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Russian Imperial Movement

Introduction & Overview


Flag of the Russian Imperial Movement

The Russian Imperial Movement, or RIM, is a far-right ultranationalist and white supremacist political organisation, also possessing a paramilitary wing known as the Imperial Legion. Through its use of its ‘Partizan’ training camp, extensive transnational collaboration with other far-right organisations, and participation in numerous armed conflicts, RIM has gained notoriety for its network of fighters and political activists. 


With the overall political objective of the restoration of the Russian monarchy and the implementation of Orthodox Christianity within Russia, RIM also holds intensely imperialist views. A component of these views is the fruition of the Novorossiya project, leading to RIM’s extensive involvement in the Donbas war, and eventually the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. 


History & Foundations


Originating in St Peterburg, RIM was founded in 2002 by Russian ultra-nationalist Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev (Huetlin, 2017). Whilst Vorobyev's influence within RIM is considerable, RIM's activity in the military sphere is greatly reliant on the activity of Denis Gariev. Acting as lead instructor and organiser of RIM's paramilitary arm known as the Imperial Legion (Potter, 2022), Gariev is also the founder of the RIM training camp known as "Partizan" (BBC News, 2022). 


Following the foundation of RIM in 2002, the Imperial Legion was founded in 2008 in an effort to further mobilise the organisation's paramilitary objectives (Potter, 2022). This shift into a more militant pragmatism eventually led to RIM being registered as a terror organisation by the Russian government in 2013 (BBC News, 2022). However, despite this categorisation, in Spring 2014, Stanislav Vorobyov joined Russian military instructors on a trip to Crimea. The objective of said trip was to develop local "Novorossiya" resistance movements (Zaks.ru, 2015).  


Simultaneously, Gariev began mobilising volunteers through the Partizan training camp to enable the deployment of groups of fighters to the Donbas (Roth, 2017). This participation in the 2014 Donbas war led to RIM's first combat losses in the fight for Slavyansk (Demchenko, 2020). Despite these losses, the Imperial Legion can be traced through social media analysis as fighting through Nikishino in late 2014, and in early 2015, participating in the battle for Novogrigorievka and Logvinovo, with additional losses taken in Debaltsevo (Demchenko, 2020).  By mid-2015, many Imperial Legion members had stopped fighting in the Donbas due to feeling the conflict had been co-opted by governmental and oligarchic interests from Russia, Ukraine and the West (Roth, 2017). 


Russian Imperial Movement fighters

Following this withdrawal, RIM increased the frequency of its training camps; however, outside of these camps, the movement's political weight waned considerably (Roth, 2017). Between 2015 and 2017, additional RIM fighters died in the Donbas, evidencing their continued, if decreased, participation in the conflict (Demchenko, 2020). It seems that, during this time, the training efforts of the Partizan camp places greater emphasis on transnational activity. In 2017, three members of the Nordic Resistance Movement carried out a string of bombings in Norway (Butt and Byman, 2020). Two of the three attackers, Viktor Melin and Anton Thulin, had attended the Partizan training camp, with their participation in the camp being cited by the case’s prosecuting attorney as a catalytic component of their radicalisation into carrying out the attacks (Huetlin, 2017).


2019 saw the last known activity of the Imperial Legion in the Donbas war, with Imperial Legion fighters finally withdrawing from LPR and DPR units (Demchenko, 2020). According to RIM's telegram channel, a total of 12 legionnaires were killed during the Donbas war (Rus Imperia). Again, this full withdrawal from the Donbas did not mark the end of RIM's activity, and instead, a redistribution of its efforts into other theatres. For example, RIM fighters were deployed to Libya to aid the Russian support of the Libyan National Army of General Khalifa Haftar, with at least two legionnaires dying in the process (Demchenko, 2020). In response to this increasingly transnational activity, on the 6th of April 2020, RIM was declared a terrorist organisation by the US government and placed under numerous sanctions, specifically due to the organisation's efforts to train neo-Nazis abroad (Pamuk, 2020). In fact, RIM was the first white supremacist group to be officially labelled "Specially Designated Global Terrorists" by the US State Department (Morrell, 2023). 


