The devil is in the details Russia just banned the non-existent ‘international Satanism movement.’ What are the real-world consequences?
On Wednesday, Russia’s Supreme Court banned yet another non-existent organization, declaring the so-called “international Satanism movement” an extremist group. This comes after a 2023 ruling outlawing the also fictional “international LGBT movement.” The Russian human rights group Department One examined the practical consequences of this latest decision and tried to suss out what now qualifies as “Satanist” under Russian law. Meduza summarizes their key findings here.
On July 23, Russia’s Supreme Court banned the non-existent “international Satanism movement,” designating it an extremist organization. The case was brought by the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Justice Ministry.
In its commentary, the Prosecutor General’s Office described the alleged movement as rooted in “extremist ideology, hatred, and hostility toward traditional religious denominations” and “closely linked to manifestations of radical nationalism and neo-Nazism.” Prosecutors also alleged that the group’s members had encouraged extremist actions and called for the destruction, defacement, and desecration of Russian Orthodox churches and roadside crosses. Prosecutors additionally accused members of committing criminal acts, including what they described as “ritual killings.”
Roman Silantyev — a conspiracy theorist whose “expertise” formed the basis for the court’s decision — told the state news agency TASS that there are “tens of thousands of Satanists in Russia.” According to Silantyev, they typically operate in small groups or individually due to their “misanthropy.”
“Typical crimes committed by Satanists include ritual murders — about 300 people since 1993 — as well as animal killings (especially cats), cannibalism, rape, desecration of graves and corpses, and inciting religious hatred,” Silantyev claimed. “The Satanist movement made only a minimal and highly questionable contribution to culture, mostly by providing material for horror movie plots.”
No defendant, no appeal
According to the rights group Department One, challenging this extremist designation in court is effectively impossible. Because there is no actual “international Satanism movement,” there’s no defendant to file an appeal.
Under Russian law, only participants in the original case can appeal. In rare instances, a third party with a declared interest may submit a complaint, but in practice, courts routinely refuse to consider such filings. When the Russian authorities banned the “international LGBT movement” in 2023, no one was able to appeal the decision, because it also does not exist.
Once a group is banned as extremist in Russia, the consequences are far-reaching. Its activities are outlawed entirely. Any involvement in or facilitation of its work becomes a criminal offense, as does organizing or participating in public events on its behalf. The public display of any associated symbols is also prohibited. Distributing leaflets or helping to organize events can carry a sentence of up to six years in prison, while recruiting others may result in up to eight. Anyone affiliated with an extremist group is barred from running for office at any level.
The full text of the Supreme Court’s decision hasn’t been published, and it remains unclear what symbols the court considers “extremist.” After banning the non-existent “international LGBT movement,” Russian authorities initiated a criminal case over the public display of rainbow imagery. Only then did it emerge that courts had classified the six-color rainbow flag as banned “extremist symbolism.” Prosecutors have since also brought cases over seven-color “flags” — essentially just rainbows.
Department One points out that in practice, Russian law enforcement has pursued cases based not on specific banned symbols named in court rulings but on their own subjective assessments of whether imagery is linked to an “extremist organization.”
No legal clarity
Satanic or occult themes are common in visual art, music, and literature. Genres like black metal, death metal, and doom metal often include lyrics exploring evil, death, and the demonic. Gothic rock and industrial music also sometimes incorporate Satanic motifs. According to Department One, the Russian authorities could now begin targeting public figures, artists, and musicians — especially those critical of the government or the war in Ukraine — in an effort to create an atmosphere of fear.
The ban on displaying “extremist” symbols takes effect once the Supreme Court’s ruling enters into force — one month after the decision. Until then, wearing or displaying potentially risky symbols isn’t necessarily a problem for Russians, Department One says. But posting photos of such imagery on social media — wearing a T-shirt with a pentagram, for instance — could pose a much greater risk.
Russians have often faced penalties for social media posts made long before such laws were enacted. People are regularly fined for VKontakte photos that allegedly “incite hatred” or “promote LGBT propaganda.”
That said, it remains unclear what Russian authorities even qualify as “Satanism” or “Satanic” imagery. As lawyer Maxim Olenichev of Department One explains, the ruling marks yet another erosion of legal clarity around what the state considers forbidden. “By law, the symbols of an ‘extremist’ organization must be specified in its charter, not in a court ruling. But because no such organization as the ‘international Satanism movement’ actually exists, there are no founding documents — so the court defines its symbols in its decision, which violates the law,” he said. “But in practice, that argument doesn’t hold up in court.”
Without a published ruling, Olenichev adds, there’s no way to know what’s actually prohibited. “But in practice, people are being prosecuted for displaying the symbols of extremist organizations regardless of whether the court’s decision has been published — even if they had no idea what those symbols were,” he said.
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