The nationalist organization Russkaya Obshchina is financed by foundations linked to political analyst Sergey Mikheev and billionaire Igor Khudokormov, according to an investigation by BBC Eye and the BBC Russian Service.
Sergey Mikheev regularly appears on programs hosted by propagandist Vladimir Solovyov. According to The Insider, he has close ties to the Kremlin. Before appearing on state media broadcasts, journalists found, Mikheev worked on election campaigns abroad and reported to his handler, retired FSB colonel Valery Maksimov.
Igor Khudokormov owns Prodimex, Russia’s largest sugar producer. According to the journalists, the billionaire falls within the sphere of influence of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev, the son of former FSB director Nikolai Patrushev.
What the report says about the group
In the BBC investigation, Russkaya Obshchina is described as the largest nationalist-leaning organization in Russia. Its representatives have repeatedly said that the group exists solely on donations from its own members.
The organization conducts anti-migrant raids and disrupts parties and other events that its members believe contradict “traditional values.” According to the investigation, from 2023 to 2025 Russkaya Obshchina took part in more than 900 raids, with 300 of them carried out jointly with security forces.
Ties to the FSB and the Russian Orthodox Church
Members of Russkaya Obshchina do not hide their contacts with the FSB. For example, Pavel Omelnitsky, a member of the organization’s Yaroslavl branch, said in an interview with the BBC Russian Service that he
“coordinates events” with the FSB and the Investigative Committee.
A source of Meduza close to the security services claimed that the organization was created under FSB supervision. According to that source, Russkaya Obshchina was set up to secure additional budget funds and then to provoke nationalists into committing a crime so they could be detained as
“super-terrorists.”
Later, the Meduza source said, the organization came under the control of the Russian Orthodox Church. He did not specify when exactly that happened. Journalists suggested that the shift may have occurred in spring 2023.