“SERB activists are not involved in dousing Navalny. Someone set us up. Our activist Alexei Kulakov got a call from a certain person and offered to shoot a good video about Navalny. Our movement receives a lot of such information from sympathetic people, sometimes even from the opposition. Therefore, the call did not surprise us. I received the same call. Kulakov was there at 17.00, I was half an hour late, I was on the set. At 17.00 nothing happened, Kulakov was about to leave. It all happened at 17.30. He did not even have time to react, ”the leader of the movement Igor Beketov (also known in social networks and outside them under the name Gosha Tarasevich) told Snob. According to him, another suspected attacker, Alexander Petrunko, left for Crimea for a vacation a few days before the incident. Beketov believes that Navalny pR thus: the politician has not yet published a medical certificate of injuries and has not tried to catch up with the attackers. SERB promise to publish a video message in the near future. “Snob” was not able to get an operative comment from Alexei Navalny.

The "Russian liberation movement SERB" (South East Radical Block) began its activities in March 2014 in Kharkov with an attempt to storm the regional administration. Members of the movement tore down leaflets about recruiting for the National Guard, wrote "anti-Bandera" slogans on the walls of houses and supported the referendum in Crimea.

The leader of the movement, a resident of Dnipropetrovsk, Igor Beketov, is an actor, starred in Russian TV series. “I regularly filmed here, here I watched the Kiev Maidan on TV. I was sure that the Maidan would be crushed. And when the worst happened, I contacted my friends and immediately went to Dnepropetrovsk, ”he said in an interview. When information about the arrest of anti-Maidan activists passed, Beketov left for Moscow.

In the summer of 2014, Beketov supported leader of the DPR Igor Strelkov at the rally of the NOD.

Since autumn 2014, SERB members have come to anti-war rallies and pickets, confiscated anti-Putin posters and Ukrainian flags from protesters and tore them up. In February 2015 SERB doused feces of participants of the Solidarity movement.

In the spring of 2015, Alexander Petrunko joined the movement: “I saw that there are enough forces in Russia supporting the Maidan. That there are real Banderlogists in Moscow, fascists who hate the Russian world, and their main task is to destroy the state that they do not consider their home! "

In March 2015, a SERB memorial at the site of the murder of politician Boris Nemtsov on Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge. “The slogan used by the supporters of Nemtsov:“ Heroes do not die! ” - constantly sounded after the execution of the "Heavenly Hundred" in Kiev. It is obvious that they [the liberals] are preparing the Maidan on the corpse of this national traitor, ”Beketov said.

On April 27, an unknown person (apparently, he was accompanied by associates) attacked the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Alexei Navalny, splashing green liquid in his face. The opposition politician, according to him, has almost no right eye - vision is lost by 80%. On April 28, the REN TV channel published a video of the attack on Navalny, masking the attacker's face. Nevertheless, Internet users claim that the person who attacked the politician is the SERB movement activist Aleksandr Petrunko. In September 2016, Petrunko poured excrement on photographs at the Jock Sturges exhibition in Moscow. Meduza tells what is known about the group of people who probably attacked Navalny.

03 05 2017
02:42

On April 27, an unknown person threw green liquid in the face of politician Alexei Navalnywhen he was leaving the office of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, which is located in the Moscow business center "Omega Plaza". At first, the oppositionist assumed that he had been doused with brilliant green (as happened in Barnaul on March 20), but on May 2 he wrote that, in the opinion of his attending physician, it was a mixture of brilliant green with another chemical. “The eye has lost 80% of its vision. Until this is irreversible. They are actively treating me, and there is a hope that they will be cured, ”wrote Navalny (on the day of the attack, he was diagnosed with a chemical burn of the eye).

The security service of the business center said that outdoor surveillance cameras were not working at the time of the attack on Navalny. The man who poured over the politician got into the lens of the camera in the lobby of the building; the face of the attacker on the recordings is impossible to make out. Law enforcement agencies, Navalny claims, have not yet launched an investigation into the attack. The founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation also posted photographs of two more people whom he believes are likely accomplices of the attacker.

