The attack on Alexei Navalny on April 27, as a result of which he was...
The attack on Alexei Navalny on April 27, as a result of which he was taken to the hospital with a chemical burn to his eye, was carried out by activists of the radical pro-Kremlin movement SERB, who conducted their own investigation.
The main clue for activists claiming that SERB members were involved in the attack on Navalny was a video recording of the incident, published REN TV channel. In this video, the face of the attacker and another person watching Navalny being doused with brilliant green are blurred. One Internet user carefully studied the HTML code of the page on which the video was posted and found links to three other versions of the video. In one of them (which is probably a poor editing job), the blur at one point lags behind the face of the person watching the attack. In the image that opened, many social media users immediately recognized Alexey Kulakov- SERB activist who does not miss a single opposition rally. The attacker himself (his face is blurred out in all versions of the video) was indirectly identified by his build, height and elements of clothing. The authors of the impromptu investigation believe that this person is another SERB activist, Alexander Petrunko.
The SERB movement denied any involvement in the attack. Alexey Kulakov told reporters that he did not know about him in advance, but turned up at the scene of events as a “blogger”, following a tip from an unknown informant. SERB Leader Gosha Tarasevich accused Navalny of staging the attack with the help of his supporters.
The name of the movement SERB is an acronym. It stands for "South East Radical Block" - "South-Eastern Radical Bloc". It first became known in Dnepropetrovsk after the Ukrainian Maidan, when activists of the movement participated in actions demanding the granting of greater powers to the regions of south-eastern Ukraine. During the “Russian Spring”, Alexander Petrunko was spotted in Kharkov, where he was one of the participants in the storming of the regional administration building by supporters of the creation of the “Kharkov People’s Republic”.
Later, SERB activists moved to Moscow, where they began to participate in almost all opposition rallies, provoking their participants and attacking them. In the ranks of SERB there are not only immigrants from Ukraine: 43-year-old Oleg Chursin, for example, is a career employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, and at the same time a supporter of the Russian National Unity movement and neo-Nazi Alexei Milchakov.
Russian media reported, citing unnamed sources, that the Kremlin denied involvement in attacks on Navalny and other opposition activists in recent weeks using brilliant green and other corrosive chemical liquids. Gazeta.ru writes that the authorities, on the contrary, recommended that law enforcement agencies more actively bring to justice the participants in such attacks. The press service of the United Russia party released a statement from deputy Yevgeny Revenko, in which he condemns the use of “hooligan and criminal actions” against political opponents. The popular anonymous telegram channel “Nezygar” claims, citing a source in law enforcement agencies, that one of the SERB activists has been taken into “operational development.”
An opposition activist told Radio Liberty about how they managed to identify the attackers of Alexei Navalny, why the police are in no hurry to deal with this case, and what is connected with the real “epidemic” of dousing those who disagree with the authorities with green paint. Oleg Kozlovsky, one of the active participants in the collective impromptu investigation, which made it possible to talk about the involvement of the SERB movement in the attack on Navalny on April 27.
– What allows us to say that it was Alexander Petrunko and Alexey Kulakov who were involved in the attack on Alexei Navalny on April 27?
– The most direct evidence is, of course, a video recording from the scene, which was discovered by Evgeny Bryzgalin, an Internet user who studied the REN TV website and saw that, in addition to one version with hidden faces, there was another version where, due to a flaw, At some point, the editor can see the face of one of the attackers, as it later turned out, Alexei Kulakov. He was identified in the video by other users. This investigation was carried out spontaneously by a large number of people, many of whom did not know, see or hear about each other and coordinated their actions exclusively using Twitter. Due to the fact that all information was based on open sources and is fully verifiable, we can be sure that what we found out is true. This man's face really looks a lot like the photos he posts on social media. Moreover, it was possible to identify the clothes he was wearing. Literally the next day after the attack on Navalny, he posted photographs of himself in the same clothes during a similar attack on activists on duty on the Nemtsov Bridge.
In general, this Alexey Kulakov is a fairly well-known character among Moscow street activists. He constantly takes part in various provocations, so it is not surprising that as soon as his face became more or less visible in the frame, he was quickly identified. From open sources, we managed to collect other information about him; he himself published a lot of information on social networks, including a few days before the attack, in the comments to one of the articles about Navalny, he wrote that he was “preparing brilliant green” and that Navalny “prepared” .
