What is the “Male State Group”, these Russian masculinists perhaps linked to bomb threats on planes?

For several days, numerous bomb threats have targeted several commercial flights departing from or destined for Europe, which sometimes required, as in France, the dispatch of fighter planes to escort the civilian aircraft concerned. Although no global demands have been made to date, the threats sent by email to certain airports were signed by “fighters of the male state”. A name reminiscent of the “Male State Group”, an obscure Russian far-right masculinist group.

The Russian masculinist movement “Male State” combines almost all adjectives into “ism” with negative connotations, such as racism, nationalism or (white) supremacism. We can add homophobia and, above all, misogyny. Because, all the same, the promotion of “national patriarchy” is a bit of the business of the founder of the movement, Vladislav Pozdnyakov, a former Russian blogger and sports coach, underlines the investigative media Bellingcat.

For Anna Kruglova, researcher at the International Center for Counterterrorism (ICCT), the “Male State” belongs to “the Russian manosphere, whose initial beliefs are based on misogyny and the desire to rebuild Russian society on patriarchal bases.” The group has become widely known in its country by leading online harassment campaigns against women, the LGBT community and opponents of their ideas.

It is all this that earned the “Male State” movement its ban in Russia, six years after its founding, in 2016. Bellingcat recalls that the organization was labeled “extremist” and its activities banned, at least officially, in October 2022. To continue to exist, the movement “had to take additional security measures to protect its online channels from Russian security services,” explains Anna Kruglova.

Today, “Male State” calls itself “Male Legion”. And although banned, the movement “has thousands of members and supports the war in Ukraine, particularly through propaganda,” Lou Osborn, the founder of Inpact, an NGO specializing in monitoring Russian clandestine activities, explained to AFP.

Leaving women a little alone, “the male State has completely reoriented its action,” recognizes the ICCT researcher. In particular by moving from “criticism of the Russian government to its active support,” she continues. For his part, Lou Osborn says that we “are unaware today of his degree of articulation with power”.