April 28 REN TV channelpublished video of the incident: the attacker is clearly visible, but his face is deliberately blurred.The staff of the TV channel also hid the face of another person caught in the frame - the faces of other passers-by are visible. Where the video came from is unknown. Press secretary of the TV channel Yekaterina Chichenina first asked Meduza to send a written request, and later sent an SMS message: "We will not comment."

Blogger Yevgeny Bryzgalin discovered that four versions of the video are stored on the channel's servers, one of which shows the face of the second man who was filming what was happening.

Social media usersfound outSERB activist Aleksey Kulakov filmed the attack- the outlines of the face and beard coincided; in addition, the next day, Kulakov was seen in the same sleeveless jacket that the man was wearing in the video published by REN TV. Later, Kulakov told Novaya Gazeta that he had come to the scene of the attack “just to take pictures,” while pouring liquid on Navalny, he “strongly condemns”.

Users also suggested that the attacker himself (his face is hidden in all versions of the video stored on the REN TV server) may be another SERB activist Alexander Petrunko - he wears the same clothes and is similar in build. Moreover, in February 2016, Petrunko threw cakes at Navalny (the video is marked with the symbols of the SERB movement), and in September of the same year he poured a mixture of urine and feces into photographs of Jock Sturges at an exhibition at the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography in Moscow.

The SERB (South East Radical Block) movement was founded in Dnepropetrovsk in the spring of 2014 after the change of power in Ukraine. At that time, advocated the granting of autonomy to the southeastern regions of the country. The movement moved to Russia in September 2014, changing the name of the word “radical” to “Russian”. According to the leader of the movement, Igor Beketov (known as Gosha Tarasevich), this happened "because the Security Service of Ukraine fabricated a criminal case against me for treason."

After the move, activists of the movement, according to them, are trying to "be useful to Russia, Novorossiya, Ukrainian brothers who do not want to be under the ukrofascists." SERB members from time to time attack civil activists: in May 2015 they poured green paint on participants in the antiwar picket of the Solidarity movement, in August of the same year they attacked Solidarity activists with their fists, in October - on activist Vladimir Ionov who was standing in a solitary picket ...

According to Znak.com, Alexander Petrunko, who allegedly attacked Navalny, grew up in an orphanage in the city of Rostov-on-Don, worked for a short time as a freelance criminal intelligence officer, and participated in the seizure of the Kharkiv administration building in 2014 on the side of the separatists.

The leader of the SERB movement, Igor Beketov, told Meduza that the movement had nothing to do with the attack on the opposition leader. “Someone called me and [SERB activist identified on the video] Aleksey [Kulakov] and offered to come to the FBK office so that a video report could be filmed. I didn't have a camera, Alexey took it with him. I was late, and Alexei later told me that he arrived at 17:00, played around there, nothing happened, and he was going to leave - and suddenly everything happened. He only saw that the man was running away, ”Beketov says.

According to him, Petrunko could not have been the attacker, since he allegedly went to Crimea on the eve of the holidays. At the same time, Beketov notes that there is a certain similarity between the attacker and Petrunko. “Someone cleverly framed our movement and, at the same time, promoted Navalny,” Beketov said, stressing that SERB activists are not hiding after “holding actions”.

Law enforcement agencies and authorities did not officially comment on the incident.A source for Gazeta.ru in the Kremlin said on April 30 that "the regional authorities have been instructed to stop attacks on oppositionists." State Duma deputy Yevgeny Revenko said that "setting fire to balconies and throwing green stuff are crimes, not a means of political struggle" (expressing confidence that "this is the common position of his comrades in United Russia").

Navalny is confident that the attack on him was "coordinated by the Kremlin." "All of this is coordinated by the presidential administration, and specifically organized with the help of special services that provide service [to radical activists], including the provision of video materials," he said.

The attack on Alexei Navalny on April 27, as a result of which he was taken to hospital with a chemical burn to his eye, was carried out by activists of the radical pro-Kremlin movement SERB, who conducted their own investigation.

