According to Margaret, a member of the Raduga Association (Moscow) and a participant in the rally, the goal of the event was to protest against chauvinistic populism as the trend of the current election campaign involving stigmatisation and appeals for discrimination of the more vulnerable segments of the society…

The protest was sanctioned by the Moscow government [and] fascist groups had widely announced their intention to gather at the same place and “bathe in blood” the perceived “enemies of the Russian people…”

One older counter-protester said: “We wanted to see these demons, these beast in the flesh, for ourselves. It is because of them that God will punish the holy Russia and its people. They want to exterminate the holy nation of Russ.”

Younger fascists chanted calls to beat, torture and exterminate gays—incitement which met with little reaction on the part of the police. – LGBT Asylum News writer Paul Canning

Interestiung side note:   Russia beat back the Nazis during WW II, and today seem to embrace them.