By Slava Tsukerman

One of the unexpected results of the Moscow WWII Victory Parade is a scandal concerning some supposed war veterans that took part in the celebration widely covered by Russian Internet

The scandal began with the publication of the photos of some especially familiar characters who appear each year in the crowd of veterans traditionally gathering on the V-day in the center of Moscow. The chests of many veterans are covered with military orders and medals, which easily can be purchased on flea markets.

Here is a photo of a person who sports on the right side of the chest a badge of “Special Department of KGB” and on the left side of his chest two stars of Hero of the Soviet Union and a star of Hero of Socialist Labor and 7 Orders of Lenin. (!)

In the history of the USSR there were only 154 twice Hero of the Soviet Union. According to recent data only 27 of them are alive today. Of these, 24 are cosmonauts and three are pilots. In the history of the Soviet Union there were only eleven Hero of Socialist Labor receivers who were also Heroes of the Soviet Union. The only one survivor, Vasily Holovchenko – not a general, just a sergeant, now is a director of a collective farm.

There are many photos of a strange woman in the uniform of Major General awarded with two stars – the ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ and ‘Hero of Socialist Labor’. During the parade she was standing on the Red Square podium very close to President Putin.

Here is the photo of the same woman made in 2010. There were insignia of colonel on her shoulder straps. And there was only one star of the ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’.

A year later in 2011 the woman miraculously became a general and ‘received’ second star of Hero of Labor.

It’s known that the last person was awarded this star in 1991.  Since then this award ceased to exist. And the only woman in the entire history of USSR who was awarded both stars was a famous aviator Valentina Grizodubova, who died in 1993.

The woman on the previous photos also sports three Orders of the Patriotic War.

The only female who has such three awards was another famous aviator, at 21 Deputy Squadron Commander of the 46th Guards Regiment of Female Night Bombers 4th Air Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front, ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’, Nadezhda Popova, a major, now 91 years old.

How come that the obviously fake general, whose fakeness was obvious in 2011, was placed in 2013 on the podium not far away from Vladimir Putin?

Many Russian bloggers think that Putin, organizing grandiose Victory Day campaign, fueled the need for “veterans”. The bloggers suspect that the presence of the fake veterans is not a result of their own activity but a government planned action.

Apparently there was an order to organize a number of “heroic veterans.” The authorities need such faithful “veterans”. They will not complain about the miserable pensions and expensive drugs they cannot afford, they do not say a word about the fact that there are more and more government’s unfulfilled promises to veterans, and there are less and less veterans alive. Fake veterans will symbolize Russian victory.

Popular blogger with a nickname “Drugoi” wrote in his blog:

“I want to ask the all-powerful Federal Security Service, the protocol service of the Kremlin and others – how come that on the central podium of the Victory Parade there were such individuals? On the Victory Day in Moscow one could not walk in the streets – there were numerous fences; thousands of police and trucks blocked the alleys. In fact, the center of the city was under siege, and those carnival clones were sitting in the Red Square. What a humiliation for real veterans! “

By Slava Tsukerman

Annually on May 9, Russians celebrate the victory over Nazi Germany in the World War II.  This year Victory Day military parade was held in 24 cities with more than 38,000 troops participating, of which 11,000 marched in Moscow Red Square.

Also 101 military vehicles and 68 airplanes and helicopters participated in the parade that was comparable in scale only to the parade of the 65 anniversary of Victory in 2010.

Here is an English coverage of the event by the Russian propaganda TV station “Russia Today”.

The tradition of the annual military Victory parades on May 9 was introduced by Boris Yeltsin in 1995, the year of the 50th anniversary of the victory.

The first Victory Day parade was held on June 24, 1945, and the second in 20 years later in 1965, under Leonid Brezhnev, who made the Victory Day an annual day off.

The costs of Victory Parades are never officially released in Russia.   The 2012 parade, according to a journalist’s estimation, including festivities of on the day were equal to 1.5 billion (about $50 million).

Despite the high costs, the majority of Russians are against the abolition of the parade. According to a 2012 poll, 91% of the Russian population support the idea of ​​a military parade and only 7% preferred to spend this money for social help for the needy.