The main clue of activists claiming that SERB members were involved in the attack on Navalny was the video of the incident. published REN TV channel. In this video, the face of the attacker and another person watching how Navalny is doused with green paint are smeared. One of the Internet users carefully examined the HTML code of the page on which the video was posted, and found links to three other versions of the video in it. In one of them (which is probably an unsuccessful rough work of the editor), the blur at some point lags behind the face of the person watching the attack. In the image that opened, many social media users immediately recognized Alexey Kulakov - SERB activist who does not miss a single opposition rally. The attacker himself (his face is smeared on all versions of the video) was indirectly identified by his build, height and elements of clothing. The authors of the impromptu investigation believe that this person is another SERB activist, Alexander Petrunko.

The SERB movement has denied any involvement in the attack. Aleksey Kulakov told reporters that he did not know about him in advance, but at the scene he appeared as a "blogger", on a tip from an unknown informant. SERB leader Gosha Tarasevich accused Navalny of staging the attack with the help of his supporters.

The name of the movement SERB is an abbreviation. It stands for "South East Radical Block" - "South-East Radical Block". For the first time it became known about him in Dnepropetrovsk after the Ukrainian Maidan, when activists of the movement took part in actions demanding the granting of more powers to the regions of southeast Ukraine. During the "Russian Spring" Alexander Petrunko was spotted in Kharkov, where he was one of the participants in the storming of the regional administration building, supporters of the creation of the "Kharkov People's Republic".

Later, SERB activists moved to Moscow, where they began to participate in almost all opposition rallies, provoking their participants and attacking them. In the ranks of SERB there are not only immigrants from Ukraine: 43-year-old Oleg Chursin, for example, is a regular employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, and at the same time - a supporter of the movement "Russian National Unity" and the neo-Nazi Alexei Milchakov.

Russian media reported, citing unnamed sources, that the Kremlin has denied involvement in attacks on Navalny and other opposition activists in recent weeks using brilliant green and other corrosive chemical liquids. Gazeta.ru writes that the authorities, on the contrary, recommended that law enforcement agencies more actively prosecute the participants in such attacks. The press service of the United Russia party circulated a statement by the deputy Yevgeny Revenko, in which he condemned the use of "hooligan and criminal actions" against political opponents. The popular anonymous Telegram channel "Nezygar" claims with reference to a law enforcement source that one of the SERB activists has been taken into "operational development."

An opposition activist told Radio Liberty about how it was possible to identify the attackers on Alexei Navalny, why the police are in no hurry to deal with this case, and what is the real "epidemic" of pouring green paint on those who disagree with the authorities. Oleg Kozlovsky, one of the active participants in the collective impromptu investigation, which made it possible to talk about the involvement of the SERB movement in the attack on Navalny on April 27.

- What allows us to say that it was Alexander Petrunko and Alexei Kulakov who were involved in the attack on Alexei Navalny on April 27?

– The most direct evidence is, of course, the video from the scene, which was discovered by Evgeny Bryzgalin, an Internet user who studied the REN TV website and saw that, in addition to one version with hidden faces, there is another version where, due to a flaw the editor at some point becomes visible the face of one of the attackers, as it turned out later, Alexei Kulakov. He was identified on the video by other users. This investigation was carried out spontaneously by a large number of people, many of whom did not know about each other, did not see or hear, and coordinated their actions exclusively using Twitter. Due to the fact that all information was based on open sources and is fully verifiable, we can be sure that what we found out is true. The face of this man is indeed very similar to the pictures he posts on social networks. Moreover, it was possible to identify the clothes in which he was. The very next day after the attack on Navalny, he posted his photos in the same clothes during a similar attack on activists on duty on the Nemtsov Bridge.

In general, this Alexei Kulakov is a fairly well-known character among Moscow street activists. He constantly participates in various provocations, so it is not surprising that, as soon as his face became more or less distinguishable in the frame, he was quickly identified. From open sources, it was possible to collect other information about him, he himself published a lot of information on social networks, including a few days before the attack, in the comments to one of the articles about Navalny, he wrote that he was "preparing green stuff" and that Navalny was "preparing" ...

