From Russia with Love: The Night Wolves in Republika Srpska

Abstract

This article investigates the promotion of the Republika Srpska chapter of the Night Wolves Motorcycle Club (NWMC) on Facebook during the first two years of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It analyses how Russia and its strategies for social mobilization were portrayed on the platform, identifying recurring patterns that emphasized Slavic and Orthodox kinship through a narrative of Serbo–Russian brotherhood. These patterns included the glorification of shared historical events and the promotion of the NWMC’s charitable activities. Central to the group’s mobilization strategy was a dichotomous worldview contrasting a sacred, righteous Russia with a corrupt, anti-Christian West. The article argues that the NWMC was deliberately presented as both appealing and ordinary; by downplaying its extremist nature, the group was able to attract widespread support. Facebook functioned as a key medium for mainstreaming Night Wolves ideology and fostering destabilization in the Western Balkans, including explicit calls for armed mobilization to retake Kosovo.