One might think that this is an empty threat, but, as we see, it came true. Literally within 24 hours before this attack, he posted various critical and offensive texts about Navalny and his colleagues three times on social networks. It was possible to see that the person was adjusted accordingly. This is, of course, indirect evidence, but it is enough. And when the media began to call Mr. Kulakov, he first denied everything, but then admitted that he was there, but immediately began to insist that he had no idea what would happen there, that he angrily condemned the attack itself, and so on. This is very hard to believe, because Kulakov participated in many similar actions, never felt any remorse for using violence against his political opponents, and here, apparently, he was simply afraid that in this case he might not get away with it , like before.
– One thing can be seen for sure in this video – that Alexey Kulakov was not the person who threw brilliant green at Alexei Navalny. The “thrower” ran towards the cameraman who was filming this scene, and his face was blurred out in all four versions of the video found. What allows us to say that this is another person involved in your investigation, Alexander Petrunko?
– According to Petrunko, we have mostly indirect evidence. The clothes he was wearing - the pants and jacket - were identified in other photographs of him. In addition, Petrunko has the same physique as the “thrower” and looks the same, with the exception of his face, which we do not see. Petrunko knows Kulakov, they are colleagues in the radical group SERB, they carried out many provocations together, that is, these are people who often go out on such things together. Therefore, suspicion quickly fell on him. Again, those people who saw Petrunko with their own eyes, encountered him at rallies, assumed that it was him, even before this video appeared on REN TV, based on individual frames that were published from the camera in the foyer of the business center. A large number of witnesses point to this person. And obviously, for law enforcement agencies this should be a signal to suspect a person, interrogate him, find out his movements on that day, and so on. Whether such an investigation will take place is, of course, not only up to us.
– Why are only the faces of these two people blurred out in the REN TV video? Why were they “singled out” in this way among the five or six people who are in the frame?
People who are not interested in solving this crime cover up the perpetrators. In this case, these are employees of the REN TV channel
– It is quite obvious that those people who covered up these faces knew very well who took part in the attack. It must be understood that Kulakov, although he did not directly throw the brilliant green, clearly knew where, when and who to shoot. He is just as complicit as the one who threw, it’s just that his role in this group was different. Therefore, those people who are not interested in solving this crime cover up the perpetrators. In this case, this was done by employees of the REN TV channel. They cannot now claim that they were allegedly sent the video in this form, because this video with unhidden faces was located on their server. So, they imposed it on their own, or because of instructions, or for some other reason, knowing who these people were. I cannot regard this as anything other than complicity in a crime.
– Remind us of the most striking episodes with the participation of SERB activists. Were they observed to engage in actions of this kind, rough physical force, and not just verbal altercations?
– The same Mr. Petrunko, for example, last fall participated in a photo exhibition at the Lumiere Brothers Center, where he poured urine on photographs in which he imagined pedophilia. He was then detained and sentenced to seven days of administrative arrest. This is the only time that members of this group suffered at least some punishment. The same group took responsibility for , an activist who was holding a one-man picket on Manezhnaya Square when they sprayed green paint in his face.
A year ago they Navalny was attacked in the same place with a cake, threw a cake at him. They regularly come to rallies held by the Moscow opposition - near metro stations, on Manezhnaya Square, on the Nemtsov Bridge. And at these rallies they not only get into altercations, but when they have the opportunity, they try to pull out posters, tear them, sometimes it even ends up in fights. In neither case did any of them bear any responsibility. Once, it seems, the police detained a group of these provocateurs, but then they were released.
– Do you have a version of who might be behind the SERB activists?
– We know that this group is quite closely connected with various pro-Kremlin organizations. For example, on the eve of the attack, their leaders visited the State Duma, as they themselves wrote, they met with the leaders of the factions, we don’t know which ones, but they were there at the invitation of the deputies. I don’t know what they discussed, but apparently they were so inspired by this conversation that the very next day they organized an attack on Navalny. Edition The Insider wrote yesterday that one of the members of this group is an active police officer and at the same time a neo-Nazi, which should be surprising, but probably isn’t surprising anymore. So there is a direct connection with law enforcement. We have seen a lot of photographs of Mr. Petrunko with a variety of political figures, with Glazyev in particular, who is an adviser to the president, with a large number of conservative State Duma deputies and with other politicians.