One would think that this is an empty threat, but, as we can see, it has materialized. He literally within 24 hours prior to this attack three times on social networks posted various criticizing, offensive texts about Navalny and his colleagues. It could be seen that the person was appropriately tuned. This is, of course, circumstantial evidence, but they are enough. And when the media began to call Mr. Kulakov, at first he denied everything, but then admitted that he was there, but immediately began to assure that he had no idea what would happen there, that he angrily condemned the attack itself, and so on. It is very hard to believe in this, because Kulakov took part in many similar actions, never experienced any remorse, using violence against his political opponents, and here, apparently, he was simply afraid that in this case he might not get away with it , like before.

- One thing can be seen for sure in this video - that Alexei Kulakov was not the person who splashed brilliant green at Alexei Navalny. The "thrower" ran towards the cameraman who was filming this scene, and his face was smeared on all four found video options. What allows us to say that this is another person involved in your investigation, Alexander Petrunko?

– For Petrunko, we have mostly circumstantial evidence. The clothes - the pants and jacket he was wearing - are identified in other photographs of him. In addition, Petrunko has the same physique as the "thrower", he looks the same, except for the face, which we cannot see. Petrunko is familiar with Kulakov, they are colleagues in the radical group SERB, they carried out many provocations together, that is, these are people who often go out to such cases together. Therefore, suspicion quickly fell on him. Again, those people who saw Petrunko with their own eyes, encountered him at the rallies, suggested that it was him, even before this video appeared on REN TV, in separate frames that were published from the camera in the lobby of the business center. A large number of witnesses point to this person. And obviously, this should be a signal for law enforcement agencies to suspect a person, interrogate him, find out his movements on that day, and so on. Whether such an investigation will take place, of course, depends not only on us.

- Why are only the faces of these two people smeared on the REN TV video? Why were they "singled out" in this way among the five or six people in the frame?

People who are not interested in solving this crime cover up the perpetrators. In this case, these are employees of the REN TV channel

– It is quite obvious that the people who covered up these faces knew perfectly well who had been involved in the attack. It must be understood that Kulakov, although he did not directly throw green paint, clearly knew where, when and whom to shoot. He is as much an accomplice as the one who quit, just his role in this group was different. Therefore, those people who are not interested in solving this crime cover up the perpetrators. In this case, it was done by the employees of the REN TV channel. They cannot now claim that they were allegedly sent the video already in this form, because this video with unhidden faces was on their server. This means that they imposed it on their own or because of instructions, or for some other reason, knowing who these people are. I can’t regard this in any other way, except as complicity in a crime.

- Remind us of the brightest episodes with the participation of SERB activists. Were they noticed actions of this kind, gross physical pressure, and not just verbal skirmishes?

– The same mister Petrunko, for example, took part in a photo exhibition at the Lumiere Brothers Center last fall, where he poured urine on photographs in which he saw pedophilia. He was then detained and sentenced to seven days of administrative arrest. This is the only time that members of this group have suffered at least some kind of punishment. The same group claimed responsibility for an activist who was holding a one-off picket on Manezhnaya Square when brilliant green was sprayed in his face.

A year ago they attacked in the same place on Navalny with a cake threw a cake at him. They regularly attend rallies held by the Moscow opposition - near metro stations, on Manezhnaya Square, on the Nemtsov Bridge. And at these actions, they do not just get into skirmishes, but when they have such an opportunity, they try to pull out posters, tear them, sometimes it comes to fights. In no case did any of them bear any responsibility. Once, it seems, the police detained a group of these provocateurs, but then they were released.

- Do you have a version of who might be behind the SERB activists?

– We know that this group is quite closely connected with various pro-Kremlin organizations. For example, on the eve of the attack, their leaders visited the State Duma, as they themselves wrote, met with the leaders of the factions, we do not know which ones, but they were there at the invitation of the deputies. I don’t know what they discussed, but apparently they were so inspired by this conversation that the next day they organized an attack on Navalny. Edition The insider wrote yesterday that one of the members of this group is an active police officer and at the same time a neo-Nazi, which should be surprising, but probably no longer surprising. So there is a direct link with law enforcement agencies. We saw a lot of photographs of Mr. Petrunko with a variety of political figures, with Glazyev in particular, who is an advisor to the president, with a large number of conservative State Duma deputies, and with other politicians.

