Thread by @HistorianBlood

Putin and an aspect of brutalisation of Russian society. This short thread looks at youth sometimes overlooked when examining Putin’s use of low-level violence and soft power in his geopolitics.
#Ukraine
#UkraineWillResist

During the 2016 European championships, Russian football hooligans burst into the global arena of football violence. Within hours Putin had made a comment about the hooligans, which one British newspaper headlined.

Around that time, commentators were fixated on the old tropes of troubled youths and outcasts. They saw the gang culture as nationalistic, but not entirely state sponsored. These foreign reports overlooked Putin’s deliberate radicalisation of youth through the Nashi movement:

The Nashi movement began in March 2005 and dissolved in 2019. During that time they were 120-150,000 strong. The manifesto was anti-fascist, but also anti-democratic. One spokesperson claimed: ‘Constitutional action sometimes means street fighting.’

During one meeting, Putin was recorded explaining to young Nashi followers that Britain forgets its no longer a colonial power. By 2013 the Nashi was finished, but in 8 years its followers had been deeply radicalised.

By 2018 the Nashi had ceased ceased to exist, but the footy gangs were still prominent in Russia’s culture of violence. They had transformed into a hardened extremism:
theguardian.com/news/2018/apr/…

By 2022 many of the Nashi and the hooligans are middle aged, but still fervent followers of Putin. Their radicalisation granted Putin a cadre of hardened followers. Russia’s democratic future will have to confront these kinds of cultural legacies.

As for the Ukrainian football hooligans, many are bravely defending their City against Russian invasion. Good luck to them.

https://twitter.com/hooliganscz1999/status/1497858634809688065

#armchairgeneral - people beginning to understand why this kind of low-level violence is key to Putin’s Realkrieg.