We can guess which one of them proposed such an idea, who is feeding them, because these people, as far as can be judged, do not have a permanent job. They don't live very well, but they don't starve and don't need work. This group probably has funding sources, and it's definitely not crowdfunding. In order to establish this precisely, a normal investigation needs to be carried out, but we all understand that no one will conduct any such investigation now.
– Why are the police in no hurry to deal with this attack?
Any investigator who receives such a case immediately understands that this is a political matter.
– Any investigator who comes across such a case immediately understands that this is a political matter, and he will ask his boss, the boss will ask his, and they will tell him that there is no need to get involved in this, there is no need to initiate any cases. Because they understand that as they unravel this tangle, they can get to themselves or to their superiors. Everyone in this system, even those who do not share these methods, who would perhaps like to bring such extremists to justice, they all understand that these crimes are in one way or another connected with the system itself. And being its participants, employees, receiving a salary from it, they are not ready to take on any responsibility for making this system better.
“Attacks using brilliant green have happened before, but recently it has acquired epidemic proportions. With what it can be connected? Is this someone's centralized policy? And can we expect that these attacks will stop after Alexei Navalny and the Yabloko activist actually suffered great physical damage as a result of such attacks? There are reports that the presidential administration is unhappy that all this is taking such a turn.
People who do this understand that nothing will happen to them for this.
– In my opinion, there is one very simple reason why these attacks have become so common now. They remain unpunished. No one, not a single person, has so far been punished for such attacks. The authorities turn a blind eye to this, the police say that they do not see any crime there, they do not even see an administrative offense, they cannot find the perpetrators, customers and organizers. And the people who do this understand, feel that they will not get anything for it, and all they will get is approval and praise from their supervisors, colleagues or friends in different echelons of power. The only way to stop this is for there to be accountability. If at least one of these people is imprisoned, their ardor will immediately diminish greatly. We see that these are not some very brave people, because they carry out all their actions only when they understand that they will not get anything for it, that they have the police nearby, that they will protect them, or they take advantage of with the effect of surprise and immediately run away, hiding their faces. These are not people who are ready to be punished for their actions. As for the administration’s order, which, again for some reason, is conveyed in the form of rumors and some kind of leaks, we remember that not so long ago it was announced that Putin personally ordered that people should not be interfered with in bringing flowers to the site of the murder of Boris Nemtsov. So, did something change after that? Nothing changed! In the same way, this memorial is cleaned out every week, “Gormost” steals flowers, photographs, and things brought by Nemtsov’s supporters in the same way. Putin simply distanced himself from this. Therefore, whether there will be any changes in state policy in this case, we will learn not from leaks, but from the actions of law enforcement agencies,” says Oleg Kozlovsky.
Phone numbers of Alexander Petrunko and Alexey Kulakov, found by activists on the Internet (SERB activists more than once
In the case of the events of March 26, when a mass action against corruption took place in Moscow, a new witness appeared, a person associated with the ultra-patriotic organization SERB. Alexander Petrunko testified against Yuri Kuliy.
The man is accused of using violence against a police officer during the protest. He himself explains that he did not attack a policeman, but tried to help an elderly man on whom a policeman fell on the steps of the Pushkin monument at the height of the arrests of oppositionists. Nevertheless, he admitted guilt and agreed to a special procedure for considering the case in court.
Alexander Petrunko from SERBa was also at the rally. “He said that he saw Kuliy take a police officer by the hand, try to drag him into a crowd of aggressive citizens and shout something else, like “come on, grab him,” Alexey Liptser, the defendant’s lawyer, told Mediazona. At the same time, Alexander Petrunko himself did not identify the accused, but only described him to the investigators.
The name of Alexander Petrunko is heard in connection with the attack on Alexei Navalny on April 27. A man very similar to him doused the politician with brilliant green near the office of the Anti-Corruption Foundation. As a result, Navalny received a burn to the cornea of his eye, partially lost his vision, and was forced to travel abroad, where he was operated on.
Alexander Petrunko was identified by chance: a video of the attack was shown by the Russian TV channel REN, but the TV channel blurred out the face of the attacker. Navalny’s supporters discovered the original video on the TV channel’s server, from which it is possible to establish the attacker’s resemblance to Petrunko.
