y in the Soviet economic collapse.
The neo-Nazis made it an explicit goal to take over the country by force, and they did put in serious effort into preparing for this. The paramilitary organizations operating under guise of sports clubs organized training for their members in squad tactics and weapons handling. Weapons were stockpiled, generally illegally (due to very restrictive Russian gun laws) (Note: These gun laws were, and still are, for most part ignored. This is evidenced by the ease of which the Russian Mafia can obtain guns, especially Ak-47s.) Reputedly, many were interested in martial arts and unarmed combat, and did a good job organizing realistic hand-to-hand combat classes. Despite these extensive preparations, quite incredible by the standards of a Western nation, the neo-Nazis have not yet carried out any well-known attacks or otherwise come out into the open. Their most notable action so far was the participation in the armed defense of the building of the State Duma (Russian parliament) against government forces during the standoff between Yeltsin and the Communist dominated parliament in 1993, which Yeltsin won. The neo-Nazis did generate considerable anxiety because of their potential for pogroms against people they do not like and indeed of actual power seizure. No such things have so far materialized, although rumors of impending pogroms did circulate widely in the early 1990s.
The Russian police and security establishment has generally turned a blind eye to the activities of the neo-Nazis. In a country where the law enforcement is essentially unaccountable to anybody, shutting down such openly treasonous and illegal activities would not have been hard, were there political will to do so. The failure of the government to do so suggests that the officials are either apathetic, sympathetic to the movement, or intending to use it for their own purposes. The latter seems particularly likely for the higher level officials of the FSB (a successor to the Soviet KGB), some of whom may view the neo-Nazi paramilitary groups as a potential tool in a future struggle for power, whether as storm-troopers of a revolution or as an easy to unleash threat to the constitutional order that may require and justify imposition of state of emergency and military rule.
Neo-Nazism in Scandinavia
The following Scandinavian movements, parties and associations have been described as neo-Nazi:
Neo-Nazism in other countries
In many European countries there are laws that prevent the expression of Nazi, racist or anti-Semitic ideology, thus no political party of significant importance will describe itself as being neo-nazi.
Organizations that have been described as 'Neo-Fascist' and/or 'Neo-Nazi' include the following.