This was Russia today Friday, October 31, 2025

Howdy, folks. In the mailing below, we highlight a new investigation by the news outlet Bumaga about a surge of neo-Nazism among St. Petersburg’s youth. Let us know if you’re enjoying the newsletter’s new format, why don’t you.

The kids aren’t alright in St. Petersburg — and their hate is going viral

This week, the news outlet Bumaga published an investigation into the far right’s resurgence in St. Petersburg. Most strikingly, the city’s new generation of neo-Nazis and skinheads includes children as young as 12, radicalized and organized primarily through Telegram and TikTok. Bumaga found that this new crop of racists and vigilantes operates more online than Russia’s last right-wing wave a decade ago, though some practices persist. For example, right-wing teens still lure alleged pedophiles into staged “sting” meetings, film coerced apologies, and sometimes assault or extort their targets. The violence itself is often secondary — the performance and the video matter most. (These clips circulate first in small Telegram groups before going viral when larger channels repost them.)

According to Bumaga, many of the youngest participants are drawn in not by ideology but by the aesthetic — the music, fashion, and attitude — promoted in TikTok videos about skinhead culture. There, they discover mythologized figures from the early Putin era, such as Dmitry Borovikov, Alexey Voevodin, and especially Maxim “Tesak” Martsinkevich, whose image defines much of the subculture’s visual language. Such idolization tends to focus on those now dead or serving life sentences. In videos, youths mimic the bravado made infamous by figures like Martsinkevich, but St. Petersburg’s right-wing violence today is generally less lethal than during Russia’s previous neo-Nazi period.

Still, hate-motivated violence across Russia has surged in the past three years, reaching levels unseen since 2011, when a police crackdown jailed several right-wing leaders. Last year, for example, members of a group called “Paragraph-88” were arrested in Moscow and the Ryazan region and accused of plotting assassinations of public figures Ksenia Sobchak and Margarita Simonyan. Within the movement, paranoia about informants is widespread — and not unfounded. Almost every far-right group reportedly includes members who cooperate with the police, while others act as provocateurs or “developers,” entrapping peers for the authorities.

Bumaga’s sources stressed that St. Petersburg police have hardly ignored the city’s far-right scene. Experts interviewed by the outlet believe that this close surveillance has so far prevented any single prominent neo-Nazi organization from forming in the city — though they warn that the movement’s underlying social media networks and aesthetics continue to radicalize a new generation of children.

The Archive Collection: Nothing can stop Meduza from releasing anniversary merch — even if we have to make it ourselves. Check out our latest drop now!

We have a new tradition here at Meduza: every year on our birthday, we update the merch in our online store, Magaz. In 2025, we turned 11 — and despite the considerable challenges we’ve faced this year, we’ve found a pretty original way to bring you a new collection. Here’s a look at the latest clothing and accessories you can buy to rep Meduza and support our work.

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Today’s reporting from Meduza

🪖 Russia’s new reservist law looks like another ‘quiet mobilization’: It’s October 31, 2025. Here are two stories worth your attention.

Russia’s Parliament has passed a new law allowing reservists to be called up for “special drills” to protect critical infrastructure — a move that could serve as a form of quiet mobilization without a formal draft. The legislation expands the reservist system to about 100,000 men and may draw civilians into state-run military enterprises under the guise of training exercises. Meanwhile, Ukraine accuses Russia of repeatedly using the 9M729 missile — the same weapon that collapsed the INF Treaty — to strike Ukrainian targets.

🇨🇳 ‘Russia is a superpower of the past’: Meduza asks China expert Alexander Gabuev what Trump’s ‘12 out of 10’ meeting with Xi Jinping means for Putin

U.S. President Donald Trump met Chinese leader Xi Jinping for the first time in six years, calling their talks “a 12 out of 10” and agreeing to lower tariffs and ease trade tensions after months of economic confrontation. China expert Alexander Gabuev told Meduza that while the truce benefits both sides, it highlights Russia’s growing dependence on Beijing — a country he describes as the true global power, with Russia now “a superpower of the past.”

🪖 Could Russia occupy all of Donbas in a year? And what if Ukraine’s ‘fortress belt’ falls? Meduza’s military analysts answer readers’ biggest questions about the war

Meduza’s analysis finds that Russia’s current offensive in Donbas aims to seize Kramatorsk and Sloviansk by mid-2026, but logistical and tactical challenges make a rapid breakthrough unlikely. Ukraine’s defenses remain under pressure, yet its dispersed strategy and Western support could still prevent Russia from achieving a decisive victory, even if the so-called “fortress belt” eventually falls.

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