We can guess which of them came up with such an idea, who is feeding them, because these people, as far as we can tell, do not have permanent jobs. They do not live very well, but they do not starve and do not need work. This group probably has funding sources, and this is clearly not crowdfunding. In order to establish this accurately, a normal investigation must be carried out, but we all understand that no one will conduct any such investigation now.

- Why are the police in no hurry to deal with this attack?

Any investigator who comes across such a case immediately understands that this is a political case.

– Any investigator who gets such a case immediately understands that this is a political case, and he will ask his boss, the boss will ask his own, and he will be told that there is no need to get involved in this, no case should be initiated. Because they understand that as they untangle this tangle, they can get to themselves or to their superiors. Everyone in this system, even those who do not share these methods, who would like, perhaps, to bring such extremists to justice, they all understand that these crimes are somehow connected with the system itself. And being its participants, employees, receiving a salary from it, they are not ready to take on any responsibility for making this system better.

- Attacks using brilliant green have happened before, but recently it has acquired some epidemic proportions. With what it can be connected? Is this someone's centralized policy? And can we expect that these attacks will stop after Alexei Navalny and the Yabloko activist actually received great physical injuries as a result of such attacks? There are reports that the presidential administration is unhappy with the fact that everything is taking such a turn.

People who do this understand that they will get nothing for it.

– In my opinion, there is one very simple reason why these attacks are so widespread now. They go unpunished. No one, no one has ever been punished for such attacks. The authorities turn a blind eye to this, the police say they do not see any corpus delicti there, they do not even see an administrative offense, they cannot find the executors, customers and organizers. And people who do this understand, feel that they will get nothing for it, and all that they will get is approval and praise from their curators, colleagues or friends in different echelons of power. The only way to stop it is to have responsibility. If at least one of these people is imprisoned, their ardor will be greatly reduced immediately. We see that these are not some very brave people, because they carry out all their actions only when they understand that they will not get anything for it, that they have the police nearby, that it will protect them, or they use the effect of surprise and immediately run away, hide their faces. These are not the people who are willing to be punished for their actions. As for the administration's order, which for some reason is transmitted again in the form of rumors and some kind of leaks, we remember that not so long ago it was announced that Putin personally ordered not to interfere with bringing flowers to the place of Boris Nemtsov's murder. And what, after that, something changed? Nothing changed! In exactly the same way, this memorial is cleaned every week, "Gormost" in the same way steals flowers, photographs, things brought by Nemtsov's supporters. It's just that Putin distanced himself from this. Therefore, whether in this case there will be any changes in the policy of the state, we will learn not from leaks, but from the actions of law enforcement agencies, - says Oleg Kozlovsky.

The phones of Alexander Petrunko and Alexei Kulakov, found by activists on the Internet (SERB activists more than once

SERB activists who hunted for and attacked Sturges' photographic exhibit returned to media attention in September. This time, the activists were attracted by a commemorative plaque on a house in the center of the capital. The purpose and mission of this organization, led by immigrants from Ukraine, despite the high-profile actions, remain unclear. And their performances, the purpose of which is to humiliate another opponent by pouring something dirty or smelly, are more reminiscent of the antics of juvenile hooligans or gopniks. undertook to trace the military path of SERB, clarify the goals of the movement and understand what is happening in the heads of its leaders - Gosha Tarasevich and.

For the Russian spirit

SERB (South East Radical Block) calls itself a "Russian liberation movement" fighting for the "Russian world", for the culture and "spirit of the Russian people." It calls itself a “radical” organization. This seems to indicate ultra-right views, but they do not classify themselves as nationalists.

“By the word“ Russian ”we mean those who are for Russia, for the interests of the country,” he told Lente.ru (Gosha Tarasevich is a nickname). - You see the problem in our name, but we do not care. We are busy with action, and when the liberals see that SERB is coming, they already understand that their provocation will fail. "

Judging by the content of the movement's public pages, its members have an ardent love for Soviet symbols and the USSR in general. “We are not left or right. We simply do not want revolution, upheavals and disintegration of the country. It is most important. When the need is gone, we will disperse, ”says the SERB leader. However, in the conversation, he mentioned that among the members of the SERB there are many people from the Left Front of Udaltsov and they sympathize with him in the movement.

