Voluntarily limited

On April 17, USAGOAWAY activists transferred 55 thousand statements of Russian citizens to the US Embassy, ​​requiring the United States to apply sanctions to them. Who are these people and why do they want to make themselves unnecessary

Picket of participants in the Black List of the United States. Moscow, April 17, 2014/Photo: Dmitry Serebryakov/AFP/East News

“I’m not afraid of your sanctions, I’ll boldly sign up in the lists!”, “Do not blackmail the Russian bear”, “Do not scare the hedgehog with your sanctions” - with such posters on April 17, at noon, through the road from the American embassy in Moscow, participants in the “Black List of the United States” were lined up.

There were eleven of them - young girls, in the appearance of students, in sneakers and sports jackets, and gloomy men of about 35, in battered jeans. They talked reluctantly, did not call their names and tried to stay away from the television cameras. They came to the embassy to hold a picket agreed with prefecture, and then transfer black boxes with signatures to American diplomats. In each box, a stack of sheets on which the names of patriotic citizens are numbered and links to their accounts in social networks are given. There is no passport data there. What do the signatories want? In order for the United States to apply sanctions to them, they closed the entrance to the country.

"I am a patriot, and therefore not a foot abroad!" -The non-proclaimed person in a dark gray jacket said on RBC-there. The policeman, who stood nearby, said to his partner with irony: "Here is stubborn, he will not have enough dough for Turkey." And his colleague replied: "It is good to mock, earns as he can." The New Times correspondent asked the activists how they found out about the action, who brought them. “Friends invited, asked to help,” there was an answer. What kind of friends are like that! Silence. "Have you ever been to the USA?" “No,” one of the activists admitted. "Where were you?" “Well, I went to the Black Sea.” - "To the Crimea?" - "Well, yes, to the Crimea."

In anticipation of the war

The organizer of the action was Artem Kiryanov, vice president of the Youth Union of Lawyers and Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Region Public Council at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It was he who launched the project www.usagoaway.ru, where he invited everyone to enter their name and surname in the “Declaration on the voluntary inclusion of themselves in the list of Russians who apply to US sanctions.” Over the next four days, 45 thousand people signed it. To joy, Kiryanov then said that the list would certainly exceed 100 thousand, but a strange thing - by mid -April, only ten thousand appeared. These signatures he and his nameless colleagues and carried to the embassy after the picket.

Kiryanov is 37 years old, full, wears a mustache with a brush. Unlike their “colleagues”, with obvious pleasure, he says with the press: “We want to show that the Russians do not agree either with the application of US sanctions against our country, nor with their right to apply sanctions. We strive to show ordinary Americans that Russian citizens are shocked by US policy! ” He told The New Times to the correspondent. “Why did you ask for sanctions only to the United States? And the European Union? " “There is no need to demonstrate such gestures to European countries, because they are forced to agree with Washington’s policy.” If Kiryanov did not leave records in social networks like “I want to leave! Much a thread to Italy, ”the leader of the campaign“ I want sanctions ”could have believed.

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"Have you ever been to the USA?" “No,” one of the activists admitted. "Where were you?" “Well, I went to the Black Sea.” - "To the Crimea?" - "Well, yes, to the Crimea"

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Finally moved to the embassy. Ahead came the cameras of television channels, a little behind - four police officers. Employees of the Center for Combating Extremism, which almost immutally accompanying all the more or less protest promotions, for some reason was not visible.

But the procession of the procession at the checkpoint was blocked by a security guard in the form with a patch of an American flag on his shoulder. They didn’t let anyone inside. Journalists asked to pose heated activists with boxes in their hands. Those dutifully froze with their burden. Only a couple of hours later they were allowed into the checkpoint, where they transferred the text of the petition to the American diplomats (“The US government imposed sanctions against Russian citizens. America did not like the determination of Russians to protect our compatriots in the Crimea ...”, etc.) and signatures.

