Anti-Maidan in Russia – the Kremlin’s new stick to beat the opposition with

An announcement was made in Moscow on 15 January that a social movement called Anti-Maidan has been formed. Its stated goal is to prevent a social revolution in Russia similar to the protests on the Maidan in Kyiv, and also to fight the anti-system opposition. Its founders include pro-Kremlin activists and politicians with nationalist and anti-liberal views, such as Alexander Zaldostanov, also known as the Surgeon (the leader of the nationalist motorcycle club ‘Night Wolves’ who have close ties with President Putin), Dmitry Sablin (a member of the Federation Council, one of the leaders of the Battle Brotherhood, an organisation of war veterans and retired soldiers) and Nikolai Starikov (an opinion-forming journalist and co-founder of Great Fatherland, a party with an imperialist ideology).

It has been announced that the organisation will establish branches and training camps across Russia. Although this movement has not yet applied for formal registration, it held rallies in Moscow on 15 and 16 January, during which the activists attacked representatives of the liberal opposition. Russian law enforcement agencies have detained some Anti-Maidan activists, however without legal consequences.