Presentation of the book "Citizens without the USSR" and the report "If you die, you start again from the beginning..."

Center "Sova" held a presentation of the book by Mikhail Akhmetiev and the report of Vera Alperovich.

On January 20, 2022, in Moscow, in the Open Space, the SOVA Center presented the book by Mikhail Akhmetyev "Citizens without the USSR. Communities of "Soviet Citizens" in Modern Russia" and the report of Vera Alperovich ""If you die, you start again from the beginning ...": public activity of the ultra - right groups, summer-autumn 2021" in Open Space.

Vera Alperovich, in her speech, spoke about the main changes that took place in the far-right political field in the summer and autumn of 2021. According to her report, the summer-autumn of 2021 became a period of calm for the far-right in terms of rally activity, largely due to the ban on holding public events under the pretext of fighting the coronavirus pandemic. Annual actions, including the "Russian March", have also become failures. The unexpected anti-migrant campaign organized by the state media and pro-government political and public figures also did not lead to an upsurge in nationalist street activism. Although the Internet resources of the ultra-right were filled with publications about criminal incidents in which local residents became victims of visitors, these incidents did not become a reason to take to the streets. Participation in the elections turned out to be unsuccessful for the nationalists. The nationalists, however, managed to prove themselves in the virtual space, where the main trend for them is the extremely aggressive persecution of objectionables, the main actor of which was the "Men's State" (MG) by Vladislav Pozdnyakov.

Mikhail Akhmetiev presented his new book about "citizens of the USSR" - people who believe that the USSR did not cease to exist, and the Russian Federation is an illegitimate structure. Being subject to the ideological influence of a variety of currents - from the Stalinists to the Western far right - "citizens of the USSR" generate and disseminate many conspiracy theories. The speaker spoke about who "citizens of the USSR" are, about their main associations, their history of formation and differences, as well as about criminal prosecution and why some of them turn out to be violent.

The questions of those present at the presentation concerned the research methodology, the social composition of the citizens of the USSR, their ideological allies and opponents.

Sources

• Reviews and mentions in the press:
• "Compensation must be demanded directly from Elizabeth II." Two excerpts from a study on "citizens of the USSR" // Mediazone. 2022. January 19.
• Stuck in the USSR. "Soviet citizens" in modern Russia //Republic. 2022. January 19.
• Konetskaya Sophia. If you die, you start over again: "Owl" stated the crisis of Russian nationalists // SOTA. 2022. January 22.
• The movement of "citizens of the USSR" denies the collapse of the Soviet Union - for this they are branded madmen, sectarians and even "necrocommunists". And if without labels, who are they? // Podcast "What happened". Medusa. 2022. January 28.