Walking apart

- Ours, - I thought, when two powerful, broad-shouldered guys with a searching gleam in their eyes entered the deserted hall of the Paterson shopping center in the city of Lyubertsy near Moscow at exactly 9 in the morning. Because it was on February 23 at 9 am in the Paterson coffee bar that Vasily Grigorievich Yakimenko, the organizer and permanent leader of the Walking Together youth movement, made an appointment with me.

In recent days, a rumor has circulated that the restless Vasily Grigorievich began to create another, more abruptly than the previous, movement under the modest name "Ours". So I thought - ours. But the guys, having smeared me with an indifferent look, purposefully headed to the left to the supermarket, where there was not a soul and where joyful posters hung over the cash registers: “Dear men! Those who took vodka and a set of snacks from February 20 to 23 will also receive a gift.” Not ours, I thought. For another twenty minutes I watched as strong Lyubertsy guys entered the Paterson, and again they were not ours. Because they immediately rushed to the left.

Read the full version of the interview in Russian Newsweek magazine (February 28 - March 6, 2005) No. 8 (38)