Orthodox Christian Flag commonly in use with the RIM

Following a period of decreased activity, RIM resurged to prominence in tandem with the beginning of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. On February 24, 2022, the Telegram channel of the Partizan centre supported the invasion of Ukraine:


"Do we welcome this war? Probably so! As an inevitable evil. Whether it will be able to resolve the issue of the civil war between the Russian people, which began 100 years ago, is doubtful."

On March 8th, RIM's telegram states, "We decided to take part in the war with Ukraine." Finally, on the 29th of June, the Partisan training centre opened up again to train fighters for the war in Ukraine. This time, it is backed and sponsored by the Russian armed forces (Rus Imperia). 


Objectives & Ideology


A message on RIM's telegram details a list of 7 requirements for those interested in joining the Imperial Legion/RIM (Rus Imperia):


  1. Orthodox faith.

  2. Conservative views. (Remember, we are monarchists)

  3. Good physical shape.

  4. No bad habits. (alcohol-drugs,)

  5. Completion of a 5-day general course of special military training "Partisan".

  6. Completion of a 7-day training camp.

  7. Psychological test.


This list hints towards a general outline for RIM's objectives and ideology, but in order for a full understanding of the group to be gained, a further exploration must be carried out. Firstly, RIM holds generally far-right views. With the objective of fighting against globalisation, multiculturalism, and liberalism (SFC, 2019); "the enemy" is considered to be the West, the LGBTQIA+ community, immigrants, and jews (Potter, 2022). In this context, RIM claims to defend the traditional values of Western civilisation, values which the enemy is apparently making a concerted and coordinated effort to destroy (Ross, Hodgson, and Clarke, 2020). 


RIM's primary ideological belief is that of orthodox monarchism. RIM seeks to restore the Russian monarchy (Huetlin, 2017), primarily through what is known as a 'Romanov Restoration', the restoration of the Romanov family who suffered a regicide in 1918, to the crown (SFC, 2019). Through this restoration of a monarchy, RIM seeks to implement two pillars of authority: political power vested in the tsar and holy power vested in the Russian Orthodox Church (Ross, Hodgson, and Clarke, 2020). This drive for political authority through holy power is further evidenced throughout RIM's ardent Christian orthodoxy (Roth, 2017). The group's telegram channel regularly posts biblical excerpts, as well as information on the historical ties between the Russian orthodox church and Russia's imperial age (RIM Telegram, 19th April 2025). 


Russian Orthodox Iconography in use by a RIM fighter

These monarchic views are also closely linked to RIM's neo-Nazi views. Throughout its activities, RIM regularly espouses antisemitism, racism, homophobia, anti-abortion, chauvinism, sexual violence, anti-law enforcement, and anti-government beliefs, with said beliefs being commonly collectively known as 'Siege culture' (Morrell, 2023). Additionally, RIM has a general belief that there is a global cabal of Jewish oligarchs that perpetuates globalisation, leading to massive increases in foreign migration and the corruption of Western culture to unleash conflict and wars all over the world (Ross, Hodgson, and Clarke, 2020). 


RIM's participation in Siege culture is further exemplified by its accelerationist objectives. RIM views societal collapse as inevitable and aims to prepare the Russian people to take advantage of this existential event in order to bring the Russian empire back to its former glory (Castner, 2022). Through this event of societal collapse, Gariev himself has expressed the desire to lead a last crusade to save traditional Christian values from an alliance of leftists, LGBTQIA+ community members, and immigrants that supposedly poses an existential threat (Potter, 2022). The Russian Imperial Movement believes wholeheartedly that there is a full-scale war about to start against Western civilisation, and regardless of its involvement in various other events, one of RIM’s primary objectives is to ensure victory for Russia once this war has passed (Ross, Hodgson, and Clarke, 2020). 


