The Union of Slavic Forces of Russia (USSR; Russian: Союз славянских сил Руси; СССР; Soyuz slavyanskikh sil Rusi, SSSR),^[2][3][4] also known as Home in the USSR,^[5][6] Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,^[5] Citizens of the USSR,^[4][7] Government of the USSR,^[8] Soviet Citizens,^[9] Witnesses of the USSR,^[3][8][10] necro-communists^[2][8][10] and necromancers,^[3] is an informal social movement in Russia whose supporters believe that the Soviet Union (and/or the Russian Empire) as a sovereign state and a subject of international relations continues to exist, consider themselves its citizens, and do not recognize the Russian Federation, observe its laws, or obey government authorities.^{[2][5][11][12]} The movement's ideological component is belief in, and promulgation of, conspiracy theories, anti-Semitism and neo-paganism.^[2][3][13] The COVID-19 pandemic encouraged the movement to adopt QAnon beliefs.^[14] According to the FSB, it had 150,000 followers in 2018.^[5][15] In 2019, the Supreme Court of the Komi Republic identified the Union of Slavic Forces of Russia as an extremist organization.^[2][3][1]

A Yekaterinburg resident told Fourth Channel^{[clarification needed]} TV journalists about "swindlers" who nearly succeeded in forcing her elderly father to re-register her apartment, garage and car with them. According to her, the pensioner gave them a copy of his passport, a military ID and 2,500 rubles of "state duty" and received a document granting him citizenship in the USSR. A resident of Chelyabinsk told OTV channel reporters that a relative influenced by Taraskin's supporters gave the "government of the USSR" "several tens of thousands of rubles." Ten Nizhny Tagil residents petitioned the court in April 2017 to recognize them as citizens of the USSR and filed claims against the city's Ministry of Internal Affairs, which refused to return their Soviet passports.^[24]

The FSB Directorate for the Central Military District opened a January 2018 criminal case for incitement to extremist activity (Article 280 of the Criminal Code of Russia) against Andrey Zlokazov, the self-proclaimed head of "Sverdlovsk Oblast of the RSFSR" (part of the Union of Slavic Forces of Russia). Zlokazov had sent letters at the end of February 2016 to the commanders of a number of military units calling for the organization of "self-defense squads"; if they refused, he threatened to "eliminate them as enemies of the USSR." He also made and sold "USSR passports" and other documents, and USSR license plates. In April 2019, the Ordzhonikidze District Court in Yekaterinburg found Zlokazov insane and committed him to a psychiatric hospital.^[19][25]

In July 2018, Taraskin and associate Alexander Solovyov were detained by officers of the FSB military counterintelligence service and the Zelenograd center for countering extremism who searched Taraskin's apartment. According to law-enforcement agencies, "audio and video materials about the activities of the organization 'USSR', documents, stamps, and printing products were seized." The criminal case was entrusted to the Investigation Department of the Central Military District FSB.^[26][27] On November 27, 2020, the Zelenograd court sentenced Taraskin to house arrest until December 25 of that year.^[28][29]

In 2019, the Supreme Court of the Komi Republic identified the Union of Slavic Forces of Russia as an extremist organization. Alexander Tyurnin, who called himself the head of the "security service" of the regional "USSR" organization in Komi and "Chairman of the KGB of the Komi ASSR" was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for publicly advocating extremist activities, posting extremism on social networks, and calling for violence against government officials (including drawing up "shooting lists").^[19][30]

In May 2020, a fraud case was opened in North Ossetia against a group of people who called themselves the "Supreme Soviet of the Ossetian ASSR" and sold "USSR passports" with the promise that the documents would exempt purchasers from taxes and utility bills. The Investigative Committee of Russia for Kirov Oblast opened a June 2020 criminal case against three Kirov residents for organizing the activities of an extremist organization. According to the investigation, they conducted activities of the banned Union of Slavic Forces of Russia, held meetings and sold "inserts confirming citizenship in the USSR." The three were detained by SOBR officers; two were released on their own recognizance, and the third was held.^[31][32]

Two months later, two members of the Union of Slavic Forces of Russia were detained in Noyabrsk (YaNAO) and charged with "organizing the activities of an extremist organization".^[33] In September of that year, police, National Guard and Centre E in Krasnodar prevented an assassination attempt on the head of the Kuban branch of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia by the "Supreme Court of the USSR". According to Roman Silantyev, the group is one of the most aggressive necro-communist offshoots; "its leader, Marina Melikhova-Meshcheryakova, a witch by profession, has been in custody since the spring of this year", and "she was charged under Part 2 of Article 280 Criminal Code (public calls for extremist activity), including calls for violence against the Jewish community of Krasnodar".^[34][35] Silantyev said that "they were going to encourage the killer with the position of a [Soviet] "minister or even head of the KGB". The group was responsible for COVID-19 riots in North Ossetia during quarantine and makes "court decisions" calling the Russian Federation a terrorist state.^[36][35]

In November 2020, the Volgograd Central District Court arrested two movement participants for organizing the activities of an extremist organization. One, regional cell leader Sergei M., called himself "Acting Head of all positions without exception, all without exception previously existing objects and subjects of law in the space on the territory of the Volgograd Oblast".^[37][38] The following month, a court in Ulyanovsk gave a 62-year-old local resident who was "Acting Head of the Ulyanovsk Oblast of the RSFSR" in the "Union of Slavic Forces of Russia (USSR)" from September 2019 to February 2020 a five-year suspended sentence for participation in the activities of an extremist organization.^[39]