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In the years following Russia鈥檚 annexation of Crimea, the state鈥檚 turn towards nationalist ideology, based on traditional values, has shaped the formation and enforcement of anti-extremism policies. The move away from state secularism has led to the introduction of explicitly ideological articles into the criminal code. The enforcement of anti-extremism laws over radical groups has also changed greatly. Alexander Verkhovsky, the director of Russia's SOVA Center, examined these shifts in philosophy and what new course they may indicate the Russian state has charted.

Key Quotes:

Alexander Verkhovsky:

鈥淲hen the annexation [of Crimea] happened, of course there was a lot of enthusiasm. What is more important is that there was well-organized ideological mobilization, which focused on political support for the leader, anti-Western sentiments, some Orthodox symbology, and also the idea of accepting the whole history of Russia as something generally positive, even the most problematic periods鈥� We see that the number of people who said that [Stalin鈥檚 repressions] were a crime is decreasing from 50 to 40 percent, while the number of people who approve of it is increasing."

鈥淚n the same line [of the new criminal statute], we see the ban of Jehovah鈥檚 Witnesses. This is something that is unprecedented. It couldn鈥檛 have happened before. More than 100,000 are now illegal in the country. What does the government plan to do with that? It is impossible to prosecute them all for illegal activity. Previously, the government avoided such situations. Now, pure ideological requests put them in a rather difficult situation.鈥�

鈥淭he [anti-extremism prosecution] machine cannot stop. If they try to decelerate it in one place, it must accelerate somewhere else, because they have to report to the political leadership that they are fighting extremism.鈥�

"According to our statistics鈥� the number of violent hate crimes [due to] sexuality is not big -- much, much less than based on ethnic differences, which is the core part. Sometime there are more attacks when the government provokes it, like in 2013, when this infamous gay propaganda law was discussed and finally approved鈥� Chechnya is something completely different. Of course, this last campaign is pure homophobia鈥� It鈥檚 like some other country. Thank God we don鈥檛 have similar practices even in neighboring regions.鈥