Alexander Belov is the pseudonym of Alexander Anatolyevich Potkin (born 1976), a Russian nationalist activist. A former member of the nationalist Pamyat society, he co-founded and led the Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI), established in 2002, which organized the annual “Russian March” and was banned by a Russian court as extremist in 2011. He later helped lead the nationalist coalition “Russians.”

Belov was arrested in 2014 and in August 2016 a Moscow court sentenced him to seven and a half years in prison in a money-laundering case connected to the Kazakh bank BTA and its former chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov. On appeal in April 2017 the sentence was reduced to three and a half years, and he was released in April 2018. He was also charged in Russia with creating an extremist community aimed at overthrowing the government of Kazakhstan.

Sources

• OVD-Info. “Alexander Belov (Potkin).” Persons database.
• Mediazona. “Natsionalista Aleksandra Potkina prigovorili k 7,5 godam obshchego rezhima po delu o khishchenii v BTA-banke.” August 24, 2016.

Summary entry. A fuller, document-based profile is in preparation.