Another SERB activist, Alexey Kulakov, was filming what was happening at that time, and he is clearly visible in the REN TV video. Later, he outlined several versions of why he was at the scene of the events: at first he said that he was “asked to film,” later he talked about a “business meeting.”
Reaction to export
The SERB movement originally began in Ukraine during the Maidan. After Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia, SERB activists made themselves known in Dnepropetrovsk. Then they opposed the new Kyiv government and demanded greater autonomy for some regions of Ukraine.
The southeastern radical bloc, according to its members, was supposed to fight “lawlessness in the southeast of Ukraine in a legal manner.”
In the SERB group on VKontakte in the spring of 2014, they discussed the need to create a South-Eastern Ukrainian Republic, called for a boycott of the early presidential elections and called for volunteers to fight the Right Sector.
That same spring, SERB members took part in the storming of the Kharkov regional administration along with members of the Borotba organization and other opponents of the Maidan. Then about 70 people, including SERB activists, were detained. In total, the movement had about 300 active participants - this is their own estimate, and the same number of sympathizers in Dnepropetrovsk, Krivoy Rog, Kharkov and Zaporozhye.
The abbreviation SERB stands for South-Eastern Russian Block. Previously, the word “radical” was hidden behind the letter R. Participants in the movement claim that they changed their name after moving to Russia.
Second life of “Anti-Maidan”
SERB leader Beketov-Tarasevich is an actor from Dnepropetrovsk (now Dnepr – NI). He starred in episodic roles in the Russian TV series “Interns”, “Cop in Law”, and in the film “The Main One” about the life of Sergei Korolev. Beketov combines leadership of the SERB movement with his film career - according to the website kino-teatr.ru, two more series with his participation will be released this year.
Immediately after the move, SERB participants began going to anti-war and anti-Putin rallies - on September 21, 2014, activists, together with supporters of Eduard Limonov, tore Ukrainian flags from the hands of participants in the Peace March.
Over time, there were more Russians in the movement than Ukrainians, and SERB switched to internal Russian problems and, in their own statement, want to be “useful to Russia, Novorossiya, and Ukrainian brothers who do not want to be under the Ukrofashists.”
SERB members repeatedly destroyed the memorial at the site of Boris Nemtsov’s death on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge. In September 2016, one of the SERB activists, Alexander Petrunko, poured urine on photographs of the American Jock Sturgess at an exhibition at the Lumiere Brothers Center in Moscow. The exhibition was blocked that day by another pro-Kremlin organization, Officers of Russia. Its participants subdued Petrunko and handed him over to the police. The activist was sentenced to seven days of arrest.
SERB activists regularly pour green paint on oppositionists they dislike. In the fall of 2015, they attacked pensioner Vladimir Ionov, who was standing at a single picket. In April 2016 - for the winners of the school competition of the Memorial movement. Then they hit the writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya with green paint. SERB leader Beketov-Tarasevich explained that the movement will continue to “put national traitors in their place.”
SERB denies the attack with brilliant green on Alexei Navalny. According to Tarasevich, they have no complaints against the politician - because he does not talk about returning Crimea to Ukraine.
SERB movement activist Alexander Petrunko is also known for repeatedly organizing provocations against participants in single pickets at the Zhukov monument near the Kremlin. As a result, the oppositionists were detained by the police.
Activists of the SERB movement are not the first and far from the only ones in Russia who participate in violent actions against the opposition and any dissent.
It all started with football fans. They so passionately and furiously crushed each other and the riot police in the stands that it could not go unnoticed by political forces for long. The LDPR was the first to adopt fans. Vladimir Zhirinovsky several times financed trips of Dynamo fans to various regions and rescued fans from the police.
Here is a fragment of an interview for the Sports.ru website with Alexander Shprygin, aka “Kamancha”, in those years - the head of the Dynamo Moscow fan club:
“In the 90s, we participated in party events, and the party helped us through fan support. For example, the famous special train to Volgograd. Zhirinovsky called the then Minister of Railways Aksenenko, they gave us a train... What did we do in response? Vladimir Volfovich could invite us to some event so that we could also be present there.”
At one such event, Dynamo fans threw stones and eggs at the American Embassy in Moscow the day after the bombing of Belgrade.
