It is good that Medvedev reacted quickly. However, there is something President Medvedev of Russia can do right now to punish the real culprits behind this attack. President Medvedev should go into his own administration, grab all these Surkovs and the rest of those handling domestic politics, and kick them out onto the street with black marks against their names. It is the presidential administration that invented, organized, and runs this system of moral and physical intimidation against people they put on their list of enemies. Everyone has seen this, right?
The Young Guard of United Russia, an organization funded and run by the presidential administration, has been declaring for months: journalist Kashin is an enemy and must be punished. And they have a whole list of such enemies. Andrei Turchak, the governor of Pskov Region, who threatened Kashin, was one of the leaders of this organization. The Russian presidential administration is deliberately pushing an ideological line: ***these are the enemies, do whatever you want to them, there will be no punishment. ***One idiot, an employee of the presidential administration, openly writes that dissenters should be crushed with tanks. He is not afraid to write this, because this kind of writing is approved (even though we all remember the case of the blogger who wrote "cops should be burned" and got a suspended sentence). Other idiots march around with signs saying "Enemies of Russia," trampling and kicking portraits.
Both kinds of idiots get money from the state budget, governorships and ministerial posts. They get seats in the Civic Chamber, and so on. The message is clear: if you do not just kick this old woman in effigy on paper, but give her a real kick in person, you will be seen as a good lad and guaranteed protection. Through youth organizations like Nashi, the Young Guard of United Russia, Young Russia, and the like, the presidential administration has hired dozens of muscle groups that carry out real attacks on National Bolsheviks, members of DPNI (an anti-immigration nationalist movement), loudmouthed liberals, and others. This is a whole machine. We can all see it. At EVERY opposition picket and rally, some provocateurs show up and start fights and scuffles. I ran into this myself when sports fans hired by the presidential administration came to our debate to provoke a fight and throw bottles. Even at today’s journalists’ picket outside Petrovka 38 (Moscow police headquarters), such provocateurs showed up. The Interior Ministry created Department “E.” In practice, it is an aggressive gang operating with impunity inside the police, whose purpose is to "lean on" political activists from opposition movements. Alongside the pro-Kremlin youth movements there are "special operations" units whose activities involve the security services and the police. We all remember those staged videos with cops, prostitutes, and so on. An ordinary kid named Vasya would not be able to organize something like that. It takes resources and political backing. Watching all this fun, governors and local officials also form their own enforcement groups. At every election we hear dozens of reports about opposition campaign offices being smashed up and canvassers being beaten. About police taking part in these attacks or covering them up. The Khimki administration is an excellent example. They ***simply can no longer control this whole system 100%. ***I am sure everyone in the presidential administration is very nervous right now. As in: they overdid it. Some tossed-off phrase like "someone ought to shut Kashin up already, he talks too much" has turned into a serious crime. Right now they are probably trying to figure out who exactly was handling this particular fan group, or something along those lines. Violence, persecution, and harassment against people critical of the authorities are permitted and encouraged by the country’s political leadership. The groups created for harassment, persecution, and violence have taken on a life of their own; they are developing and competing with one another. Visits by the country’s leadership to Seliger (the pro-Kremlin youth camp) inspire and legitimize violence. Alongside an objective investigation into the attack on Oleg Kashin, a process must begin to disband all these Kremlin youth groups run in a Red Guard-style fashion and to fire everyone who organized them. From Vasya to Slava. Update. Be sure to watch this. OLEG KASHIN ON ATTACKS AGAINST JOURNALISTS AND OPPOSITION ACTIVISTS and on how the Nashi movement should be regarded