Photo: Alexey Abanin / Kommersant

Beketov's associate, Alexander Petrunko, is verbose when talking on general topics, but not more understandable: “Our [Russian] values \u200b\u200bare a carrot and a stick. Such a huge country cannot be ruled by different people, because it must have a single master. For me, the president should lead the country for life so that he can navigate the ship as it should be. And by constantly changing the commander, we will not get anywhere. "

However, Petrunko does not consider himself a monarchist, and he does not say where the ship is supposed to sail. He calls Byzantium an example worthy of imitation. He also believes that the natural resources of the state should not belong to several people, and a film about how icon painters paint icons - with the blessing of a priest or at least with the permission of the currently living members of the imperial family.

Beketov prefers not to talk about his worldview. On his VKontakte page, he calls himself an "Orthodox communist."

Hey, come here, hear ?!

Although Beketov is an actor in the recent past, his actions do not differ with special creativity. I never came up with anything more interesting than pouring something smelly or dirty on opponents. For example, in February of this year, SERB failed a campaign that was supposed to become the largest in the history of the movement. “There was a procession in Sakharov Square, in memory of Boris Nemtsov,” recalls Beketov. - We then settled on the roof of the building and wanted to pour stinking liquid from hoses over the liberals from it. But we were removed from there, which we very much regretted. "

The guys were not at all embarrassed that they were going to water people with water in winter, in frost.

“Only those who insulted,” Beketov reassures.

"Yes. The head of the first column, adds Petrunko. - There was all the evil.

Having left Ukraine, where the struggle for the "Russian world" somehow did not work out for the guys, both settled in Russia. It turns out that enemies can also be found here. Moreover, unlike Kiev or Lvov, in Moscow these enemies can be boldly repulsed without fear of getting a bullet in the forehead. SERB activists consider it normal to approach any person on the street and demand to “explain” for some attribute of clothing (with Ukrainian symbols). In Russia, such performances, it must be admitted, also happened and do happen. But they are satisfied with gopniks from the sleeping areas, and not members of "liberation movements".

“More often than not, [this symbolism] has to be ripped off,” says Beketov. - We approach the person: "Why is your Ukrainian flag?" He can simply say, "I support." But more often people start to swear, behave provocatively. "

As befits the Gopniks, the Serbians choose representatives of a small and harmless group of the capital's intelligentsia, sympathetic to the Ukrainian Euromaidan, as opponents. The matter has not yet come to beatings, but to publicly humiliate a person and mock him by pouring something nasty on him is always welcome.

Because of these openly hooligan manners, SERB activists even parted ways with the close-minded movement NOD ("People's Liberation Movement") Yevgeny Fyodorov. In September 2014, Nodovites did not go with the Serbs to throw eggs at the participants of the March for Peace, and in October 2015 Fedorov personally criticized SERB because of the incident with the 75-year-old pensioner Ionov, whom Beketov and his comrades doused with a mixture of green paint and yogurt.

Photo: Vladimir Fedorenko / RIA Novosti

And also, like an ordinary gopot, SERB activists are in no hurry to take responsibility for those antics that entailed serious consequences.

“Navalny is our client,” says Aleksandr Petrunko, SERB's chief “bomber”, with pride. He admits that, together with other activists, he arranges attacks on the oppositionist and sees a lot of sense in their regularity: "This is how Navalny's psyche, his state of health and political activity are influenced."

By the way, the last action at the airport, where sausages were hung on Alexey Navalny, is also the work of SERB.

Frame: Stipler SS / YouTube

And only the April action, when the oppositionist received a chemical burn of his eye and the question of initiating a criminal case arose, was called a provocation by Navalny and his self-promotion in SERB.

Petrunko, who was unambiguously identified by witnesses in the video, said that he was in Crimea that day.

