ultra-nationalist organization
modelled after the Obraz Fatheland Movement, a similar organization from Serbia.
The model organization is presented at the FOTW
website.
The main flag of the organization is derived from that of its Serbian
counterpart by changing the field color - plain black instead of bicolor
red-blue. Its photos can be
found here (Image)
and here (Image)
Images by Tomislav Todorović, 29 September 2012
An alternate flag displays a different
emblem - runes Tyr and Gebo placed one over the other, which in Russian
pre-Christian religion, according to the
website of the
organization were representing spear and shield of god Perun, respectively. Name
of the organization is inscribed above the emblem, in a typeface with letter
shapes modelled after the runes. The photos of this flag can be found
here (Image)
and here (Image)
Images by Tomislav Todorović, 29 September 2012
Another flag with these charges has the
name of the organization inscribed beneath the emblem, which is ammended with
the initials Р (R) and О, inscribed in the same typeface as the
full name. Its photos can be found
here (Image)
and here (Image
1) (Image
2)
All three flags can be used together, as is shown on numerous photos
here.
Tomislav Todorović, 29 September 2012
I sort of get the presence of the confederate flag but what's with
Scotland? Is a white on blue saltire used in any
capacity in Russia?
MR Majan, 29 September 2012
Perhaps it isn't Scotland, but
Quebec, whose flag is sometimes used by Russian
ultra-rightists, but is not the best visible here. Both flags are used as the
symbol of solidarity with their original users, who are said to be fighting
against the same enemies ("new world order" or "globalism", however they call
it) for their freedom. Of course, it is possible that the flag of
Scotland is also used in the same way, thus
expressing solidarity with Scottish independentists. (The fact that most of
Scots or Quebecois are not sharing their ideas is neglected, of course.)
Tomislav Todorović, 29 September 2012
A blue saltire on white would be the old naval flag. Perhaps the Scot flag
was easier to get, or is used as some kind of "independentist" symbol, while
similar (or the "negative" version)?
Dirk Schönberger, 29 September 2012
I don't think that this was the case here - after all, they could have made
their own copy of the naval flag quite easily if they wanted to use it. However,
they seem to prefer the Romanov colors.
Tomislav Todorović, 29 September 2012
The blue saltire on white is the current (post-Soviet)
naval ensign of Russia as well as the pre-Soviet
naval ensign.
Michael Halleran, 01 October 2012
image by Tomislav Todorovic, 8 July 2017
National Socialist Revolutionary Movement "Black Sun"
(Национал-социалистическое революционное движение "Чёрное солнце",
Natsional-sotsialisticheskoye revolyutsionnoye dvizheniye "Chornoye Solntse") is
a neo-Nazi organization from Russia. Its flag is a black-red-black horizontal
triband, red stripe a bit wider than the black ones, with a large Black Sun
symbol in white over all. The symbol looks like the mirror-image of its usual
depiction. The photos of this flag can be found here:
https://vk.com/albums-133025484,
http://forum.dpni.org/showthread.php?t=71072&page=4, and
http://komitetns.org/russkij-marsh-protiv-diktatury-obzor-aktsij-v-regionah.
They all date from 2016, so the organization must have been founded earlier that
year or shortly before, and the same applies to introduction of its flag.
[A note on Russian spelling: letter "ё" - transcribed as "yo" or "o",
depending on the position - is usually replaced with the letter "е"-
transcribed likewise as "ye" or "e" - so "Чёрное" is often written as "Черное"
and transcribed as "Chernoye" - even though it has not been pronounced like that
for centuries, the use of modified letter has almost never been obligatory. For
more about the issue, see at
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo_(Cyrillic)
However, during last
several years, there has been an increase of the
Internet use of Yo letter, often citing the patriotic reasons - that it is a
Russian letter, so it shall be always used in Russian texts wherever
necessary. Still an ambiguity remains regarding that, even in the
ultra-nationalist sites like the above sources, where examples of both spellings
are found.]
Tomislav Todorovic, 8 July 2017
image located by William Garrison, 6 February 2025
The "Russian Imperial Movement" (RIM) [Russian: Русское имперское
движениe, romanized: "Russkoye imperskoye dvizheniye, RID)]
is a Russian ultranationalist and white supremacist militant organization which
operates out of Russia. The group seeks to create a new Russian Empire. Its
paramilitary wing is the [Christian-Orthodox] "Russian Imperial Legion". During
the Donbas War, it recruited and trained thousands of far-right volunteers who
joined the Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, per Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Imperial_Movement
Imperial Legion"
flag in field-use source:
https://www.memri.org/dttm
William Garrison, 6 February 2025
image located by
Tomislav Todorovic, 6 February 2025
The Russian Imperial Movement uses the black-yellow-white "imperial" tricolor
charged with their emblem, a crowned double-headed eagle bearing a saltire on
its breast, a thunderbolt in its dexter claw and a laurel wreath in its sinister
claw, with the name of the movement inscribed around it. The eagle, crown,
thunderbolt and wreath are in black and gold (the "old gold" shade), the saltire
is blue and the inscription is black. All charges have white fimbriations and
cast black shadows over yellow and white fields; these are well visible around
the inscriptions but nearly invisible around the emblem. The design of the
emblem is based on that of the badge of imperial Order of St Andrew:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Order_of_St._Andrew_(detail).jpg
Photos of the flag:
https://theins.ru/news/211953
https://sprotyv.info/news
https://www.kasparov.ru
https://www.kasparov.ru
https://www.yaplakal.com/forum2/topic2126952.html
As the last
example shows, the emblem design may vary somewhat.
Tomislav Todorovic,
10 February 2025