By an amazing coincidence, the then fan leader Alexander Shprygin now works as an assistant to a State Duma deputy from the LDPR party. And until recently, he also led the All-Russian Association of Fans. An organization that few people knew about before 2010. The sudden rise of VOB and Shprygin began with riots on Manezhnaya Square.
The clashes that football fans staged on Manezhnaya Square after the murder of Spartak fan Yegor Sviridov made an indelible impression on the Russian authorities. Vladimir Putin, then Prime Minister, personally came to the fan’s grave, and then met with fan leaders in front of cameras.
“I want to make an urgent appeal to you - not to allow someone to put you under control and begin to manipulate you,” Putin asked then.
After this, the VOB came under the wing of the Russian Football Union, i.e. the state. Yesterday's Manezhnaya pogromists were provided with free charters for major international tournaments. In 2012, Russian fans took part in riots in Poland, and in 2016 in France.
Following the massacre in Marseille, the BBC television channel made a documentary about who the instigators of the fight might actually have been.
“This was the army special forces of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin’s football hooligans, sent to conquer Europe,” the film said.
Vasily Stepanov, aka Vasya the Killer, jokes ironically. Leader of one of the “firms” of Moscow “Spartak”. In the 2000s, while Shprygin’s Dynamo members worked for the LDPR, he led the security of the Kremlin Nashi movement. He took part in the pogroms of the NBP bunker, when activists of Limonov’s party were beaten with baseball bats. Now Stepanov has new hobbies; he is an Orthodox activist. Participated in all clashes with opponents of the construction of chapels and churches in Moscow. For example, in Torfyanka Park.
Vasya the killer’s best friends are activists of the “Forty Sorokov” movement, which is called the “military detachment of the Russian Orthodox Church.” In 2015, at the height of the conflict in Torfyanka, State Duma deputy Valery Rashkin turned to the FSB with a request to investigate the activities of the movement and liquidate it. The appeal remained unanswered.
In 2006, the Movement of Young Political Ecologists “Local” declared itself. According to the official version, it was created by the administration of the governor of the Moscow region. “Political ecologists” picketed “Other Russia” conferences, organized roundups of migrants and besieged the US Embassy.
They were predicted to have money and fame from “Nashi”. But today almost nothing is heard about this movement. Their latest promotions, according to the official website, are a student quest in Klin and checking the quality of fuel at gas stations near Moscow.
The creators of the BORN organization also dreamed of becoming a combat unit of the Kremlin. Moreover, they themselves wanted to become power. Neo-Nazis managed to commit nine high-profile murders, including the murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova. The leaders of the organization received life sentences.
Paramilitary in essence and structure, the security forces associated with the Kremlin have not even tried to masquerade as “political ecologists” in recent years.
“Officers of Russia” are building a completely military cordon in front of the Sturges exhibition. Cossacks attack Alexei Navalny and members of the Pussy Riot group, and stand as a human shield at the entrance to the Sakharov Center. SERB in this sense is a symbiosis of everything that was created in Russia in the 2000s for the forceful fight against dissent. The cruelty of football fans, the passion of Orthodox activists, the financial stability of “Nashi” and “Local”, the organization of the Cossacks. And, most importantly, almost complete impunity.
The SERB (South East Radical Block) movement was founded in Dnepropetrovsk in the spring of 2014, after the change of power in Ukraine.
The first mention of the “Southeastern Bloc” on social networks appeared in March 2014, the founders announced its participation in the storming of the Kharkov regional administration. The movement adhered to anti-Maidan ideology (demand for elements of federalization, support for the Crimean referendum, negative attitude towards Euromaidan and its participants, protests against the use of the army in eastern Ukraine, a call to boycott the May presidential elections and create a “South-Eastern Ukrainian Republic”, support for Novorossiya).
At that moment, the movement had 300 supporters and the same number of sympathizers in Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye and Krivoy Rog, the leading role in it was occupied by actor Igor Beketov (pseudonym Gosha Tarasevich).
At the end of the summer of 2014, SERB activists moved from Ukraine to Russia, arguing that they feared for their safety and that the SBU had opened a criminal case against Tarasevich (according to him, the movement continues to operate in Ukraine after that). In the winter of 2014-2015, the movement switched to domestic Russian political life, fighting Russian oppositionists under the slogan of preventing a Russian Maidan.
