Russian Imperial Movement Recognized as Terrorist in the United States

The U.S. Department of State has added a Russian organization, the Russian Imperial Movement (RID), to the list of terrorist organizations. It is worth noting that this is a rather unprecedented decision, as to date organizations of a radical Islamist nature have been recognized as terrorist in the United States. To date, all 68 terrorist organizations on the U.S. State Department list have been jihadist. Experts believe that the US authorities took this step in the run-up to the United States presidential election to neutralize accusations against Donald Trump of indulging in organizations that profess white supremacist superiority. Recall that Democrats in the United States have repeatedly accused Trump of either not finding words of condemnation of white supremacy supporters, some of whom voted for him in presidential and Republican elections, or putting them on the same board as militant antifa. It is known that in recent months in Washington discussed the possibility of recognizing the terrorist transnational group Atomwaffen Division. However, this organization has many offices in the United States, and such a decision would entail a series of lengthy judicial disputes by its members. But the inclusion in the list of terrorist organizations of the little-known Russian Imperial Movement kills two birds at once. First, the organization is right-wing conservative, and second, it is Russian. Little is known about REED itself. The website of the organization is blocked by Roskomnadzor. However, the social network VKontakte has a page of this organization. It says that REED is a Russian monarchist, Orthodox-patriotic and right-wing conservative organization. According to some reports, REED activists fought on the militia side in the Khabarovsk from 2014 to 2015. Since 2016, the activities of the organization have faded.