The head of a leading British far-right group spoke at a summit of European extreme nationalist groups convened in Russia by an influential oligarch linked to Vladimir Putin, it can be revealed.
The revelation has led to renewed concern among MPs over the Kremlin’s links to extremist groups and its attempts to disrupt democracy and sow societal divisions in the UK.
The event in St Petersburg was addressed by Mark Collett, a longstanding far-right activist and founder of Patriotic Alternative, which attempted to exploit the summer of unrest outside asylum hotels in Britain.
A range of groups from across Europe, including some far-right ideologues from France and other countries, also attended the inaugural gathering of the Forum of the International Anti-Globalist League.
Pride of place was given to Alexander Dugin, an ultranationalist Russian who has been described as “Putin’s brain” and whose views helped shaped ideas behind the invasion of Ukraine.
Calvin Bailey, a Labour MP and member of the Commons defence committee who has been vocal about Russia’s hybrid war in western Europe, said the links between Patriotic Alternative and Russia were the latest example of the Kremlin’s attempts to use political subversion against Britain and other countries.
“Russia considers itself at war with us. It absolutely wants to see systematic paralysis here and is eager to find ways of undermining the fabric of our nation,” he said.
“That dovetails with what the far right wants and what it believes. It’s even more than just groups and individuals on the far right being used as proxies. They are literally a vehicle for attacking the ideas that underpin our democracy.”
Russian “influence operations” in Britain have been ratcheted up in recent years, in addition to espionage operations ranging from arson to spy rings.
However, there have also been worries about more subtle attempts to sow societal divisions. The Guardian revealed earlier this year how a network of Telegram channels with Russian links was encouraging UK residents to commit violent attacks on mosques and Muslims and offering cryptocurrency in return.
There have been calls for a ban on Patriotic Alternative, regarded as the UK’s largest far-right group, albeit one that has faced challenges from newer rivals.
Collett, once a young acolyte of the then BNP leader Nick Griffin and now a veteran far-right figure, founded the group after splits in the BNP. It quickly became a home for a digital-savvy younger generation of activists.
He confirmed to the Guardian that he had attended the Russian event, as an online participant. Collett said that he gave a three-minute speech discussing birthrates and immigration in Britain, how white Britons would be reduced to a minority in future “and that eastern European countries must not allow the same thing on their soil”.
Collett said he had been invited by the Brotherhood of Academists, a nationalist student movement operating in universities across Russia and in occupied parts of Ukraine.
“I do not believe that Russia desires war with the west, or with Britain. What’s more, I have never received any contact or payment from anyone within the Russian establishment, so the idea that myself or Patriotic Alternative is being ‘used’ by the Russian state is absurd, and a groundless suggestion,” he told the Guardian. He believed the conflict in Ukraine was “stoked” by the previous US government because it desired a proxy war with Russia.
The key figure behind the event, which took place at St Petersburg’s Legislative Assembly building on 12 September, was Konstantin Malofeyev, a banker whose business interests include the Kremlin-supporting Tsargrad media group and who founded the Brotherhood of Academists.
Malofeyev, who has been described by the US authorities as “one of the main sources of financing” for the promotion of Russian interests in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, hailed the conference in a post on Telegram.
“More than 50 delegates from 15 rightwing patriotic organisations across three continents came to St Petersburg. Diverse, but united on key issues: a desire to defend Christian values, a fight for national identity and sovereignty, and resistance to our common enemy – globalism,” said Malofeyev, who is known as the “Orthodox oligarch” because of his support for the Russian church.
He said that the event opened with a “Christian memorial” and a moment of silence for the rightwing US activist Charlie Kirk, who was killed two days before the forum.
The Guardian has previously reported how Malofeyev appears to have been involved in the movement of millions of dollars through the global banking system with the help of a Cypriot financial services firm after he was placed under sanctions by western governments.
In addition to Collett, other participants included the French author Alain de Benoist, the Franco-Swiss ideologue Alain Soral and a German politician, Alexander von Bismarck.