Meanwhile, Russian Internet is full of articles and comments criticizing the parades. The authors of these articles remind readers that, despite of numerous promises of Russian government, a lot of old people – veterans of WW II – still do not have decent housing with running water and indoor toilets.  The media continuously talks about veterans begging on streets to get money for food and prescription drugs.

The remains of numerous Russian soldiers who died during the WW II are still not buried. According to historians about 5 million people are still considered to be missing in the WW II. Every year the remains of about a thousand soldiers are found on the former battlefields of WW II in former Soviet territories. Most of the findings are made by volunteers at their own expense. The state does not participate in this activity; often it puts obstacles in the way of volunteers’ work.

The attitude of the democratic opposition to the Victory Celebration of this year was well summarized in the radio interview of one of the popular Russian writers and journalists, Victor Shenderovich:

“In the few decades of my life the tone of this holiday has changed a lot. It used to be, indeed, a holiday ‘with eyes full of tears…’  It was the day to remember those who never returned.

“I think, unfortunately, today the tone has changed significantly. Although, it is still a popular festivities, and it’s enough to go out the a street in order to see that it is a real national event. But the government has ‘nationalized’ it very much! As we saw it today it was the state’s rather than the people’s holiday; it was pretty much a PR campaign.

“As the sayings go: ‘What all these is about?’ ‘What this story is about?’ Now, what May 9 is about? Judging by the missiles in the Red Square and the broad smile on the face of Putin sitting on the podium – it is about how tough we are, as a state power, about the fact that we won and we will always win. And Putin was talking about it. The idea is we are still surrounded by enemies. By the way, in his speech Putin hadn’t said a word about our allies”.

On the evening of May 9 anti government activists blocked the Tverskaya Street (the main street of Moscow near Kremlin), deploying huge banner “Death to Kremlin occupants.” They lit torches and marched, chanting anti-Putin slogans.

“Today in Russia invaders are in power. Not Germans, but homegrown in Kremlin, – says the statement of the protesters. “Putin has managed to achieve what Hitler failed to do: he actually had turned Russia into a colony. He’s deprived people of every conceivable right and transformed them into frightened obedient flock. “

The action lasted 8 minutes, until all 14 participants were arrested.

40 people were detained on May 9 in Moscow during various protest actions.

by Slava Tsukerman

International Workers’ Day, May Day, is a celebration of international labor movement and used to be one of the most celebrated holidays in the Soviet Union.

In recent months,  several traditions and laws of the Soviet Union were revitalized in Putin’s Russia. Uniforms are being returned to preliminary and high school. A ban on the use of profanities in press and literature is returning.

Also Putin re-established the golden Medal “Hero of the Labor”, which was one of the highest Honors in the Soviet Union and disappeared after it’s fall.

The medal “Hero of Labor” in Soviet days and today.

On May First Putin at the special solemn ceremony in Petersburg personally handed out the first medals.

The Gold medal “Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation #1”  was given to the director of the Institute of Neurosurgery, Alexander Konovalov, for the founding of a new trend in medicine – micro neurosurgery.

The medal #2  was given to the outstanding conductor, artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, Valery Gergiev.

Other medals were handed to a miner Vladimir Melnik for a record performance in mining work; Yuri Konnov, a tractor driver for forty years; and Konstantin Chumanov, a tuner from “Instrument-Making Plant”.

The Soviet tradition of the May Day demonstrations had never been completely abandoned in modern Russia, since members of the Communist Party and its supporters have kept it alive.

This year about 3,000 people took part in the Communist demonstration in Moscow.

The slogan: “With every step we are closer to Socialism!”

The slogans: “Stalin was always right!” and “Soviet Power is real power of people!”

The slogan: “Stalin, we need you now more then ever!”

The number of the Communist Party participants of the May Day demonstration is decreasing every year – five years ago the Communist’s march had ten to fifteen thousand participants.  But the reason is not the decreasing of leftist sentiments.  It is the opposite.  In the past years, the numerous leftist allies – the Left Front, The Other Russia, Working Russia and the anarchists marched together with the column of the Communist Party. This year, all the leftist forces took part in a separate march.

As the Communist Party is one of the official parties that are members of the Duma, other leftist parties are becoming noticeably more radical.

