Russian Imperial Movement

The Russian Imperial Movement (RIM) is a Russian far-right political and militant organization that was founded in Saint Petersburg in 2002. It consists of Christian ultra-nationalist neo-Nazis who ultimately seek the revival of the Russian Empire, which collapsed in 1917. The organization formed a paramilitary wing called the Imperial Legion in 2008 and has deployed troops to several conflict zones around the world, such as Ukraine, Syria, Libya, and the Central African Republic; RIM is particularly notorious for actively recruiting and training far-right Russians and like-minded Westerners to fight for Russian separatist forces in Ukraine from 2014 onward. Additionally, it has provided paramilitary training to other far-right or neo-Nazi organizations in Europe and North America.

Owing to RIM's ideology and activities in Europe and beyond, it has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Within Russia, some RIM publications are blacklisted, but the organization itself operates freely and is believed to have ties with Russian intelligence agencies. The organization's founder and current leader is Stanislav Vorobyov, who is sanctioned by the European Union and Switzerland and designated as a terrorist by the United States. The commander of RIM's Imperial Legion is currently Denis Gariyev, who is also sanctioned by the European Union and designated as a terrorist by the United States; and the most recent deputy commander was Denis Nekrasov, who was killed in the Battle of Izium during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

RIM's website has been found to be part of a broader cluster of websites for political groups in Russia that promote "political [Christian] orthodoxy" and monarchy, drawing inspiration from the violently ultra-nationalist "Black Hundreds" who supported the House of Romanov in the early 20th century. Other groups in this cluster include "For Faith and Fatherland" and the modern revival of the "Union of the Russian People", which was a far-right monarchist political party in the former Russian Empire. The movement believes in the "all-Russian nation" and does not recognize the existence of Ukraine, of which large parts have been under Russian occupation since 2014. According to the U.S. Global Engagement Center, RIM regards itself as standing at odds with a "global Zionist conspiracy" aimed at undermining Russia and restructuring the world's governments to benefit the Jewish people. Likewise, the organization denies the Holocaust, claims that Jews murder Christian children and drink their blood, and claims that the Jewish people are conspiring to bring about the coming of the anti-Christ.

On 6 April 2020, the U.S. Department of State added the Russian Imperial Movement and three of its leaders (Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev, Denis Valliullovich Gariyev, and Nikolay Nikolayevich Trushchalov) to the Specially Designated Global Terrorist list, thereby making it the first white supremacist group to be designated a terrorist organization by the State Department.

The group was officially designated as a terrorist group in Canada on 3 February 2021.

On 1 July 2025, the British government announced its intentions to proscribe the Russian Imperial Movement as a terrorist organisation, alongside Palestine Action and the neo-Nazi Maniac Murder Cult. The group was proscribed as a terrorist organisation on 5 July 2025.

In Russia, RIM is politically affiliated with an alliance of orthodox nationalist groups called Russian National Front, consisting of Black Hundreds, Great Russia Party, People's Militia named after Minin and Pozharsky and Union of Orthodox Banner-Bearers. RIM's military arm is affiliated with a coalition of neo-Nazi military groups taking part in the Russian invasion of Ukraine made up of Atomwaffen Russland, Rusich and Russian ONA, with some overlap.

The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism described the RIM's relationship with the Russian government as "an adversarial symbiosis"; as long as they do not commit terrorism domestically, they are free to operate and offer training to militants and to send troops to conflicts abroad where Russia has a stake in.