February 23 protests

February 23 used to be Soviet Army Day. Now it is a Russian federal holiday called "Defender of the Fatherland Day," and while it still has considerable significance as a celebration of the military, it's also taken on the role of the male equivalent to March 8th - International Women's Day.

This year, Tverskaya and other downtown streets were closed off not for the parade celebrating the military one might have expected but for numerous groups to come out and demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the government's current course of reforms. I spent some time in the streets today with the disenchanted. Actually, since it was a sunny day, many people looked as if they were having a good time.

The elderly contingent was able to nostalgically remember the Soviet demonstrations of yore; and the many of the younger protesters - especially those demonstratively turned out by the Communists to counter claims that their support is strictly with the elderly population - did not seem to be taking things too seriously, chanting things like "Lenin! Stalin! Che Guevara!" as well as the old chestnut "Lenin! Partiia! Komsomol!" They cut closer to the quick with some other chants, though, such as "Rossia bez Putina!" ("Russia without Putin!") and "Putin vrag naroda!" ("Putin is an enemy of the people!").

The demonstration on Tverskaya, which started shortly after 10am, seemed to be structured with the fringe groups bookending the Communist Party (KPRF). Thus, some of the more crazy anti-Semitic signs came first (although there were many that I saw throughout the day, more than I expected, which was a bit disturbing), as well as a couple of marginal communist-identifying groups - including one that's hijacked the abbreviation the Communists used during the early Soviet period, VKP(B), which at the time stood for All-Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) but now stands for All-Russian Communist Party of the Future - along with a plethora of Russian Orthodox Church symbols focused around a call to free convicted rapist Col. Yuri Budanov.

Then came the KPRF, young and old alike. And then came the National Bolsheviks (NBP), who also chanted "Russia without Putin!" - they seem to think they invented the phrase - but also had more hostile messages such as "Putina - mochit' v sortire!" ("Kill Putin in an outhouse!" - a reference to Putin's infamous remark about Chechen fighters), "Revolution!" and "We hate the government!"

Without further ado, some photos from the day's festivities:


"Lukashenko - keep up the good work!"
Triumfal'naia Square, 10:30am.

Police cordon trailing one of the earlier groups in the procession. Approaching Pushkin Square, 10:45am.

Lone communist ahead of the pack.
Between Triumfal'naia and Pushkin Squares, 11:15am.

The "Red Youth Avangard" movement. Their banner reads, "The authorities are dangerous. To arms!"
Between Triumfal'naia and Pushkin Squares, 11:20am.


"Nats Boly idut!" goes the chant - "The National Bolsheviks are on the march!" Their banner reads "Serve Russia, not Putin." Between Triumfal'naia and Pushkin Squares, 11:45am.


NBP marchers reflected in the window of the Sbarro restaurant on Tverskaya, 11:59am.


The red masses on Tverskaya approaching the Kremlin, 12:05pm.


NBP Marchers in front of the State Duma, 12:20pm.

"Is Putin a fool? No, he's the enemy!" Teatral'naia Square, 12:27pm.

"Putin - out of office!" Teatral'naia Square, with the Bol'shoi Theater in the background, 12:34pm.

A few hours later, the less organized or perhaps simply less popular "right" opposition organized a sparsely attended anti-Chechen-war rally on Lubyanka Square, in front of the famous building housing the Soviet and now Russian security services.


"Putin is killing our freedom - Chechnya, freedom of speech, elections," 4:01pm.


The Lubyanka has seen a lot, but I think "Iron Felix" Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the precursor organization to the KGB, was rolling in his grave as the flags of the Transnational Radical Party and independent Chechnya flapped in the breeze. 4:06pm.


"Moving without Putin," a counter-organization with a name that plays on the name of the pro-government youth group "Moving Together." The smaller sign reads "Putin - terrorist #1," and these young people also had a sign (not pictured) reading "Students are not cannon fodder!" 4:29pm.

Bolshoi Gorod blogger/photographer Nikolai Danilov (a.k.a. Norvezhskii Lesnoi) has an excellent photo essay about today's events that's definitely worth checking out.