How Putin youth is indoctrinated to foil revolution

THE sun rises over several hundred tents next to blue lakes. At the stroke of 7am, large speakers blare Soviet-era patriotic songs and bright-eyed youths emerge for another day of physical and ideological instruction. This is the first summer-camp of Nashi (Ours), a youth organisation set up by the Kremlin this year to support President Putin. It has assembled 3,000 teenagers from across Russia for two weeks of fun, training and political indoctrination.

The organisers have spared no expense. They pay for all travel expenses, the rent of the idyllic location 200 miles north of Moscow, the tents, sailing and motor boats, hundreds of bicycles, ping-pong tables, a weights room, an internet café, an art studio, a twice-daily newspaper, a camp radio service, and concerts by some of the most popular Russian pop acts, such as Zemfira and B2.

The head of Nashi, Vasili Yakemenko, a former Kremlin bureaucrat, says the camp cost “far, far more” than $500,000 (£285,000) and was paid for by donations from big business. “We ask them to support the creation of a new political and managerial elite for the country. If they refuse, it’s considered unpatriotic,” he adds.

Between the ping-pong and aerobics, the youngsters receive ideological instruction from Kremlin advisers. Gleb Pavlovsky, the Kremlin spin doctor who advised Viktor Yanukovych on his failed election campaign in Ukraine, tells them that the Orange Revolution there was a foreign plot, and that President Yushchenko was poisoned by his supporters to win sympathy.

He tells them that Russia’s foreign and internal enemies will try to instigate a similar revolution here. “A revolution is a coup. They (the US) have tried it before, and soon they will try it here, perhaps as early as the Moscow Duma elections this autumn. Your job is to defend the constitutional order if and when the coup comes.”

The success of the Orange Revolution last December convinced the Kremlin that it needed a stronger counterweight to groups such as Pora, the US- financed youth movement which played a big role in bringing Mr Yushchenko to power.

According to Mr Yakemenko’s brother, Boris, who at the Kremlin’s request managed an earlier but less politicised youth movement, called Moving Together, young people are becoming more politicised.

Nashi is better financed and more media-savvy than Moving Together and trains the youth in civil obedience — to President Putin. The organisation stands for opposition to foreign interference in Russian affairs. As Vladislav Surkov, deputy head of the presidential administration and the Kremlin’s top “political technologist”, told the youngsters: “Nashi’s task is to defend Russia’s youth from the political manipulations of the West.” The organisation borrows techniques from groups such as Pora in the Ukraine. Tents and mopeds carry Nashi’s red and white logo and the youngsters are trained in team-building and public relations techniques.

The movement also relies heavily on Soviet symbolism. Throughout the day, in pouring rain or temperatures of 30C (86F), two volunteers guard an eternal flame in honour of the Heroes of the Soviet Union. Soviet music plays throughout the day. The political instructors emphasise the Soviet Union’s glorious victory over Nazi Germany, suggesting that Russia now faces similar threats. “Now is a critical moment,” Boris Yakemenko says. “Many enemies are gathering inside and outside Russia. That’s why we should help Putin.”

Some of the teenagers say that they are not interested in anti-Americanism. “I’m too into American films and music,” says Olga, an 18-year-old student from St Petersburg. Ivan, 17, says he joined because his grandmother died in the Second World War and he wants to serve Russia.

But the anti-Western message resonates with some. A drawing on the art studio walls shows fat US diplomats carrying suitcases stuffed with money and books entitled “What to do in Russia”. The caption reads: “Nashi will overcome!”

Some say they would take to the streets to protect the Government if a revolution occurred. “We don’t want a revolution here. We want to make the country stronger,” says Kcenia, a 16-year-old girl from Moscow, before running off to join her friends canoeing.

3,000 Nashi Commissars Go to Camp

SELIGER CAMP, Tver Region -- Nashi, the Kremlin-backed youth movement that brought 50,000 people to the streets of Moscow in May, led Russian and foreign reporters on a day-long tour Saturday of its latest project: a lakeside summer camp where 3,000 of its "commissars" are spending two weeks planning political actions and debating how to shape the nation's future.

The camp covers 7 hectares on the banks of Lake Seliger, a summer vacation area in the Tver region and about 160 kilometers northwest of Moscow. "Commissar" is the term Nashi uses for its youth leaders, who are 17 to 21 years old and arrived last Monday from local chapters across the country.