Together with Beketov, they gave explanations to the police and did not bother them anymore. For many, not only for Navalny's supporters, this turn with the suspension of the investigation into the "unknown" with brilliant green causes irritation. But not the SERB leader. Beketov generally believes that there was no harm to health, since, in his opinion, the oppositionist could have posted the corresponding medical certificates on the network. But somehow he didn't.

Putin's "assistants"

Perhaps, tired of the image of street hooligans, Beketov decided to slightly correct his role. Now SERB are volunteer assistants to the authorities and are fighting with a memorial plaque to Boris Nemtsov in Klimentovsky Lane. The cans with sewage (a medicinal solution of hydrogen sulfide from the Crimea) were replaced by nail-riders, with which the fighters for the "Russian world" tore down an illegally installed tablet.

“Those who installed it modestly keep silent about what exactly Nemtsov did not live in the house on the facade of which it appeared (Klimentovskiy lane, 9/1),” Beketov says. - He lived in the neighboring (Malaya Ordynka, 3). Moreover, we nevertheless entered this house and asked the tenants on camera if they had signed it. There are a third of them. This is what liberals are, when the minority dictates its will to the majority. Put a sign on his house. Agree on all the issues. "

It is not clear, however, on what basis Beketov appropriated to himself the function of the authorities, which were supposed to decide the fate of the memorial plaque. In fact, what he arranged was arbitrariness and the destruction of private property. But no one chided the volunteer either in the police, where he brought the memorial sign, or in the city hall. By the way, the city authorities did not make any decisions regarding the sign in Klimentovsky Lane, neither "for" or against.

For comparison, this summer a monument to the tsar was erected in Moscow, which did not take root in Alexandrov. So, the commission on monumental art demanded to dismantle it, since such initiatives should be discussed and then approved by the capital's legislators. The monument was standing illegally, but no one rushed to "overthrow the tsar" right there, although there are many opponents of the new wave of his glorification. It is simply not accepted to do so.

They also found a way to put pressure on police officers during opposition rallies and pickets, forcing them to take harsh measures against the protesters.

It all started with the fact that Beketov found in the Criminal Code of Russia a seemingly suitable article number 319 "Public insult to a representative of the authorities in the performance of his official duties or in connection with their execution" and tried to bring the actions of the picketers under this, President.

“Putin is our captain who leads the ship. And they are trying to shake this boat. And we make her swim faster, push her ", - Alexander Petrunko expresses his motivation.

Photo: Vitaly Belousov / RIA Novosti

“Wherever we wrote letters, and I personally went to an appointment at,” recalls the SERB leader. - I received a response from the legal department, which says that this is a violation. They also noted that failure to take measures against public insult to the authorities entails the imposition of a fine on officials. That is, a police officer who sees that the president is being insulted and does nothing is breaking the law. When they see this paper, they stop it. True, they ask for a copy of this document. "

However, the letter from the Ministry of Internal Affairs has no legal force, and Beketov himself admitted that not a single criminal case was initiated on their tip. And in fact, his request was not really answered.

And this is quite understandable. It is very difficult to bring such a case to court, unless it is a matter of insulting a particular police officer during a rally. “This article is about insult, while at the rally people express their civic position, albeit in an offensive form,” the lawyer told Lente.ru

Photo: Gosha Tarasevich's page on VKontakte

Actor and scout

SERB originated in Ukraine, but its leaders - Beketov and Petrunko - have dual citizenship: Russia and Ukraine. How many active members the organization has is unknown. But they all call themselves volunteers, who do not receive money from anyone for their activity.

Alexander Petrunko, who diligently pretends to be a cadre intelligence officer, does not give a clear answer about what he does for a living. It seems that he is an assistant for several deputies of different levels at once, is engaged in paperwork and organizational work.

Igor Beketov is a professional actor who graduated from the Dnepropetrovsk Theater School in 1998 and graduated from the VGIK school. He has worked in 18 projects - mostly cameo roles and supporting roles in TV shows.

From the moment of their appearance in Dnepropetrovsk in the spring of 2014 and until their flight to Russia in the summer of the same year, SERB activists, according to the same Beketov, did not throw "feces" at anyone, but painted "anti-Bandera slogans" on the walls of houses.