A number of activists of the movement were detained by the police without initiating criminal cases; Tarasevich did not suffer a similar fate (although during one of the actions he hit a policeman). In September 2016, Tarasevich was beaten by unknown assailants. SERB's existence, according to its leader, was financed by its members.
At that time, he advocated granting autonomy to the southeastern regions of the country. The movement moved to Russia in September 2014, changing the word “radical” to “Russian” in its name. According to the leader of the movement, Igor Beketov (known as Gosha Tarasevich), this happened “because the Security Service of Ukraine fabricated a criminal case against me for treason.”
After the move, movement activists, according to them, are trying “to be useful to Russia, Novorossiya, and Ukrainian brothers who do not want to be under the Ukrofashists.” SERB members from time to time attack civil activists: in May 2015, they doused participants in an anti-war picket of the Solidarity movement with green paint, in August of the same year they attacked Solidarity activists with their fists, and in October, they attacked activist Vladimir Ionov, who was standing at a single picket. .
According to Znak.com, Alexander Petrunko, who allegedly attacked Navalny, grew up in an orphanage in the city of Rostov-on-Don, briefly worked as a freelance employee of the criminal investigation department, and participated in the seizure of the Kharkov administration building in 2014 on the side of the separatists.
The leader of the SERB movement, Igor Beketov, in a conversation with Meduza, said that the movement has nothing to do with the attack on the oppositionist. “Someone called me and [SERB activist identified in the video] Alexey [Kulakov] and offered to come to the FBK office so that we could film a video report. I didn’t have a camera, Alexey took it with him. I was late, and Alexey later told me that he arrived at 17:00, hung around there, nothing happened, and he was about to leave - and suddenly everything happened. He only saw that the man was running away,” Beketov claims.
According to him, Petrunko could not be the attacker, since he allegedly went to Crimea on the eve of the holidays. At the same time, Beketov notes that there is a certain similarity between the attacker and Petrunko. “Someone cleverly framed our movement and at the same time promoted Navalny,” Beketov said, emphasizing that SERB activists are not hiding after “carrying out actions.”
Activist with dual citizenship Igor Beketov, better known in the media as Gosha Tarasevich after the action on the bridge where Boris Nemtsov was killed, was one of the first leaders of the Dnepropetrovsk SERB movement and still remains so after moving to Moscow. In an interview with Medialeaks, the actor, former player of the Soviet Ukrainian national basketball team, and now a “pro-Putin” (“not pro-Obama”) activist told how the Ukrainian movement became Russian, why they do not touch the oppositionist Alexei Navalny, and under what conditions Crimea could remain Ukrainian .
Movement from the southeast
- The SERB movement is Ukrainian, isn’t it?
Initially, the movement was formed in the southeast of Ukraine in Dnepropetrovsk. It was called “South-Eastern Russian Block”, actually the name SERB (South East Russian Block) and stands for this.
- And sometimes there is a decoding where r means “radical” and not “Russian”.
In the beginning, in Ukraine, we were called not Russian, but “South-Eastern Radical Bloc,” but the meaning of the word “radical” was not to organize pogroms, but to act, to do something. And in the word “radical” we meant action, not pogroms or riots.
- When did the movement move to Russia?
In Russia, it originated in September, because the SBU fabricated a criminal case against me in Ukraine for treason, for the collapse of the constitutional system, and I was forced to leave Ukraine. In Moscow, I was joined by guys who really want to be useful to Russia, who want to do something, and not just go to rallies and wave flags.
- Did the ideology of the movement change after moving to Russia?
Of course it has changed. There we acted against the Ukrainian fascists, and then they... or rather, here they are of course to a lesser extent. We are simply for the Russian world, for Russia, so that there is no insult to Russia, the president, or Crimea. But by no means are we a nationalist organization. In our structure there are Jews, Azerbaijanis, and Kazakhs.
- Who is more on the move now?
Russians.
- Did any other activists move to Russia with you?
A couple of people, yes. But now they seem to be not in motion, they have moved away a little.
“Involuntarily stood up for defense”
- Why did you suddenly switch to the Russian opposition, because at first there were other points in the movement’s program?
