Screwed up and abandoned

The youth movement "Nashi" ceases to exist as a centralized federal project. As Nikita Borovikov, the leader of the organization, told Kommersant, at a conference of regional leaders of “Nashi” it was decided that out of almost 50 regional branches, only five would be retained: Vladimir, Ivanovo, Tula, Voronezh and Yaroslavl. Activists from other regions will only be able to participate in special projects created by “Nashi” (“Our Army”, “Voluntary Youth Squad”, “Orthodox Corps”, “Lessons of Friendship” and others). As sources in the Kremlin told the newspaper, Nashi is no longer planned to be actively used for political purposes and Nashi political extras will not be needed in the current elections. True, there will still be no “ceremonial closure” of Nashi, as the Presidential Administration said: the authorities will not leave young people “unattended.” Part of the funding has also been retained - for example, at the end of last year the organization won a state grant in the amount of 10 million rubles to hold a traditional rally on Seliger. What had been predicted for a long time came true: the big bad guys used the little ambitious Nashists for their PR purposes, and now - thanks to everyone, everyone is free. Experts are confident that Borovikov’s current statement is just an “intermediate drain”; in the end, the remaining five branches will be closed, and funding will be completely cut.