Pro-Kremlin Nashi members have been washed away by changing political tides.
Photo: Кирилл Тулин
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Nashi to Be Reorganized
The pro-Kremlin youth movement Nashi (“Ours”) will undergo radical reorganization and cease to exist in its present form. It will no longer be centralized federal organization and will be split into independent public groups. Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov told Kommersant that the decision was made at a conference of regional leaders to preserve only five of its regional branches, those in Vladimir, Ivanovo, Tula, Voronezh and Yaroslavl.
There are now almost 50 branches of Nashi. Members in regions where Nashi branches are being closed will be able to participate in new projects such as Our Army, Volunteer Youth Brigade, Orthodox Christian Corps, Friendship Lessons and others. “There is no longer any threat of an Orange Revolution, so we can concentrate on other things. But we won't disappear,” Borovikov said.
Borovikov succeeded Vasily Yakemenko as Nashi leader after Yakemenko was appointed head of the government committee on youth issues. Our Elections head Sergey Belokonev also left the organization after being elected to the State Duma. Observers say that the departure of those leaders made reorganization unavoidable. On January 14, one of the leaders of United Russia's Youth Guard, Alexey Radov, also resigned. Nonetheless, as one source in the presidential administration put it, “The authorities will not leave youth unsupervised.”
New political conditions also make the centralized Nashi superfluous. Massive street demonstrations will not have a place in the next election. Furthermore, the movement caused problems with the West that do not complement Dmitry Medvedev's image.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 29, 2008
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