MENU
Documenting
war crimes in Ukraine

The Tribunal for Putin (T4P) global initiative was set up in response to the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.

Similar articles

Putin Honours Chief Suspect in Kremlin Critic Litvinenko’s KillingThe Anti-Semitic Coding in Putin’s Telegram to Boris Nemtsov’s MotherBoris Nemtsov: Yes, I’m afraid that Putin will kill meUkrainian seized in Russian-occupied Mariupol, tortured and accused of ‘terrorism’ for sharing Navalny’s surname Russia exploits war veterans for offensive against opposition activists and historical truth Russia threatens criminal prosecution over calls to impose sanctions Not just Navalny. EU sanctions needed over 18-year sentences against Crimean political prisoners Neo-Nazi Azov fighter granted Ukrainian citizenship linked with police and far-right vigilantesNavalny to debate with Russian Crimea & Donbas war criminal for nationalist votesNavalny Jailed, More Than 1,100 Detained At Protests In RussiaNavalny attacker led 2014 attempt to repeat Donbas seizure of power in KharkivRights Groups Says Police Detain 59 At Opposition Protest In MoscowNew Kids on the Block: A Younger Generation Invigorates Anti-Kremlin ProtestsRussian state TV in absurd denial over thousand-strong protests, mass arrestsSupport in Russia for bloody dictator Joseph Stalin at record highStop Mistaking Russia for EuropeRussia resurrects Soviet repression, punitive psychiatry in occupied CrimeaRussian court rejects Navalny slander lawsuit over state TV ’spy’ claimsBeatings and Arson Attacks: Is Online Dissidence Becoming Dangerous in Russia?Russian Opposition Picks Holes In State TV ’Exposé’ Of Navalny

Support for Putin pays: Night Wolves given Crimean land

14.05.2015   
Halya Coynash
The Sevastopol authorities have issued a decree handing 266.5 hectares of land to the Night Wolves, the Russian ultra-nationalist and pro-Putin bikers who played a role in Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014

The Sevastopol authorities have issued a decree handing 266.5 hectares of land to the Night Wolves, the Russian ultra-nationalist and pro-Putin bikers who played a role in Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.  While Vladimir Putin’s favourite bikers have gained most publicity in the west over their controversial journey to Berlin to mark the seventieth anniversary of the end of WWII, Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny has pointed to other interesting information.  Over recent years, for example, the Night Wolves have received substantial amounts in State grants for events including ‘story-telling’ to children with a nationalist and often anti-western slant.   

Now they have been awarded a substantial piece of land outside Sevastopol, for virtually no rent, since the decree states that as a non-commercial youth organization, they need pay only 1% of the land’s value.   The land is allocated for a “multi-functional sport and patriotic centre for extreme forms of sport. 

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has ridden with this bike club whose members are known for giving him active and vocal support, but hardly fit the description of a youth organization.  The Night Wolves are headed by 52-year-old Alexander Zaldostanov, a friend of Putin’s known as the Surgeon.

QHA reports that Zaldostanov is on both the US and Canadian sanctions list over his active role in helping the so-called ‘self-defence’ armed paramilitaries and Russian soldiers take control in Crimea from Feb 27, 2014.  The organization as a whole is on the US list. 

In Crimea, however, and Moscow, they are given VIP treatment.  Tom Parfit reports the Night Wolves appearance at a rally on the first anniversary of the pseudo referendum on March 16, 2014, recognized by no democratic countries but used by the Kremlin to claim legitimacy for Russia’s annexation of Crimea.  Zaldostanov is quoted as saying that “by the will of God and through the hands of President Putin, the years of humiliation under Ukrainian rule are over.”

Officially it is by the will of the Sevastopol authorities that the Night Wolves, as an ‘autonomous youth organization’, have received such a generous amount of land

Among the activities funded by the taxpayer in Russia have been New Year events for children with loads of stunts, pyrotechnics and special effects and a very specific nationalist bent.   

As Zaldostanov explained to RIA Novosti, during this last year’s performance in a “fairy tale manner accessible to children, they were told about events in 2014: Maidan, the reunification [sic] of Crimea with Russia and the disgruntlement over this from western countries.”  The characters in their performance included traditional New York figures, like Grandfather Frost, but also the Night Wolves themselves and NATO.  All this is aimed at providing “an alternative” to all the foreign cartoons, etc. and promoting moral and patriotic themes.  At its most “accessible”: evil forces from abroad are defeated and Russia wins out. 

Navalny published his report on May 5, explaining that this or that grant awarded to Zaldostanov gets mentioned but that “virtually nobody realizes the scale with which the Night Wolves are fed from the state budget.”

On May 13 Navalny narrowly escaped having his latest suspended sentence on highly dubious charges turned into a real term of imprisonment. One day after the Night Wolves received a generous grant from Russian-occupied Sevastopol.

 

 Share this