National Socialism / White Power Crew
Also known as	Sparrows Crew, Crew/White Power, Natsional-sotsializm/ Belaya sila, vlast' NS/WP Nevograd
Leader	Andrey Pronsky (Подпись Неразборчива lit. 'Signature illegible')[1]
Dates of operation	2004–present
Country	Russia
Allegiance	Combat Organization of Russian Nationalists, National Socialist Society,
Ideology	Neo-Nazism Russian ultranationalism White nationalism Racism[2] Antisemitism[2] Xenophobia[2] Anti-immigration[2] Straight Edge[3]
Political position	Far-right[2]
Notable attacks	Alleged assassination attempt on Vladimir Solovyov 2022 Russian military commissariats attacks
Allies	Format18 National Socialist Society[1] Security Service of Ukraine (claimed by FSB)
Opponents	Government of Russia
Battles and wars	2022 Belarusian and Russian partisan movement (allegedly, according to Russian authorities)
Designated as a terrorist group by	Russia
Flag
Website	ns-wp.ws (banned)[4]

National Socialism / White Power Crew (NS/WP Crew, also known as Sparrows Crew),^[5] is a Neo-Nazi extremist group operating in Russia, recognized by the Supreme Court of Russia as a terrorist organization.^[6]

History

According to Mediazona, many unrelated Nazi groups used the NS/WP abbreviation in the 2000s.^[1]

In 2010, two NS/WP members were charged with the murder of a Ghanaian citizen in 2009.^[7]

In 2014, nine members of this organization, aged 17 to 24, were sentenced to 4–9 years in prison for a series of murders, attacks and robberies, as well as committing other crimes motivated by ethnic hatred.^[4] Members of the organization recorded one of the murders on camera and posted it on the Internet. In addition, they set fire to a car with two homeless people sleeping in it and carried out several more attacks on foreigners and people leading an asocial lifestyle, according to the prosecution. Members of the group were also found guilty of setting fire to a temple, a construction crane, and blowing up a public transport stop using a makeshift device. The last crime was regarded as a terrorist attack.^[8][9]

On 21 May 2021, the movement was recognized as a terrorist organization by the authorities of the Russian Federation and banned.^{[6][8][10][11][9]}

Some Russian media claim that NS/WP Crew are also involved in the arson of military enlistment offices, which began after the announcement of mobilization in Russia.^{[12][13][unreliable source?]}

Assassination attempt on Vladimir Solovyov

On 25 April 2022, the Federal Security Service announced the arrest of a group of members of an organization that was making preparations to attempt the assassination of pro-government journalist Vladimir Solovyov.^[14][15] According to the FSB, the assassination was prepared by order of the Security Service of Ukraine.^[16] During the searches, the suspects were found and seized with an improvised explosive device, incendiary devices like Molotov cocktails, pistols, a sawed-off hunting rifle, a grenade, cartridges, drugs and forged Ukrainian passports. In addition, nationalist literature and paraphernalia were found.^[17][18][19] Among the detainees was also one of the leaders of NS/WP Andrey Pronsky, who in 2013, on behalf of NS/WP, committed the murder of a Jewish person, for which he was sent for compulsory treatment.^[20]

A day earlier, Russian President Putin announced that the FSB had stopped an attempted assassination of an unnamed Russian journalist.

In June, a sixth defendant was arrested in the case of plotting Solovyov's assassination.^[21]

However, the legitimacy of this plot has been questioned.^[22]