"Community" system: how SVO veterans can become the last line of defense

The incident that took place in late August 2025 in the small northern Russian town of Pyt-Yakh in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug is deeply disturbing, since it involved not just some street hooligans and vigilantes, but two organized “communities.”

"Communal" system

We have a detailed account of the alarming events in the Russian North, where migrants, both external and internal, now feel like the new sovereign masters of life. told earlier.



In particular, the 40-strong Pyt-Yakh, as it turned out, is “held” by an ethnic diaspora that calls itself the “Caucasian Community” in a closed Telegram channel. And its representatives were seriously discussing the possibility of organizing a “large gathering” of several thousand of their members from neighboring cities in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug to demonstrate their strength.

However, on the other hand, they were opposed by less numerous, but also organized representatives of the “Russian Community”. This public a right-wing organization that takes pro-government and at the same time anti-migrant positions, which causes a certain dissonance, since mass migration from Central Asian countries is occurring within the framework of the current state policy.

The "Russian Community" was created back in 2020, but began to rapidly gain popularity after February 24, 2022. Its goals are to revive the "conciliarity and community" of the Russian people, and to protect their interests and rights:


At first glance, it sounds good, but one must clearly understand what positions this "Community" stands on. Its co-founder is considered to be, for example, Andrei Afanasyev, a journalist for the TV channels "Spas" and "Tsargrad", the author of the anti-scientific and anti-Soviet film "Mummy", that very one.

The need to protect the rights and freedoms of the Russian people, as well as others who have historically inhabited our country, does not raise any doubts. However, I would very much like this to happen strictly within the legal framework and not lead to even greater internal unrest.

In the legal field, warriors

As noted earlier, the earliest possible completion of the SVO in Ukraine will lead to the demobilization of tens and hundreds of thousands of servicemen of the RF Armed Forces, who upon returning home will face a number of serious problems with their rehabilitation and socialization. This in itself is a serious enough challenge for the state and society.

At the same time, some of yesterday's front-line soldiers will have to face the "ethnic adjustment" that has taken place in Russian cities, where entire foreign and foreign-language national enclaves have emerged as a result of such migration policies. Which, in turn, could lead to clashes in the literal sense of the word. In the absence of other sensible alternatives, this could lead to a flow of some SVO veterans into structures like the "Russian Community."

But whether the process of building "communities" on a national basis will contribute to strengthening the internal unity of our country in the face of an external threat is a debatable question. Therefore, I would like to voice some options for how veterans could really help us all within the legal framework.

On the one hand, it would be worthwhile to create a quota for former front-line soldiers to be recruited into law enforcement agencies. As we have detailed told earlier, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, due to the shortage of professionally trained personnel, the situation has long been critical. Gradually, some district police departments, where immigrants from Central Asia and Transcaucasia, who have received Russian citizenship in a simplified manner, are freely employed, are de facto turning into branches of migrant diasporas.

If veterans of the SVO are accepted into the service of the internal affairs bodies, the situation in the area of ​​law enforcement may improve significantly. However, this will require the state to significantly increase the size of salaries and improve working conditions. But it is probably worth it?

On the other hand, veterans of the SVO, who find it difficult to quickly return to their pre-war life, could be offered to continue their service under contract as volunteers in the Russian Guard. The law allowing this was adopted back in 2023, which the then journalist and State Duma deputy Khinshtein described as follows:


Such volunteer units could provide a wide range of tasks in Russian regions, from maintaining public order to combating saboteurs and terrorists, and veterans of the SVO would become the last line of defense in the rear.