A march that did not pass. How National Unity Day was celebrated by Russian nationalists

Vladimir is twenty years old. When the first “Russian March” took place in Moscow, he was four years old. He has little idea of ​​the history of this movement and, on the whole, is not interested in it, that the main thing is “that there should be some kind of movement at all.”

The “Russian march” appeared in 2005 as a response to the action of the left opposition forces “Antikap” – the march of the “National Bolshevik Party” (banned in Russia), the Vanguard of the Red Youth, anarchists and anti-globalists. According to the recollections of Yuri Gorsky, they sat in the “Union of Orthodox Banner Bearers” and discussed that the left “is marching, and it is necessary to conduct the marches themselves.” The ESM was joined by the Movement Against Illegal Extremist Migration, which is quite popular in Russia. The march was timed to coincide with National Unity Day, at that time a completely new public holiday in the Russian Federation.

By the time of the march itself, the organizers quarreled among themselves, but nevertheless walked along Pokrovsky Boulevard. Nationalist Yegor Kholmogorov spoke at the rally with an icon of the Kazan Mother of God. Kholmogorov said that this year he will not go to the event, because “since 2014, the Russian March has ceased to be related to the pressing problems of the Russian nation, having acquired a predominantly neo-Nazi face.” He considers the 2005 Russian March “the highest point in the history of the event.” According to the organizers, 5 thousand people took part in it, the Central Internal Affairs Directorate counted 2 thousand.

Every year “Russkiy” took part in new places – State Duma deputies Nikolai Kurnovich and Sergei Baburin took part in it (he even acted as its organizer at one time), Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin scolded the authorities for indecision, said “I don’t want to live on Akhmad Kadyrov Street” Head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin.

In 2009, the march moved to the southeast of Moscow, in the Lyublino area.

On November 4, 2021, Ivan Beletsky, a nationalist, a former member of the PARNAS party, who is under criminal prosecution in Russia and activated in Ukraine, is called upon not to succumb to provocations with the promised march in the metro “and to go to the” usual place in Lyublino “at 12 noon.

At 12 o’clock in the afternoon, near house 61 on Pererva Street, it is absolutely empty. A janitor is sweeping the foliage in front of the Halal store, a film crew from the NTV channel is wandering around and a police car is slowly driving. The district lives its own life: dog lovers walk in the park with their pets, children play on the playground overlooking a paddy wagon and several police cars, two friends are drinking on a bench in the park.

After a while, two nationalists appear who have responded to Beletsky’s call: they are also nervous on their laurels and discuss whether they should go to the second “metromarch”, which will start at 14.00. One of them, who introduced himself as Sergei, says that he has been at all the “Russian marches” since 2008, including those where Alexei Navalny spoke – it happened in Lyublino, the home region of the politician.

The politician Alexei Navalny was often reproached for participating in the “Russian March”, the last time it was done by the Yabloko party, add not to give him the Sakharov Prize.

Sergei nostalgically recalls the concert of the Kolovrat group. Now, according to him, he does not hope, and the slogans that the organizers are not close to him.

He shows on the Telegram channel a list of a dozen slogans, including “The lives of Russians are meaning!”, “There are rumors all over the country! National traitors in the Kremlin!” and “To the Russians – Maidan! Putin – to Magadan!” In the end, he and a friend are removed from the bench and descend into the Bratislavskaya metro station.

We meet with him, the nationalist Vladimir, at the Teatralnaya metro station after several precautions on his part – he demands to be photographed and send him accreditation and only comes up to me after that. The imperial scarf is hidden under a black coat, boots are neatly polished, and a black mask hides the face. “Vladimir is not particularly ready to talk about his views, and when he does start, they differ little from those that sound at opposition communist rallies or rallies of supporters. Navalny: Vladimir stands for power, freedom for political prisoners, migrants, according to him.” do not soar especially now, as long as they live by the rules – let them live. ”

In the meantime, a ten-point instruction comes to the telegram chat of one of the nationalist brigades. On it the participants of the “Russian March” must get to the station “Pushkinskaya”, unsubscribe to the coordinators, receive the following instructions, “do not enter into conversations with the police”, “pretend that you are waiting by train”, “it is forbidden to go outside to smoke.” On “Pushkinskaya” there is a lot of people from the press in yellow vests. Vladimir finds a group of young people in militarized clothes and joins them.

At first, there are not many police officers – and several of them, like the press, read, crowd around a smartphone, chat, and coordination is in progress. They call for reinforcements – and several dozen people arrive at the station in heavier uniforms; however, helmets hang on the straps of body armor, they are not worn. When there are several dozen pending instructions, the police start checking the documents, “pulling out” people one at a time and escorting them upstairs “for literally five minutes, a standard document check.” None of them return back.

Alexander Verkhovsky, director of the Sova information and analytical center, which studies the movement of nationalists in post-Soviet Russia, is watching what is happening. “This march is notable mainly for the fact that it did not take place,” he notes. “In 2020, they nevertheless left the Tsvetnoy Bulvar metro station, and, although they were immediately detained, there were more people talking.

The police continue to take away arrivals at the station one by one. One of the detainees, who looks like a teenager, asks not to be taken away in the department, there are tears in his eyes, he convinces the police that he has nothing to do with the event. However, he is wearing the Thor Steinar jacket, popular with the brand’s nationalists, and high combat boots with white laces – the way the ultra-right often dress.

The last, third point, marked by coordinating telegram transmissions, is the Oktyabrskoe Pole metro station. According to the idea, the nationalists should come to it already in a group, loudly saying to the entire station “Pushkinskaya” – “The Russians are going to the” Oktyabrskoye Pole “. It is proposed to do this by the coordinators, but, noticing the policeman’s gaze, he pretends to wave to a friend …

At the “Oktyabrskoye Pole” press and policemen arrive at the same time by metro, police cars and paddy wagons are already lined up on the street. Everyone prepared, except for the nationalists – almost no one reached the third, final point. The press and the police take pictures of each other, several people stand in a circle and take pictures of their shoes – the organizers offered the participants a “joint selfie”, but after a collective discussion, they decide “not to burn.”

The coordinator of one of the groups sends a release in which it is written that “the organizers of the Russian March tested a multi-level collection in the metro, which in many ways justified itself.” To my question “How do you rate the event?” It is very difficult to come up with something more successful in the conditions. ”

OVD-info (the publication is recognized as a foreign agent in Russia) reports that as a result of the “Russian March” 25 people were detained, among them there are minors, including a 13-year-old boy. They are being dealt with by the lawyers of this one.

According to a poll by the Levada Center (included in the register of NGOs performing the functions of a foreign agent), two-thirds of Russians know which holiday is celebrated on November 4. 71% of Russians do not plan to celebrate either the Day of National Unity or the Day of the October Revolution.