As Slavic Power leader Dmitry Demushkin told Kommersant, this unification of nationalist organizations became possible after the Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) was banned. “After that we decided to unite all of Russia’s nationalist forces into a new movement, The Russians. At its core are the largest nationalist organizations – the DPNI and the Slavic Union,” explained Demushkin. At the very least, the new organization’s goal is to further general ethno-political Russian solidarity, and at the most – to establish a nationalist government heading a nationalist Russian state.

The DPNI was ruled extremist and subsequently banned by a Moscow court in April 2011. The Slavic Union was banned a year earlier, after which it changed its name to Slavic Power.

The structure of The Russians can be found on the DPNI’s website. In particular, it lists the names of the agencies of its administration, including: the Council of Nations (an all-Russian meeting to define strategies for the existence and activities of the organization), the High National Council (to correct strategy and ongoing activities and to confirm annual plans) and the National Observatory Council (to represent the interests of the organization and develop strategy). The first council will be chaired in turn by Aleksandr Belov, Aleksandr Turik, and Stanislav Vorobyov. The second council will be led by Demushkin, and the third by Belov.

The movement also named a number of other structures: the National Committee for Action, the National Committee for Control, and the High Court of Honor. This last one, Demushkin told Interfax, “is the movement’s highest judicial authority, led by Georgy Borovikov.”

As Demushkin explained to Kommersant, he and Belov will play a substantial role as authoritative figures for The Russians. “There’s no guarantee that the new movement won’t repeat the fate of the nationalist organizations that are already banned right now. But for this we purposely gave ourselves this awkward name. So the courts and law enforcement agencies would be banning not nationalists, but ‘Russians,'” Demushkin explained.

Human rights activist and head of the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis Aleksandr Verkhovsky told Kommersant that the emergence of a more radical sentiment among neo-Nazi organizations presents a blatant, prospectiveless dead-end for its followers. “The same thing’s going to happen as did to the DPNI,” Verkhovsky said. Svetlana Gannushkina, head of the committee Civil Assistance, sees the emergence of The Russians as a call for a change in constitutional order. “Actually, this is a disgrace for Russia,” she told Interfax.

Compiled from reports by Natalya Bashlykova and Dmitry Kozlov at Kommersant, and Interfax.

The threats follow a weekend of ethnically-targeted violence in Moscow and St. Petersburg, after a young Russian football fan was allegedly killed by men from the North Caucasus. Police had earlier released the suspected killers, leading to speculation that they had paid off the police.

Prominent Russian opposition leaders Garry Kasparov, Boris Nemtsov, and Ilya Yashin have issued this joint statement in response to the violence.

A Different Path
Statement in regards to the massive turmoil in Moscow

On December 11, 2010, several thousand young people gathered in the center of Moscow to protest the murder of Yegor Sviridov. The demonstration ended with massive clashes with the police, pogroms, and the injuries of dozens of citizens.

The turmoil began after law enforcement agencies released the persons suspected of the murder from detention.

We believe that the reasons for the release of these persons are at the bottom of the corrupt nature of law enforcement agencies.

It was precisely corruption and lawlessness that provoked the turmoil in Moscow.

The corruption of the prosecutor’s office and the incompetency of the courts and the police systematically allow murderers and bandits to escape justice. This is leading to the inevitable growth of criminality, including of an ethnic type.

Distrust of the law enforcement system by society inevitably leads to a revolt by its most radical part. The Nazis found an excuse for ethnic pogroms. We condemn nationalistic reprisals and speak out against any instances of xenophobia.

We call upon Russian society to achieve changes in our country through peaceful and nonviolent methods.

Corruption, violence, and revolt – this is a direct path to Russia’s demise.

December 12, 2010
Moscow

Garry Kasparov
Boris Nemtsov
Ilya Yashin

Translation by theotherrussia.org.