With more than 26,000 followers, Rospartizan welcomes anyone who is anti-Putin, regardless of their political ideology – a trait, not a fault, according to Ponomarev, a former Communist Party member and self-described “person” according to social globalism”.
“Nowadays, I not only reach out, but actively interact with not only my friends on the left side of politics,” he said, “but also with the people on the far right who are We often fight together. “
The enemy of my enemy
Roman Popkov, former head of the Moscow branch of the Bolshevik National party, fell into that far-right camp. Popkov was a member of the influential Organization for National Unity of Russia, a now-defunct neo-Nazi group responsible for a series of racist crimes, before joining the established political party. founded by Russian writer, poet and dissident Eduard Limonov, who sought to unite extreme left and far right on one platform.
In 2006, after years of harassment by Russian security forces, Popkov was arrested and held for more than two years before his trial at the notorious Butyrka prison. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that his detention is illegal and his arrest is widely seen as motivated by his political activism.
Popkov, currently residing in Ukraine, works as a reporter for several independent media outlets and is the head of a recently launched media project called Poslezavtra, or “The Day After Tomorrow”. An “old friend” of Ponomarev, Popkov made several appearances on the February Morning programs and participated in the broadcast after Dugina’s assassination.
“We are talking about direct actions against the military and the political repressive apparatus of Putin’s regime,” Popkov said by phone. “First of all, we’re trying to inspire people, get them to take action, and second, we’re announcing and reporting on what’s being done.”
Like Ponomarev, Popkov stressed that activists’ ideology was less important than Putin’s willingness to challenge the regime and oppose the war in Ukraine.
“Our collective unites those who oppose the Putin regime, with different political views and ideologies,” Popkov said. “For now, it doesn’t matter whether one is anarchist, nationalist or libertarian because Russia is not a democracy, we have no representation in parliament and cannot vote for their candidates”.
According to Popkov, acts of sabotage in Russia are mainly those of small-scale far-right and far-left groups, the most famous of which is the Anarcho Communist Fighting Organization, or BO-AK. The group emerged after sabotaging a railway line leading to a Russian military arsenal in the small town of Kirzach, 100 kilometers east of Moscow. The group shared photos of the vandalism on their own Telegram channel, which quickly spread to other anti-Putin channels, including Rospartizan, and was soon featured on the broadcast of the Meeting. February morning.
Yet even staunch BO-AK anarchists acknowledge the need to reach out to the other side of the political spectrum. An unnamed representative of the group told WIRED: “Most of our contacts are from our thought camp, but not all. “We believe that alliances with different forces are necessary in our struggle.”
