RUSSIA The young ‘spider’ to assault Russia

Gangs of young people inspired by a Japanese manga clash in Russian cities. The phenomenon also affects Ukraine. War propaganda creates a deviant psychology in the youthful masses. It is feared that other “youth extremism” groups will emerge. Patriarch Kirill suggests “controlling and limiting the Internet network.”

Moscow () – The attack by mobs of adolescents on shopping centers in almost every city in the country is causing great concern in Russia, where fierce and often violent clashes take place. On Telegram channels this phenomenon has been dubbed the “youth subculture” of fans of the “Hunter x Hunter” manga by award-winning Japanese cartoonist Yoshihiro Togashi, baptized in Russia as “Čvk Rëdan”. Čvk comes from military jargon (“Častnaja voennaya kompanija”, private military company), with a nod to the increasingly active and popular Wagner company of mercenaries; and Rëdan means “wedge fortification”, the provision for resistance in massive attacks.

Even the Kremlin has been forced to take a position, and spokesman Peskov appealed above all to parents and law enforcement, “to stop as soon as possible young people who are seduced by the pseudo-culture of war, who do not there’s nothing brave or dignified about it.” The Ministry of the Interior has suggested that “all this comes from the Ukraine”, and in fact the Ukrainian press also talks about clashes between very young people dressed in spider symbols.

The first mass confrontation of the “new youth movement” was recorded on February 19 in the large Aviapark center in Moscow, and the videos went viral on the Internet, defined for the first time as an action by Čvk Rëdan. In the days that followed, similar events multiplied in Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod and many other cities. The young people form the bands that in the manga are called “Genei Ryodan”, whose members are called precisely “the spiders”. The groups attack adversaries who usually control large common areas, such as soccer team fans, “gopniks” or street thugs, and various formations of young Caucasians, always ready to fight.

Young people are summoned through the network, especially on Telegram channels, where, for example, the “Rëdan-Stavropol” section received more than 600 subscriptions in two days. The messages warn that “we have shot the arrow”, that is, that a place and date have been set to “clarify the situation” with a competing group. In some cases, the information is corrected due to the presence of Omon police (anti-guerrilla) in the established place. This week alone the police arrested hundreds of young people in Tula, Kursk, Novosibirsk, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Kazan and other centers.

The enemy bands of the “spiders” are already organizing, especially the Caucasians, who are going to hunt for the Ryodan. In St. Petersburg, 17-year-old Islam Abdulaev has already been arrested for savagely beating a 15-year-old dressed as a spider in front of the school. In Chelyabinsk, in the Urals, the police detained 15 teenagers chasing spiders as a “preventive measure”, and similar situations were repeated in Taganrog, where the “Anti ČvkRëdan” group was formed, as well as in Ulan-Ude, in Buryatia .

In Ukraine, similar cases have been verified in Kiev, Žitomir, Ivano-Frankivsk, L’vov, Khar’kov, Vinnitsa, Dnepropetrovsk and Odessa, the main cities, which shows that it is mainly a metropolitan phenomenon. In part it is one of the many ways to attract the youngest to the organized crime of street gangs, a widespread phenomenon in many countries around the world, but many observers stress that war propaganda -which in Russia is already systematic even in schools- it is creating a deviant and violent psychology in the youthful masses.

A senior official at the Council for Civil Society of the Russian Presidency, Kirill Kabanov, believes that “adolescents must be attracted and engaged from their earliest years in culturally valid and interesting projects, otherwise they create uncontrollable passions for themselves and they end up being prey to criminal circles.” He explains that “the most shocking thing about the Ryodan is the total lack of meaning, you don’t understand where they come from or what they want, they don’t defend any idea, just win in the fight.”

What is feared is that other “youth extremism” groups will emerge, not limited to manga fans, but spreading a lifestyle and action throughout the country, often mimicking “adult wars.” The Orthodox Church only repeats the calls of Patriarch Kirill to “control and limit the Internet network”, but it is not capable of pointing out valid alternatives for the education of young people.