Signed

On the main page of the USAGOAWAY website there is a section "Already signed." There are only four photographs of “celebrities”: this is a journalist Oleg Lurie (a lot of things: for example, in 2004 he issued a glossy GDP journal, in the sense of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, in 2008 he sued Senator Vladimir Slutsker, and then he was convicted and spent four years in prison under the article “Extortion”), Director of the Center for Political Analysis Pavel Danilin (ex-member The Political Council of the “Young Guard of United Russia”, for a long time worked in various projects tied to the presidential administration), as well as two participants in the once popular television show “Vacations in Mexico” are the skilled beauties Evgeny Petrov and Olga Khairullina.

An independent journalist (as he loves to introduce himself) said The New Times that he supported the project, because "sanctions are absurd and clown pressure." “But what about human rights? - Asks a rhetorical question Lurie. - Here is Dmitry Kiselev, he simply expresses his opinion, and sanctions are applied against him. How is the freedom of the press and words? I wanted to demonstrate how double standards work in the world. ” Lurie can understand: with a criminal record under the criminal article of a visa to the States, he can’t see him as his ears. However, in the United States he was already - the last time in 2001 and did not receive a special pleasure. " Pavel Danilin said in a telephone conversation that he was already “in the United States”, and was the last time abroad in October-somewhere in Europe. “Crimea is mine, and I am happy,” says Danilin. - And now I will go to Turkey or Uzbekistan. These lovers of fagot and other perversions (apparently, Americans. - The New Times) did not rest. ” He also added that it is necessary to continue to “put pressure on the Anglo -Saxons and other degenerates that massively bring fellow citizens into black lists.”

It was not possible to contact the ex-participants in Mexico. Olga Khairullina wrote about the project on her page in VKontakte: “This site calls on to express its position against the aggressive foreign policy of America. We again became a strong power that itself can make its choice, and I personally are glad that I live in strong Russia. ” In the first commentary, she was objected by a friend: "And someone, the village wanted to go abroad for permanent residence as soon as possible?" Khairullina replied to her: "Oh, and do not say ..."

"And someone Daveda wanted to go abroad to permanent residence at the first opportunity?" Khairullina replied to her: "Oh, and do not say ..."

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Well, who are the rest of almost 55 thousand signatures?

The New Times has passed social networks: many pages, for example, on Facebook, which indicates the names of the signatories, are half empty or completely dead. But in VKontakte they were discovered and quite alive. For example, the 29-year-old resident of Izhevsk Igor Yakutenko eagerly told The New Times that with his signature he expressed solidarity with the country's leadership, especially since "the Russians are already darwing US foreign policy in the entire external world." He still does not have money for a trip to the United States.

39-year-old Elena Kalinichenko, head of the department at a small enterprise in the city of Usman of the Voronezh region, on the contrary, is often abroad with her family, but now she no longer wants to go to the States, "since they are pursuing such a policy." Well, the most amazing interlocutor was the 32-year-old Petersburger Valery Ku, who signed a petition, despite the fact that Crimea did not want to join Russia. “Our rulers want to snatch a piece of oily pie, now pour gums there, like Chechnya!” - He fearlessly shares his thoughts. Why did you sign a petition? He wanted to show the Americans, he explained that "we wanted to spit on their state and Marionet President."

The secret of success

And yet - how did Artyom Kiryanov manage to collect so many signatures in the first four days? He himself says that he was helped to disseminate information about USAGOAWAY friends and colleagues.

The New Times correspondent addressed the SMM manager of a large IT company Vladimir*, who conducts Internet security trainings (he asked not to indicate his last name) and specializes in sites promotion. According to Vladimir, there are several ways. The first and easiest is to catch up the bots. In favor of this option, a large number of signatures registered through email and unnecessary accounts on Facebook hints. “Secondly, you can use a resource of the Addmefast type through which the number of page likes is wound.” Thirdly, people can come through viral videos or post for top bloggers: “It all depends on the creativity of the creators and the budget, it is possible that there was enough money only for activity within four days.”

But the editor -in -chief of the “Daily Journal” Alexander Ryklin, who in 2010 was one of the initiators of the electronic petition “Putin must leave” **, believes that all the votes could be real: “Now a completely different psychological situation in society. With this level, hysteria can be collected even more. These numbers simply reflect the new reality in which we live. ”