Victory in this conflict, to RIM, takes form in the reinstatement of the Russian empire, specifically the idea of Novorossiya (Demchenko, 2020). In fact, the Imperial Legion was created in order to protect the population of this hypothetical region (Zaks.ru, 2015). Such imperial/ultra-nationalist ambitions can even be seen in the group's flag/logo, featuring the black-gold-white tricolour of the Tsarist Empire (Potter, 2022).


Russian Imperial Movement March

Through the recreation of the Russian empire and Novorossiya, the interests of ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians would be privileged (Zaks.ru, 2015). Ethnic Russians in particular would receive additional privilege, with RIM believing that Russia should control any state in which a considerable number of ethnic Russians reside (Ross, Hodgson, and Clarke, 2020). This attitude particularly applies to Ukraine, with RIM viewing the state as a bastardised component of the Russian empire invented by the Soviets, and in many cases, its people are ethnically Russian (Roth, 2017). 


This perspective regarding Russian ethnicity also extends into the realm of white supremacy. RIM has claimed to be "fighting for the predominance of the white race" (Hume, 2020), and seeks to create a mono-ethnic state led by a Russian autocratic monarchy (Counter Extremism Project, 2020). As is common with ethnonationalism, genocidal intent is hinted at thoroughly by the Russian Imperial Movement. Gariev has previously stated:


“We see Ukrainian-ness as rabies. A person is sick. Either quarantine, liquidation, or he’ll infect everyone"

(Roth, 2017)


Gariev has also stated that all Ukrainian separatists must be liquidated (Potter, 2022). However, this is an even more concerning statement than initially thought when it is taken into account the fact that, in the eyes of RIM, all Ukrainians are inherently separatist through their very existence.


Military/Political Abilities


Militarily, RIM operates in a grey area. Whilst the group might not be directly under the control of the Russian military, Denis Gariev wrote all of the recruits he trains for societal collapse/conflict "are already part of the active army," (BBC News, 2022). Similarly, Ruslan Starodubov, a member of the Imperial Legion, has stated “We don’t receive any support, but at the same time, we aren’t hampered” (Roth, 2017).


During armed operations, the imperial legion has fought actively alongside official government forces in Libya, Syria, and Ukraine, and was able to move up to 30 million rubles of weaponry and equipment to Ukrainian separatists during the Donbas war (Counter Extremism Project, 2020). Finally, in the context of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Partisan centre now operates with the backing of the Russian armed forces (Rus Imperia). 


Russian Imperial Movement fighters

On the whole, the Kremlin does not directly support RIM, but it does nothing to combat the group’s violent activities, despite knowledge of their operations (Arsenault and Stabile, 2020). Whilst RIM opposes Putin in many ways, its activities as a conduit for terrorism in countries opposed to Russia seem to outweigh these issues in the risk-reward calculation made by the Kremlin (Counter Extremism Project, 2020). Because of this benefit to Russia, the government turns a blind eye to both its criticisms and operations in a form of 'adversarial symbiosis' (Ross, Hodgson, and Clarke, 2020). 


Generally, RIM believes that Putin came to power through corrupt elites and oligarchs, and that he should step aside in order to give way to the tsar (Potter, 2022). Gariev, in particular, has been an open critic of Putin in the past, viewing his government as corrupt and not doing enough to protect the interests of ethnic Russians (Roth, 2017). Despite these criticisms, RIM agrees with Putin on several points, such as viewing the West and the LGBTQIA+ community as an enemy, and a commitment to traditional values (Potter, 2022).


Russian Imperial Movement fighters with Russian Orthodox clergymen

There are also some clear connections between RIM and various politically or militarily powerful individuals. GRU Colonel V.V. Kvachkov has attended the Partizan centre numerous times in order to deliver lectures on various topics, including the execution of special military operations (Rus Imperia and Rus Imperia). RIM has also worked with Rodina, a Russian extreme-right party founded in 2003 by Dmitry Rogozin. Rogozin served as Russia’s deputy prime minister from 2011 to 2018, overseeing the country’s defence industry (Counter Extremism Project, 2020). 