Will explain. Our movement was initially focused on releasing political prisoners who were arrested in our country. But I was faced with the fact that many are not ready to do anything, but just want to enter the media space and receive some bonuses. And I realized that I had hit a glass wall that I couldn’t break myself. While doing all this, we noticed that there were so many attacks on Russia, on the Russian world, on Russian civilization, that we unwittingly came to its defense. And initially we were not intended to fight the liberals, to confront them. It’s just that the evolution [of the movement] has already begun.<…>
- Don’t you think it’s strange that the originally Ukrainian movement now began to fight the Russian opposition?
May be. But many Russians came; Russian problems are still closer to them. Our movement continues to operate in the southeast, it is in Dnepropetrovsk, and in Zaporozhye, and Donetsk, and in Kharkov. There are simply different programs: Ukrainian and Russian.
- And yet, some say that it is suspicious that you came from Ukraine to Russia with the movement.
Maybe, but if you pay attention [to such opinions], you will stop doing something. We are simply acting, trying to be useful to Russia, Novorossiya, our Ukrainian brothers who do not want to be under the ukrofashists.
“We attack only if there is an insult to Russia, the president and Crimea”
- What’s wrong with the Russian opposition that you attack it so vehemently?
We attack only if there is an insult to Russia, the president and Crimea. If they speak out for their political prisoners, for Savchenko, this is their right, this is freedom of speech. But don't insult the country you live in. We are not at war with the “white ribbon”, but I will not tie it to my hand. We are not fighting with liberals, we are fighting against disrespect for the Russian president and Novorossiya.
- But in your publications you speak out quite harshly against some oppositionists.
Correct, but in what context? In the context of their attack [on some categories or individuals]. There is Krieger who declares that Right Sector is a good structure, there is Mokhnatkin - we have a video - who stated that he is even ready to be friends with Right Sector. This is an organization that is banned in Russia. Then we attack. And we are not attacking Savchenko, although there were a couple of cartoons. Why did we attack Nemtsov? Because we still knew his activities, when he came to Ukraine, supported Ukraine, said that there were supposedly Russian troops in Ukraine, he was a traitor to the interests of Russia. That's why we attacked.
“We are not touching [Navalny] because he said that in general he is not very ready to give up Crimea”
- What about Alexei Navalny?
By the way, we didn’t touch Navalny. There was only one caricature and that was all. We are not touching him, because he said that in general he is not very ready to give up Crimea, because it is legitimate because of the referendum.
Power and funding
- Is your movement connected with the Russian authorities?
We sometimes communicate during police arrests, at rallies or events. And so there is no communication.
- Who finances your movement?
Nobody. We support ourselves. What is good about us is that we have not stained ourselves by sharing any grants. Whatever is needed, we just chip in ourselves.
- What is your relationship with the Anti-Maidan movement or NOD?
No way, we are going on a parallel course. They have their own structure, we have ours. Our goals are to some extent the same, but the NOD is more public, they are forced to look back more. And we are a younger organization, we are moving forward and that’s it.
- Is it correct that your movement is called “pro-Putin”?
Of course, we laugh, yes, we are pro-Putin, not pro-Obama. We are pro-Putin, pro-Kremlin, pro-Moscow, pro-Russian. The president will be someone else, we will be “pro-” and have a different name, because we are for Russia.
- Have Russian intelligence services contacted you?
We haven't introduced ourselves yet. Although they were at events, they showed their crusts. But they were there as observers so that there would be no violation of the law. I had an apartment in Dnepropetrovsk, but it was simply taken away. But here there is no such thing.
“You can’t spread politics on bread”
- Do you have Ukrainian citizenship?
I have dual citizenship: Russia and Ukraine.
- Are you originally from Dnepropetrovsk?
I’m originally from Russia, it’s just that my parents were military, where they send me to serve, they go there. I lived for a long time in Dnepropetrovsk, where my father served. By the way, when they say, look, you attack Ukraine, criticize it, I can say that sometimes I have done more for Ukraine than anyone else. I played basketball for the Ukrainian national team and became the USSR champion as part of the national team. That is, he defended the honor of Ukraine. I’m not for ukrofashism, yes. I would like Ukraine to return to what it was before.
- And if the government changes in Ukraine, will you return?
Of course, after all, I grew up there, this is to some extent my homeland, I was not born there, but I spent most of my life there.
“In fact, Ukraine could have retained Crimea, it’s elementary”
- Are you for the separation of the southeast from Ukraine?
