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Many of you have seen the images of police crackdown against Russian protesters. But many Russians were alarmed with officers in military-like uniforms brutalizing demonstrators alongside riot police. Who were they?
https://citeam.org/ru-spetsnaz-january-31/
Thread in English follows: 1/
https://citeam.org/ru-spetsnaz-january-31/
Thread in English follows: 1/
The sight of riot police, known as OMON in Russia and Belarus, is all too familiar for both Moscow and Minsk.
But yesterday, photographers in Moscow captured brutal arrests made by "spacemen" in military-like uniforms.
We decided to find out who they were. 2/
But yesterday, photographers in Moscow captured brutal arrests made by "spacemen" in military-like uniforms.
We decided to find out who they were. 2/
Those "spacemen", also seen in St Petersburg, were wearing winter uniform of the National Guard troops (bottom row).
They used to be subordinate to the Ministry of Interior, but since 2016 they report directly to president Putin.
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They used to be subordinate to the Ministry of Interior, but since 2016 they report directly to president Putin.
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Looking at more photos, we saw that some shoulder patches were not completely obscured by riot gear.
The closest match was the Special Forces of the Central Military District of the National Guard.
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The closest match was the Special Forces of the Central Military District of the National Guard.
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The Russian National Guard hails their special forces as being on the frontline of the war on terror.
Images of supressing protests are conspicuously absent, even it this is not their first time — in 2019, they were also spotted at Moscow protests over a city council election
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Images of supressing protests are conspicuously absent, even it this is not their first time — in 2019, they were also spotted at Moscow protests over a city council election
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The National Guard also appeared in St Petersburg — but unlike Moscow, they were cadets from a local National Guard miulitary academy, not Spetsnaz, and proudly sported their academy's unobscured patches.
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Russia's provinces also saw their deal of police violence. One of them was Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan.
A video from there went viral showing little green men forcing protesters to lie face down in the snow and verbally abusing them.
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A video from there went viral showing little green men forcing protesters to lie face down in the snow and verbally abusing them.
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Unlike Moscow, these men were not the National Guard, but a special police battalion "Rys'"/"Lynx", involved in suppressing protests there since at least 2018.
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Arrests by the OMON riot police and other special police battalions are nothing new, even though last time they were especially brutal.
But active use of National Guard is alarming, because it is a step towards Belarus, where the regime has unleashed all forces it has. 9/
But active use of National Guard is alarming, because it is a step towards Belarus, where the regime has unleashed all forces it has. 9/
Within the past months, many protesters have been injured or even killed in Belarus.
With such escalation as we saw this Sunday with the use of special forces, tasers and one case of a policeman pulling his gun on protesters, Russia could be heading in that direction.
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With such escalation as we saw this Sunday with the use of special forces, tasers and one case of a policeman pulling his gun on protesters, Russia could be heading in that direction.
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