The Soviet (Sovreign) Citizen Movement in Russia

[rpannier]

Konstantin Vyatkin has never acknowledged the Soviet collapse.

"For the past 28 years I've tried to live in this country called Russia," he says. "But in my heart I still live there, in the Soviet Union."

The words may sound banal in a country where two-thirds of the population professes nostalgia for the former empire, motivated by economic concerns and the absence of a welfare state.

But Vyatkin does not simply miss the Soviet Union -- he actively denies its breakup, and claims to obey only its laws. And now a vibrant cottage industry is helping legitimize his discontent.


https://www.rferl.org/a/flouting-law-in-nostalgia-s-name-russia-s-growing-movement-of-soviet-citizens-/29962523.html

[rpannier]

1. The Alex Jones-like Movement

On YouTube, Vyatkin found hundreds of channels peddling conspiracy theories: that Russia's an offshore company registered in Delaware; that President Vladimir Putin was killed in 2012 and replaced by a body double; that the Soviet Union, and its ministries, are being resurrected. Some gave him convincing explanations of the inequality he was witnessing in Russia.

But beyond feeding widespread Soviet nostalgia and disillusionment, the channels also promote ways newly minted "Soviet citizens" can skirt Russian laws, open bank accounts, and evade taxes. Bloggers harass parliamentary deputies on camera, prank-call government ministries, set up bank accounts using "Soviet" passports, and ridicule traffic cops who stop them for displaying illicit, "Soviet" registration plates.