Honestly, yes and no. Let the people decide. Who am I to decide for the whole people? In fact, Ukraine could have retained Crimea, this is elementary. It was necessary to give Crimea the status of a federal district and [Alexander] Turchinov and [Arseniy] Yatsenyuk to resign. Then Crimea would have remained part of Ukraine and there would have been no war.
- You said that you receive many threats. And from whom, do you think?
Probably from the liberal opposition, they threaten to come and kill and set fire to the apartment. I’m not writing a statement because being afraid of wolves means not going into the forest.
- Do you consider yourself a Russian or a Ukrainian?
I probably would have already said that it was Russian, because I don’t want to divide by nationality like that. This is also where the war began. What I liked about the USSR was that the country was united, everyone supported each other.
-Are you the only leader of the movement?
Why not. There are leaders in the southeast, and there are leaders here. It’s just that I’m probably the most active, more or less playing to the public, but there are shadow leaders who don’t speak in public.
- What is your main activity?
Probably an actor after all. Because politics is politics, and you can’t spread politics on bread. We don't have funding. Therefore, to say that I live in politics is simply ridiculous.
The Russian media are the worst at historical information. Well, I just asked Google who SERB are and copied and pasted a little.
March 25, 2015
...people who call themselves representatives of the “Russian Liberation Movement “SERB”” destroyed a spontaneous memorial formed at the site of the murder of politician Boris Nemtsov on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge. Post this appeared on the page of the user Gosha Tarasevich “VKontakte”.
The photographs show two men and two women, wrapped in scarves the color of St. George’s ribbons, painting over the “Nemtsov Bridge” sign installed at the murder site and pasting stickers with the inscription “Traitor of Russia’s interests” onto Nemtsov’s portraits. (Mediazone)
October 24, 2015
On Saturday, October 24, six activists of the pro-Putin SERB movement, led by Igor Beketov, better known as Gosha Tarasevich, attacked 75-year-old Vladimir Ionov standing in a single picket on the porch of the Historical Museum of Moscow. They tore out a poster from Ionov: “There is Putin - no need for intelligence,” they doused his face with green liquid and sprinkled him with flour, shouting at the same time: “This is what will happen to your ISIS! " and "He insults the President of the Russian Federation!" (New Newspaper)
April 28, 2016
Activists of the Russian Liberation Movement SERB attacked opposition leader Alexei Navalny at the door of his office in Moscow. One of the participants in the SERB movement first tried to throw a cake at the oppositionist, but he failed to do so, after which the second activist doused Navalny with an unknown blue liquid with a pungent odor. (Polit.info)
August 13, 2016
NOD and SERB activists beat up participants in an anti-war picket in the center of Moscow (Znak.com)
The leader of the SERB movement, Igor Beketov, hit a policeman in the face during an attack on a picket “against the war with Ukraine.” […] Beketov turned around and punched the police officer in the face, mistaking him for an opponent. “Sorry, sorry, sorry,” [Beketov] shouted, realizing that there was a policeman in front of him. (Mediazone)
September 26, 2016
The Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow arrested Alexander Petrunko for seven days, who doused the photographs at the exhibition “Jock Sturges. Without embarrassment” with a liquid that smells like urine. The court found Petrunko guilty of petty hooliganism.
Petrunko was detained on September 25 at the Lumiere Brothers Photography Center, where an exhibition was taking place. (BBC)
Petrunko himself stated in court that he did not dispute the fact that the offense had been committed, but acted “at the behest of civic duty.” He added that he doused the photographs with “therapeutic mud from Crimea.”
Municipal deputy of Zamoskvorechye Igor Brumel, who calls Petrunko his assistant, said that both of them are “champions of family values.” (Mediazone)
October 10, 2016
SERB militant Alexander Petrunko and the deputy of the capital's Zamoskvorechye district, Igor Brumel, who patronizes this group, attacked the Boris Nemtsov memorial on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge and beat up the opposition activist Nadir Fatov, who was on duty there.
Fatov suffered a broken nose. His face is also broken. […] the police detained not the militants, but the victim. Fatov was taken to the Kitay-Gorod OP. The security forces refused to call the oppositionist an ambulance. (grani.ru)
May 1, 2017
Twitter user Mr Radmir