This year seven different processions with different political slogans participated in the May Day demonstrations in Moscow.

The slogan: “Take away and divide between everybody”, meaning taking all the property of capitalists.

The slogan: “We are waking up!”

The slogan: “Putin is a thief and a killer!”

The most participants were in the official columns organized by the State supported Trade Unions and the ruling party United Russia. By official accounts 90,000 people took part in these demonstration.

Here is the official TV coverage of the demonstration.

Neo-Nazi and other nationalists had their own 500 people column. They marched through the street of Moscow under slogans “Russia must be ruled by Russians,” “Moscow does not want guests” , “National Socialism – is the order.” They chanted “Down! Down! Down with the KGB regime” , “Moscow – Russian city”, “Guest worker, go away!”.

Slogan: “To be a Russian means to be a warrior”

Slogan: “Moscow is Russian city!”

Here is the video of this column.

By Slava Tsukerman

Last year Russian Orthodox Church has initiated a program of the construction of 600 new churches in Moscow, the first two hundred referred to as “Program 200.”

Patriarch Kiril attends opening of the new church, the first of “Program 200”

This action resulted in an increase of social tension.  Local authorities, following orders from City Hall, are trying to organize public community hearings in support of the decision to build “walking distance temples.”

There are many reasons why most of the public is opposing the construction of new churches.

For example, some people don’t like the fact, that in order to quickly complete the task the new churches are often assembled from the standard concrete components, disfiguring the city.

But the main reason for the protests is that the most of the churches are to be built on the sites of public gardens, sport fields, dog walks, and children’s playgrounds.

In many cases, local residents and local officials protest against the construction.

“We are for park”

Representatives of opposition parties and civil society organizations are often on the side of the residents.

January 29 this year “The movement in support of the construction of 200 Orthodox churches in Moscow” was organized.

One of the leaders, young businessman Philip Grill (whose family architectural and construction firm allegedly has nothing to do with Program-200) stated that all public hearings should be canceled because “temples are more important than hospitals.”

The most active defenders of the “Program 200″ are even far more radical than Grill.

Last week, for the first time in the history of the Program, 200, Orthodox Church activists clash with the locals which ended with detention of Orthodox rioters by police. It happened at the hottest point of confrontation – the park at the Molodezhnaia Street, where a lot of academics, university professors and other intellectuals live. Police arrested Dmitry Nenarokov, a ‘priest’ who organized the riot.

Dmitry (religious name – Demetrius) Nenarokov V., born in 1967, has no formal theological education. He is “self-ordained” and “self-appointed” (which is pretty common today in Russia, due to the shortage of educated priests). Nenarokov is connected with radical nationalists.

Recently, the Russian Internet presented photos of Nenarokov, under a black flag with skull and crossbones, committing a public memorial service at a rally in defense of Moscow Cossacks community member, who was sentenced to nine years for murder with a firearm.

After the rally the Cossacks went to Sakharov Center to disrupt the performance of a play about the Pussy Riot.

Nenarokov combines the work of a priest with the work of a professional instructor of “knife and unarmed combat” in the most controversial varieties – “Russian” and “Cossack.” These sports are very popular among various groups of radical Russian nationalists and neo-Nazis.

In the past, one of the main weapons of Cossacks, historically used against political demonstrators and Jews, was “nagaika” – a whip with a metal weight at the end. Today the advertising of Russian Cossack “nagaikas” can be easily found on YouTube.

Military and sport clubs, in which these courses are taught, are centers for ultra-nationalist groups. “Knife Fight”, which they teach children and teenagers, is the ability to attack with knife.

Even the military (except for Special Forces) have no such courses. In Russia today this skill can be applied only by a bunch of hoodlums who attack in dark alleys persons who don’t look like an ethnic Russians: a Tajik janitor or a person considered to be Jewish.

There are hundreds of clubs of this type in Russia and other former Soviet republics.

A patriotic club in Kiev, Ukrain.

A typical example of such a club was a military-patriotic club “Savior.” The “Cossack” and “Knife” styles of fighting were taught in this “religious” club. In 2008, four leaders and activists of the club were sentenced to life in prison for the bombings at the Cherkizovsky Market and a series of murders of “non-Slavs.” A seventeen-year old Armenian boy was killed in subway witha knife.

