The Investigative Committee’s directorate for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region said it had detained seven alleged members of a far-right group, according to the agency’s press service.
Investigators said they opened a criminal case on organizing an extremist community and participating in it under Parts 1 and 2 of Article 282.1 of the Russian Criminal Code. The committee considers seven young men aged 17 to 28 to be involved.
According to the investigation, between April and October 2025 the detainees attacked residents of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region at least three times. Available information suggests the attacks were allegedly carried out for ideological reasons.
The outlet Fontanka, citing an unnamed source, wrote that the attackers beat their victims and demanded that they renounce their “left-wing” views. The publication also said that in one episode members of the group ran a wooden dildo across the victim’s lips.
Fontanka reported that the detainees called themselves the “Russian National Army”. At least two of the attacks, according to those reports, took place in St. Petersburg itself: near the Galeria shopping center and in courtyards by Ligovsky Prospekt.
The Telegram channel Baza published a video of one of the attacks that it attributed to the group. In the footage, the victim is forced to state that he is “unsubscribing from the left-wing movement,” after which the young man is beaten.
The Investigative Committee also said that during the investigative actions, officers examined a land plot while searching for a possible weapons cache belonging to the group and components of an explosive device. A court is expected to decide on pretrial restrictions for the detainees soon.