Nashi (Ours)
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Nashi (Russian: 'Молодежное демократическое антифашистское движение «Наши»', 'Democratic anti-fascist Youth Movement "Ours"') is a Russian youth movement, officially announced by Vasily Yakemenko (leader of the pro-Putin Walking Together youth movement) on 1st March 2005, the founding conference was carried out on 15th April 2005.
Yakemenko claims to have constituted Nashi as a movement to demonstrate against what he saw as the growing power of Nazism in Russia and to take on skinheads in street fights if necessary [1]. The Kremlin gave its blessing to the formation of the movement,[citation needed] although some Russian newspapers argued that this support extended further and that Nashi had actually been formed by Vladislav Surkov as a paramilitary force to attack Putin's harshest critics.
The National Bolsheviks have acussed Nashi of leading attacks on their members, including one in Moscow in August 2005 [2]. Liberal youth leader Ilya Yashin has also denounced Nashi as a cover for 'storm brigades that will use violence against democratic organisations' and claimed that their formation is only part of Putin's fear of losing power in a manner similar to the Orange Revolution of Ukraine [3]. However Nashi has also been praised for increasing youth involvement in politics and for helping young people to develop leadership skills [4].
It is disputed whether Nashi is an anti-Fascist movement, with many liberal critics accusing the movement itself of fascism. Yakemenko himself claimed that the Russian liberal left party Yabloko is fascist, thus confirming that Nashi's definition of fascism is far from conforming to the internationally accepted definition of the term.[5] Yakemenko's inclusion of liberals alongside anti-semites and racists as an anti-Russian union has furthered the argument over Nashi's understanding of the term facism. [6] Subsequently, Nashi has been accused of recruiting skinheads and local hooligans to intimidate rival youth groups. [7]
Nashi has also taken a strong Russian nationalist stance and has stood against what it sees as the growing influence of the United States in Russia. Yakemenko has stated that he fears that Russia will become a colony of the Americans like the Ukraine [8], and as a result Nashi nationalist rhetoric has resembled xenophobia in its stated purpose of anti-fascism. In December 2006, it was claimed that over the previous four months members of Nashi had conducted a campaign of intimidation against the British ambassador in Moscow, Tony Brenton. Unnamed British officials were reported as suspecting that this campaign was being co-ordinated by elements within the Russian regime as a punishment for a speech given by the ambassador to an opposition meeting in July. [9]
