Kremlin Ready to Tolerate Those Expressing Even Nazi Views as Long as They Back Putin’s War in Ukraine, Russian Experts Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Feb. 24 – Radical Russian nationalists including those who express neo-Nazi views have become increasingly vocal since the start of Putin’s expanded war in Ukraine, according to Vera Alperovich of the SOVA Center which monitors such things (sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/publications/2025/07/d52000/?sphrase_id=3960697).

            According to another Russian expert speaking on condition of anonymity, “the war itself ahs not made such views, the Nazi ones in particular, more widespread, but it has made people feel more like expressing them publicly” (themoscowtimes.com/2026/02/24/while-russia-says-it-is-denazifying-ukraine-far-right-groups-are-fighting-for-moscow-a92033).

            That is because, he says, “the state is generally willing to tolerate almost any view as long as the person actively supports the war.”  Meanwhile, a third Russian expert, Nikolay Mitrokhin of the University of Bremen agrees. He says “the Kremlin does not like openly declared Nazis, but it does cooperate with pro-government far-right radicals.”

            What makes the Kremlin’s willingness to cooperate with those expressing extreme right positions as long as they support Putin’s war is that the Kremlin leader has always claimed that he is fighting Nazism in Ukraine, event though he is clearly not doing so at home at least among the politically loyal.

            This has had an impact at home, Alperovich argues. “Nationalist ideas once considered marginal have moved closer to the mainstream,” she argues, “while support for the war in Ukraine serves as ‘a source of legitimacy for nationalists and often serves as a license for their other activities.’”

            Despite that development, Mitrokhin points out “the pro-Kremlin far right ‘has never had any real significance on the battlefield” as Moscow’s efforts to make use of nationalist military formations like Espanola have “largely failed.” The real problem with the neo-Nazi resurgence on the battlelines is elsewhere.

            The real problem, he says, and one that may come home if and when the war ends is that “among Russian military personnel, especially GRU Spetznaz and airborne troops, far-right views and a culture of violence and sadism are widespread,” attitudes the Kremlin isn’t trying to root out but instead is “encouraging.”