The priest Dmitry Nenarokov is the former head of military-patriotic club called “Falcon”, which was engaged in the “rehabilitation” of drug addicts by teaching them Russian-style knife fighting. The photographs available on the Internet depict club members posing in characteristic black clothes. The uniforms copy the most famous uniform of militant neo-Nazi organization of the 1990s Russian National Unity.

These are the defenders of the Program 200, which provokes protests of even some official government representatives.

The chief architect of Moscow, Sergei Kuznetsov criticized the program:

“I think that the message itself is strange. In my practice I’ve never encountered such program in any city, neither in Russia nor abroad. They just made up their mind that a certain amount of churches must be built. Very strange.”

Index of articles written by Slava Tsukerman

• Shocking inauguration of Vladimir Putin
• Protest meetings in Moscow brutally suppressed
• Putin’s Cult
• Unexpected European Sensation
• The New Russian Government to rewrite history (again)
• The March of Millions
• Why was the scandal created by the Russian Government?
• St. Petersburg’s Scarlet Sails Festival
• Russian police attitude towards demonstrators
• Flood In Russia
• Act of Terror in Kazan
• Putin’s Portrait
• Religious Conflict in Russia
• One Day of the Moscow Trial
• The World Reacts to Pussy Riot Trial
• The Return of Russian Anti–Americanism
• Patriarch Kirill in Bialystok
• Moscow Roofers
• Spiritual Battle
• Black Dolphin
• Religious battle in Russia
• Mark Zuckerberg’s visit to Russia
• The most respected public figure in Russia
• Russia treats opposition as foreign agents
• Russian March
• The Jewish Museum in Russia
• Prison revolt in Russia
• Distorted Russian Image of the West
• Russian Propaganda to Justify Ban an on Child Adoptions by Americans
• Russian Duma vs.Vladimir Posner for confusion parliament with fools
• Vladimir Putin’s Declining Popularity
• MARCH AGAINST SCOUNDRELS
• New Year Drinking in Russia
• Anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad
• Celebrating the 75th anniversary of a Russian Gulag
• Growth of Russian Anti-Americanism
• Another Russian Child Is Killed by Americans
• Russian Reaction to Chavez’s Death
• Honoring a “Night Wolf”
• Passover pilgrimage of Russian billionaires
• Traffic jams in Moscow
• Putin deflects Hannover, Germany bare breast demonstration with humor

By Slava Tsukerman

Six hundred fifty four  Russian Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are funded from abroad. Recently a new law came into effect in Russia, demanding these NGOs register as “Foreign Agents”. In colloquial Russian this expression is practically a synonym of the word “spy”.

Today the new law is the object of extremely hot political discussions in Russia.

One of the most exotic actions of protest to the new law became the most covered event of the week in Russia. Several topless women protesters rushed toward Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin while they were touring the Hannover Trade Fair in Germany. (Russia is the partner country for the 2013 Hannover Messe.)

The event had a good coverage in the New York Times.

There are a lot more important details that found no place in the New York Times article.

Here is the excerpt from the German TV coverage of the event.

According to New York Times “The Hanover police said it was not clear whether the protesters — two Germans, two Ukrainians and a Russian — were linked to Femen, a Ukrainian advocacy group known for topless demonstrations against the exploitation of women.”

None of Russian and European sources have any doubt that the action was arranged by Femen, which authorized the event on its official web site.

Femen is a protest group started in Ukraine in 2008, whose membership has grown to countries across the world. According to its website, its purpose is “sextremism serving to protect women’s rights, democracy watchdogs attacking patriarchy, in all its forms: the dictatorship, the church, the sex industry.”

Last Thursday topless Femen activists staged rallies in front of mosques and Tunisian embassies across Europe against what they called an Islamist attack on Arab women’s rights.

Putin reacted to the action of Femen with several public jokes. He said in a joint news conference with Merkel:

“Regarding this performance, I liked it,”

“Organizers of the trade show should be thankful to these Ukrainian girls. Without such an action there would be less talk about the show than with such an action.”

