Essence of Time is a neo-Stalinist political movement in Russia which was founded in March 2011 by Sergey Kurginyan. The movement combined communism and Russian nationalism, and it sought to restore the Soviet Union in a "new and improved" form. The movement also claimed that capitalism went against Russian historical and cultural heritage, sought to unite communists, socialists, patriots, and Orthodox Christians through a spiritual synthesis, and the movement contributed fighters to the pro-Russian separatists during the Donbass War, many of whom (among them Russell Bentley) were international volunteers who fought for the Vostok Battalion.