Approach to Violence


The Russian imperial movement's primary objective, outside of its overarching political/military goals, is the creation and maintenance of an extremist network. RIM itself is a network, not just a movement, with each node comprised of smaller cells/groups/units of fighters and activists spread across various Russian cities, and in some cases, other countries (Zaks.ru, 2015). Gariev himself has boasted that:


"We are the only organisation that maintains close and professional connections with right-wing extremist movements around the world"

(Potter, 2022)


A key component of this network is the foundation of the World National-Conservative Movement. This movement, founded between RIM and the Rodina party, aims to bring together far-right activists in opposition to liberalism, multiculturalism, and tolerance (Counter Extremism Project, 2020). Far-right extremist groups from up to 28 different countries attended the conference in 2015 (Counter Extremism Project, 2020). This network is then used to share experiences of political and information warfare, as well as to share military training efforts between nodes/groups (Arsenault and Stabile, 2020). 


Of course, this network operates in tandem with RIM's other primary activity: the provision of training camps/courses to those who are considered a part of their network. RIM consistently trains neo-nazis and white supremacists from across Europe and has also recruited individuals from European countries in order to further their ability to train others (Pamuk, 2020). The training camps themselves involve education on artillery reconnaissance, close combat (Potter, 2022), sapper skills, combat medicine (Zaks.ru, 2015), bomb making, assaulting (Counter Extremism Project, 2020), city fighting, high-altitude training, military topography, radio communications, and smoothbore weapons (Rus imperia). 


Whilst initially the camps were advertised as a means to train civilians for upcoming "global chaos" (Huetlin, 2017), since the beginning of the Russian invasion into Ukraine, the training offered by the Partizan centre has advanced notably. The newest ad for the training camp details things like FPV drones, dealing with combat stress, shotgun training, and other advanced courses (Rus imperia). This seems to indicate that the courses have shifted away from training civilians to be prepared for societal collapse, and instead offer the ability for volunteers to prepare for a conventional war.


Russian Imperial Movement training schedule

The flow of fighters through these camps has operated as both a means for RIM to fight towards its objectives, but also as a self-perpetuating recruitment tool, with the Imperial Legion's participation in various conflicts giving the movement additional 'street cred' (Hume, 2020).  


International Relations & Alliances


RIM has extensive connections with a wide range of movements, groups, and even private entities. Many founding members of Wagner are also members of the Russian Imperialist Movement (Castner, 2022), with legionnaires operating in Libya seemingly doing so under sub-contracts through Wagner (Demchenko, 2020). Additionally, the founders of DShRG Ruisch, Milchakov and Petrovsky, both took part in the Partizan training camp before they created Rusich (Potter, 2022). 


Outside of military collaboration, RIM has developed its network through mutually beneficial events. One such example was Stanislav Vorobyov 2019 attendance of the "II Congress of European Monarchists" in Austria, organised by the "Black and Yellow Alliance", advocating for the revival of the Habsburg Empire from the independent states of Central and Eastern Europe (Demchenko, 2020).


Similarly, in 2017, a US sect of RIM held a meeting with the ultra-right neo-Nazi group known as Traditionalist Worker Party, which was disbanded in 2018 (Demchenko, 2020). Of course, RIM's work with the Rodina party has been essential for the perpetuation of their political power, with their collaborative event, World National-Conservative Movement, being a regular meeting place for extremist and far-right groups from the US and Europe (Arsenault and Stabile, 2020).  


RIM also has heavy links with Matthew Heimbach, a notorious American white supremacist who has backed Hezbollah and the IRA and is the organiser of Unite the Right (SFC, 2019). Similarly to RIM's ties with the Rodina Party, their connection with the Nordic Resistance Movement is an important one. The two groups' collaboration has led to a longstanding and close-knit relationship which has been utilised for mutually beneficial fundraising and recruitment objectives (Huetlin, 2017). 

Works Cited


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