Photo: Gosha Tarasevich's page on VKontakte

The most massive action in Ukraine was held by activists on May 9, 2014. “We, in spite of everything, organized an exit to the rally with the largest St. George ribbon in Ukraine - about 40 meters long,” Beketov said in an interview with the Bell of Russia. “All our opponents were shocked, but they could not do anything - on May 9, there were a lot of people on the central square of Dnepropetrovsk.”

On that memorable day for Tarasevich-Beketov, the procession of SERB activists received the main reward for the artist - applause from the townspeople. It really was a bright and bold performance. It is not known how it would have ended if at some point the demonstrators and activists of the "Right Sector" were not divided by the police chain.

It is sad that in Russia this actionism has degenerated into banal hooliganism. But, as the SERB activists themselves note, they do not intend to stop there and will continue to invent more and more new methods of influencing the public.

The SERB (South East Radical Block) movement was founded in Dnepropetrovsk in the spring of 2014, after the change of government in Ukraine.

The first mention of the "South-Eastern Bloc" in social networks appeared in March 2014, the founders announced their participation in the assault on the Kharkiv regional administration. The movement adhered to the anti-Maidan ideology (demand for elements of federalization, support for the Crimean referendum, negative attitude towards Euromaidan and its participants, protests against the use of the army in eastern Ukraine, a call to boycott the May presidential elections and create a "South-Eastern Ukrainian Republic", support for Novorossiya).

At that moment, the movement had 300 supporters and as many sympathizers in Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye and Krivoy Rog, the leading role in it was played by actor Igor Beketov (pseudonym Gosha Tarasevich).

In late summer 2014, SERB activists moved from Ukraine to Russia, arguing with fears for their safety and the initiation of a criminal case by the SBU against Tarasevich (according to him, the movement continues to operate in Ukraine after that). In the winter of 2014-2015, the movement switched to internal Russian political life, fighting against Russian oppositionists under the slogan of preventing the Russian Maidan.

A number of activists of the movement were detained by the police without instituting criminal cases, Tarasevich was not affected by this fate (although during one of the actions he hit a policeman). In September 2016, Tarasevich was beaten by unknown persons. SERB's existence, according to its leader, was funded by its members.

At that time, it advocated the granting of autonomy to the southeastern regions of the country. The movement moved to Russia in September 2014, changing the name of the word “radical” to “Russian”. According to the leader of the movement, Igor Beketov (known as Gosha Tarasevich), this happened "because the Security Service of Ukraine fabricated a criminal case against me for treason."

After the move, activists of the movement, according to them, are trying to "be useful to Russia, Novorossiya, Ukrainian brothers who do not want to be under the ukrofascists." SERB members from time to time attack civil activists: in May 2015 they poured green paint on participants in the antiwar picket of the Solidarity movement, in August of the same year they attacked Solidarity activists with their fists, in October - on activist Vladimir Ionov who was standing in a solitary picket ...

According to Znak.com, Alexander Petrunko, who allegedly attacked Navalny, grew up in an orphanage in the city of Rostov-on-Don, worked for a short time as a freelance criminal intelligence officer, and participated in the seizure of the Kharkiv administration building in 2014 on the side of the separatists.

The leader of the SERB movement, Igor Beketov, told Meduza that the movement had nothing to do with the attack on the opposition leader. “Someone called me and [SERB activist identified on the video] Aleksey [Kulakov] and offered to come to the FBK office so that a video report could be filmed. I didn't have a camera, Alexey took it with him. I was late, and Alexei later told me that he arrived at 17:00, played around there, nothing happened, and he was going to leave - and suddenly everything happened. He only saw that the man was running away, ”Beketov says.

According to him, Petrunko could not have been the attacker, since he allegedly went to Crimea on the eve of the holidays. At the same time, Beketov notes that there is a certain similarity between the attacker and Petrunko. “Someone cleverly framed our movement and, at the same time, promoted Navalny,” Beketov said, stressing that SERB activists are not hiding after “holding actions”.