“I did not see anything terrible in this type of protest, we all got used to it. Though I think … it is better to be dressed if one wants to discuss political matters. There are better places for undressing”

“Frankly, I did not hear what the girls were shouting because security guards were very tough. Such huge dudes piled on top of the girls. This, I think, was wrong, girls should be handled softer.”

It was difficult not to hear what girls were shouting. Most of English language media translated their words as “Putin, go to hell”. I think the more proper translation of the Russian idiom, that they used, is “Putin, go f–k yourself”.

The same was written on the girl’s back.

The next day Putin commented the act of Femen again:

“That morning I had no time to have breakfast. If they had showed me, say, sausage or lard, it would be joyful to me, but the attractions they demonstrated were not that much”.

Putin’s reaction behind the scene was very different from reaction in front of cameras. The same day Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov  made official  statement: “This is ordinary hooliganism and unfortunately it happens all over the world, in any city. The women must be punished”.

A criminal case is opened in Germany against the Femen activists. According to Femen website the women are charged with article 132 of the Criminal Code of Germany (public insult to a foreign state representative).

This action of Femen was not the only demonstration against Putin in Hannover.

At the Convention Center, which hosted the opening ceremony of the Hannover Fair, a big demonstration was held to protest against the policy of Russian authorities. According to police, it was attended by about 350 people. The participants held placards demanding an end to the persecution of NGOs and stop political terror in Russia.

By Slava Tsukerman

The heavy snowfalls of the 2013 winter caused practically a complete halt of traffic in Moscow on a number of occasions. The past winter turned out to be long with  snowfalls continuing into March.

A special rating system is used to measure the intensity of traffic jams.  Congestion points are rated from 1 to 10, where 10 points means complete lack of movement.

Almost every winter, Moscow traffic jams reach 10 points.

This winter traffic snarls plagued the entire city, even the Western routes which are usually congestion free.

On February 4, 2013 the overall length of slow moving traffic in Moscow extended 3.5 thousand kilometers, which is the equivalent to the distance from Russian capital to Madrid.

The longest traffic backups have been recorded on the Moscow Ring Road, extending almost to its entirety. Average speed was less than 9.7 miles per hour.

The chaos had extended beyond Moscow. According to some reports, the recent snarled traffic toward St. Petersburg stretched by as much as 120 miles. Drivers were forced to spend more than two days freezing inside their cars.

According to the research company TNS Gallup, more than 2 million people, nearly half of the capital’s car owners, use the Internet service “Yandex.Jams” to obtain information about traffic conditions.

The problem of Moscow traffic jams is not limited to winter months.  Last year an average of 850 jams occurred daily, and each of them involved about 2000 cars.  Typical duration of Moscow traffic tie ups is an hour and a half.  Last year, the average driver lost more than 13 hours in traffic jams each month, the equivalent of one and a half working days.

The author of this article personally spent two and a half hours in a traffic jam during his visit to Moscow.

The evening speed on the roads starting at 4:00 PM, two hours before “rush hour,” is not more than ten miles per hour and some places and less than three miles per hour in some, the average walking speed.

There are now six times more cars in Moscow than there were in 1991.

Moreover, there is a lack of parking spaces in Moscow. The Head of Transportation and Communications of Moscow, Vasily Kichedzhi, recently noted that there are only 250,000 parking spaces available now in the city where 1.2 million spaces are needed. He stated that the City is not able to create suitable parking for  so many cars.

Here is a CBS NEWS comment on the situation.

There is a huge subway system in Moscow. But most of the financially prosperous Muscovites consider the subway beneath their prestige. In order to understand why, look at the photo of Moscow subway at rush hour:

Moscow’s government is taking a lot of steps to reduce the number of traffic delays. For example, it prohibits the entry of heavy vehicles into the city and is building new roads.

Here is the translation of an official approach for solving the problem that is given in the Russian Wikipedia:

“The main methods to resolve the traffic congestion on the roads of the capital include the construction of underground roads; the development and increasing the number of lines of Moscow subway; use of air service between airports, train stations and major shopping centers; increasing a number of underground parking lots in the city center; charging fee for parking in the central part of the city”.

However, given the environment of total corruption, some wealthy Muscovites find more immediate methods to solve their problem. A Canadian newspaper National Post publication describes one amazing dodge.

