About the "Biryulevsky Front"

Several media outlets have published material about the “Biryulevsky Front”, in which, with reference to an unnamed source in law enforcement agencies, they offer us a semi-official version of the events that took place in Biryulyovo.

Undoubtedly, there have always been some Biryulev brigades, but at different times they were called differently. That all sorts of famous characters like Evgenia Zhikhareva are associated with them is a fact. Whether they, the current brigades, were the ringleaders at the gathering in Biryulyovo on October 12, or whether they organized the convocation of the people on October 13 - this is not very clear, but the second is at least partly clearly true. The “Russians,” of course, also played a mobilizing role, but Alexander Belov does not have much authority in the neo-Nazi environment, so the call of the Biryulevskys was, I think, more effective.

Our material“Biryulevsky Front” is suspected of organizing pogroms” contains all the information that we collected at different times about people associated with Biryulyov. Mostly they are imprisoned, but this does not mean that life has stopped there. Ilya Shutko was there once then an important figure, but now he is in prison, so this is hardly important, but, obviously, new people have appeared. That there is a noticeable ultra-right group in Biryulyovo is undoubtedly.

The intelligence services are undoubtedly now looking into all connections that have their roots in Biryulyovo. What they say to Rosbalt and RBC is an organized leak, but this does not mean that it does not correspond to the investigation data. I think they want to show that a serious group has been uncovered and we must wait for further progress in the investigation.

Based on the materials of the mentioned publications, one gets the impression—I don’t know if this is a journalistic achievement or how the source’s story was structured—that this “Biryulevsky Front” is almost the most important organization of radical Russian nationalists. And now, when her activities are investigated and the process involves at least ten people, it will be some kind of grandiose success. We are set up for this success in advance. Well, if in fact the activities of this local group are investigated and stopped, it will be wonderful.

However, I do not claim that the gathering was not organized by local residents. Regarding the hundred fighters of the Biryulevsky Front, I think this is an exaggeration. There were most likely not enough locals, including “front-line soldiers,” to cause unrest, so on October 12 everything went well. Then they called in non-local nationalists. I am inclined to assume that these local militants promoted the call for October 13th. But still, without a large crowd of locals behind them, the neo-Nazis would not have risked storming the shopping center.

As for the Tekstilshchiki district, also mentioned in the materials of RBC and Rosbalt, something really strange is happening there. Just yesterday, an acquaintance who lives there told me: you walk down the street and everywhere you meet groups of gloomy young people in hoods. And there is a feeling that something is being started, although nothing has happened yet and it is not very clear how many of them are organized there.

Could “Biryulyovo” spread to other areas of Moscow? It's hard to say. They don’t have enough people for a “network event” within the city. In Biryulevo, it didn’t take two thousand people to break watermelons and even shop windows. But it was necessary to have them behind us, otherwise the police would have dispersed the rioters in an instant. And in order for there to be two thousand people behind us, the local residents need to take to the streets for some reason. You can’t get such a crowd from the Nazi autonoms alone.

When they find some person and punch him in the face, that’s welcome, they can carry out as many such “network actions” as they like. Apparently, this is now happening in different places in the city.
Sources

• About the “Biryulevsky Front” // Grani.ru. 2013. October 23.