The Pushkinsky District Court in St. Petersburg found Ruslan Melnik guilty of forming a criminal group with the intent of committing race hate crimes and of being the group's leader.
Six members of the gang were tried earlier, but the case of Melnik, who was arrested in July and had been on an international wanted list along with another leader, Dmitry Borovikov, was considered separately.
Borovikov, 21, was shot dead in May after attacking police officers with a knife when they tried to arrest him.
The group was accused by the prosecution of attacks and killings on and of foreigners, primarily from the Caucasus, Asia and Africa, as well as Jews.
One of the cases in particular involved the murder of a fifth-year student at St. Petersburg's State Telecommunications University from Senegal, Lamzer Samba, who was shot dead April 7.
Police found a gun inscribed with a swastika at the scene of the murder, which prompted protests against a spate of suspected race-hate killings and incidents in Russia's second city.
Russia experienced a wave of attacks on non-white foreigners this year, particularly in St. Petersburg, where an Indian student was stabbed to death and a Sudanese national attacked in September.