Fifteen Russian Jewish billionaires celebrated Passover with a pilgrimage through the desert this year. They began their journey in the morning of March 21. The starting point of the journey has been the area between the Dead Sea and Eilat in the Arava desert. Wearing the clothes resembling the attire of ancient Jews – tunics and sandals – the businessmen spent four days crossing the desert on foot, heading towards Jerusalem.   Five camels with drivers accompanied them.

The entrepreneurs spent nights in the desert in Bedouin tents.  On the third day of the journey, these representatives of the business elite of the Russian society celebrated the Sabbath in the desert. And on the last day of the trip, they completed the program by baking matzoth on the rocks, to take them to Moscow home for the ritual Passover celebration.

Among those who took part in the campaign are Mikhail Freidman co-owner of “Alfa-Group” (In 2011, Forbes assessed Fridman’s wealth as US$ 15.1 billion, making him the 7th richest man in Russia and 43rd worldwide);  German Khan, Executive Director of TNK-BP (according to Forbs owned today US$10.5 billion); and Michael Mirilashvili,  owner of one of the biggest casino chains in Europe and  co-owner of the network Vkontakte (‘In contact’, the Russian equivalent of the Facebook”.)

The executive director of the Russian Jewish Congress Benny Briskin and Mikhail Friedman.

The participants of the pilgrimage joined a meeting of the Russian Jewish Congress, which for several years has taken place in the desert during Passover.

The executive director of the Russian Jewish Congress Benny Briskin mentioned in his interview to the popular Russian radio station Komersant FM that the pilgrimage is not only an opportunity to pay tribute to the traditions, but also a chance to escape from everyday life and talk about the eternal questions.

“There were much more those who desired to join our campaign than we were able to take along. If the group would be too large we wouldn’t be able to get that intimate atmosphere and unique communication. Lots of times we had talks, which were not devoted to business, not devoted to short-term problems; we could talk about the eternal. Moreover, in the desert mobile phones usually do not work, so our offices are not able to reach and disturb us,” he said.

The Russian Jewish Congress members hope that the pilgrimage of Russian businessmen to Israeli desert will become an annual tradition.

By Slava Tsukerman

Last week, the fifty year old leader of the Night Wolves Motor Club,  Alexander Zaldostanov (a/k/a the “Surgeon”) was awarded the Russian Medal of Honor.

Night Wolves was the first motorcycle (‘bikers’) club in Russia, founded in May 31, 1989.  Since 1992, the club has been a member of the international bike movement.

Motor Club has a number of regional offices in Russia and some foreign branches – in Belarus, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, and Romania.  Motor Club has a strict chain of command, as set forth by the Charter, and includes about 5000 members.

According to the decree of President Putin,  Zaldostanov was awarded Medal of Honor for “the activity in the patriotic education of young people.”

‘Surgeon’ was a confidant of Putin in the last presidential election, and was invited to the inauguration ceremony.

In July 2009, Vladimir Putin visited the headquarters of the Night Wolves in Moscow. Since then President has visited the bikers on many occasions.

In August 2011 Putin visited the 16th Bike Festival in Novorossiysk and personally led the convoy of bikers driving a three-wheeled ‘Harley’.

Talking to bikers, Putin has always called them “brothers”. But the meaning of his speeches changed with time.

Here is a quote of Putin speech, made several years ago:

“The ‘bike’  is certainly the most democratic form of transport … Bike! – it is a symbol of freedom … You came here because you are free people, and you want be free!”

Here is a quote from the last Putin’s speech to bikers:

“You do not just ride your motorcycles; you also perform military-patriotic work. Historical memory is the best cement that binds people of different nationalities and religions into one nation, in one powerful country – Russia.”

The  concept of ‘freedom’ has evolved into ‘patriotism’.

In April last year, Night Wolves organized motorcycle procession through Mosco. They carried balloons with Orthodox Christian symbols. That was the way they demonstrated against the actions of the punk rock band Pussy Riot and critics of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill.

“I am against the ‘possessed’ who humiliate the believers”, Surgeon said.

“So we decided to combine the opening of the biking season with a run in support of Patriarch Krill of the Russian Orthodox Church.”