Showing how well-funded the fledgling movement is -- it did not formally exist until April -- all 3,000 commissars are studying and participating in sports at the camp for free. In an apparent sign of the group's political influence, its use of the camp space was also free.

The Tver governor provided the use of two of the hectares, and the Russian Orthodox Church the other five.

"Of course Dmitry Zelenin is happy to have us here," Nashi leader Vasily Yakemenko said, referring to the governor. "It's a major event on a national scale that draws attention to him and his region."

In return for the Orthodox Church's generosity, groups of Nashi commissars are helping to restore the nearby Nilova Pustin monastery.

That is one of the many things keeping them busy. Reporters arrived at the camp at 7:30 a.m., in time for the start of what was billed as a typical day. Young people crawled out of their tents -- numbered and split into sections by tape stretched between trees -- to splash water on their faces and chop wood to make tea and porridge over open fires.

Soviet-era songs drifted from the main stage in the center of the camp, where the commissars gathered at 8 a.m. They stood at even intervals on a enormous grid of plastic strips. Young people who had birthdays that day were called to the stage and congratulated, then most of the group left for the daily five-kilometer run. Two circles of young women performed aerobics for the eager lenses of photographers.

Whatever the Communist Pioneer-camp connotations, Yakemenko said that the movement's philosophy put it far from the Soviet past. Among the stated goals of Nashi, which means Us, are the preservation of Russia's sovereignty and integrity, countrywide modernization, and the formation of an active civil society.

"Some of our writers think like pensioners," Yakemenko complained, speaking of the camp's commissar-run newspaper, Nashi Izvestia. "Then we hold a poster contest, and they draw images I remember from my childhood. It's as though communism is in their genes. I tell them, 'Comrades, this is about the future. We need new methods, new ideas.'"

Some eight hours per day are aimed at promoting new ideas through lectures, discussion groups and forums on future political actions. The previous week's speakers included politicians from United Russia -- the pro-Kremlin party that is widely seen as putting loyalty above creativity.

There was even a visit from Vladislav Surkov, a deputy head of the presidential administration.

"On Wednesday morning, we heard there was going to be a surprise visitor," said Svetlana Kalinina, a 19-year-old commissar from Yaroslavl.

She said she was attending a lecture when she saw Yakemenko stroll up with Surkov.

"He went around to all the different groups and did question-and-answer sessions. We were very excited," Kalinina said.

The camp was abuzz Saturday with rumors that the next surprise guest would be President Vladimir Putin.

Asked about the talk, Yakemenko smiled broadly and said, "Is that so? I'm afraid I don't know anything about it."

Kalinina hoped the rumors were true. "I know they call Putin an authoritarian in the West, but the Russian people have always needed a strong leader. It's part of our character," she said, standing on a fringe of beach while a few dozen commissars in kayaks paddled out into the lake behind her.

The star of the show Saturday was Kremlin adviser and political consultant Gleb Pavlovsky, who walked through the camp, trailed by dozens of young people, more than a few shirtless and suntanned. They questioned him and listened closely as he opined about the military draft and Ukraine's Orange Revolution. He was visibly pleased with the attention.

"I love talking with these young people," Pavlovsky said. "We need to prepare a politically literate generation because the lack of a developed political culture means a small number of people can make dangerously radical decisions."

Hundreds sat, notebooks in hand, during Pavlovsky's lecture that afternoon. He first warned against an obsessive search for Russia's enemies, saying it distracted from a proper focus on problems such as poverty in the regions and public education. Turning to the theme of combating fascism -- another of Nashi's stated goals -- Pavlovsky said Russia was fulfilling Western Europe's need to find a "problem" population. "Russia is the Jew of the 21st century," he said.

Commissar Alexei Gorelov, 19, said the large turnout for Pavlovsky's lecture was proof of the effect the camp was having on the young people. "Walk around the camp and listen," he said. "No one's talking about beer and girls. They're talking about politics. I've seen people transform in front of my eyes."

Asked if beer and girls had been a more popular topic at the start of the camp, he smiled shyly. "Well, you could say that," he said.

There was little visible evidence of a minor scandal that arose when three members of liberal activist groups were found at the camp on Tuesday. The three told Gazeta.ru that they had been detained and then expelled from the camp.

Yakemenko denied they had been expelled and asked journalists on Saturday to invite them to return. "Let them come for a week and debate with us," he said. "Politics is all about the free exchange of ideas."

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