Ivanov-Sukharevsky was admitted as a captain in the right-wing militia group the Moscow Cossack Guards in 1992 although he claims to have had no involvement with any political parties until establishing his own in 1994. This is disputed by Stephen Shenfield however, who states that Ivanov-Sukharevsky was a member of such groups as Russian National Unity, the Russian National Assembly and the All-Russian National Right-Wing Centre. Around this time he also read Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and Benito Mussolini's "The Doctrine of Fascism" and was heavily influenced by both works, especially the latter. However, despite sharing much of the ideology Ivanov-Sukharevsky would not accept the label of fascism, considering the term to be too non-Russian in nature.