Night Wolves raced through Moscow on motorcycles with balloons lettered “XB” (Russian symbol for “Christ is Resurrected”) attached to bikes, and released the balloons into the night air.

Today Night Wolves official web site starts with an announcement of the organization’s departure from the international biker movement.

Here are some explanations from the official Night Wolves web site:

“Given the nationalistic mentality of our country, our movement could no longer carry the identity of the international organizations. This was a utopian idea without a future…”

“What is better: selling drugs, killing people, promoting evil to the masses, transgressing law; or promoting patriotism, love of their country, spirituality in young people?”

“We do not want to belong to foreign bikers’ traditions that are not able to give good fruits to our Slavic Orthodox country!

“We love Russia and honor Russian history. Orthodoxy is welcomed; it considered an integral part of the history of Russia.

“We Night Wolves are proud that we were born in the land of the great people, the land of Slavs, the rebellious Russians, land of undefeated heroes, the land which does not let the rest of the world sleep since the Roman Empire or even earlier; this fact irritates those who cannot understand this pride.  They hate us for our outcry  when we see that the enemies of our country, of our people, who once again are trying to make us blind and dumb.

“We will not let the descendants of Allen Dulles fulfill his plan of devouring our Fatherland. They keep doing it using all possible means, trying to destroy or enslave Russia.”

“The war is going on, the war for survival. Only blind do not see it. Either them or us. Our duty is to do our job – to fight for our own greatness. “

It seems, for this very contribution to the “patriotic education of youth”, Surgeon was awarded the Medal of Honor.

By Slava Tsukerman

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, in power for 14 years, died March 5th from cancer at the age of fifty-eight.

Russian media covered this event as the most important news in the world.

Openly anti–American, Hugo Chávez was one of the very few World leaders, who completely supported Putin’s foreign politics.

A theory is widely discussed In Russian media that Hugo Chávez’s death “could have been artificially provoked” by CIA agents. Two leaders of the Russian parliamentary parties publicly supported this idea.

Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov demanded an international investigation of the death of the president of Venezuela. Zyuganov asks audience of TV channel Russia-24: “How could it happen that the six leaders of Latin American countries that opposed the policy of the United States, trying to create an independent and sovereign powerful block, suddenly get the same disease at the same time which killed Chavez?”
I
Liberal Democrats’ leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky also did not rule out the artificial origin of the Chavez’s disease:

“You can not, by the way, disregard what Chavez himself repeatedly said – that all these are tricks of the U.S. secret services, artificially provoking the disease. Same thing happened with the presidents of the other Latin American countries. There is no epidemic of cancer in Latin American countries except where authorities have anti-American views.”

Deputy Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian Senate Valery Shnyakin told reporters: “In recent years Russia and Venezuela have made ​​great arrangements, particular in the sphere of military-technical cooperation, but, because it was not supported by the Russian military presence in the region, our position could be under threat”.

The senator said that it was desirable to consolidate the Russian presence in the region following the example of the United States “which is not shy about placing military bases” in the former Warsaw Pact countries.

“If we put military bases in Venezuela, the forecast would be more favorable; but now our influence in the region is in question,” said Valery Shnyakin.  “Now Russia faces the important task to protect our presence and economic interests  in the Latin American region.”

Russian companies are involved in five projects for the extraction of oil in Venezuela. The largest of these is the development of field block Junin-6 in the Orinoco oil belt with a total planned investment of $ 20 billion. Venezuela is also one of the leading partners of the Russian Federation in the sphere of military-technical cooperation.

Russians do not believe that the interests of the Russian oil companies in Venezuela will be unaffected by a possible change of government in that country after the death of Hugo Chavez.  According to the survey conducted by the agency “Prime”, 75.9% of respondents believe that the interest may be affected.

Several proposals were made by the representatives of the Communist Party in different regions of Russia including Moscow  to re-name city streets in honor of Hugo Chavez. The authors of the proposals stressed the Venezuelan leader maintained a close relationship with President Vladimir Putin and was “a friend of the Russian people.”

“I think he was a great friend and partner of Russia, and he deserve to be honored”, said Duma member Duma Vadim Soloviev. The initiative will be discussed at their next meetings.