Young Russians “Vote With Their Rifles”

In Vladivostok, the “young guard” has executed Kasparov in a mock firing squad

On October 8th, the “young guard” of the United Russia party held a sports-political paintball competition entitled “If You Want to Vote, Learn to Shoot!” and “Vote With Your Rifle!” according to the October 24th edition of Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

100 delegates from all around the region came together on the exercise stadium of a city school, and shot at targets plastered with various life-size images. The images included Osama Bin Laden, exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky, opposition leader Garry Kasparov, TV host Ksenya Sobchak, and Estonian prime-minister Andrus Ansip. The youths were told to shoot at whoever they believed to be the “the principal enemy of the Russian people.” As it turns out, the young “United Russians” hold the most antipathy for the TV announcer and the Estonian premier.

The Primorsk branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was indignant at the event’s organizers. In a letter to the Primorsk prosecutor-general, they wrote about the competition as “actions, aimed at the agitation of social differences, connected to violence or calls to violence.” As result, the “young guard” could face a warning, and the organizers of the event could be fined. The CPRF has pledged to take the investigation to higher courts, if necessary.

Earlier, a spokeswoman for the event tried to play down the target practice by claiming that the youths would not be shooting at images of actual people.