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Title: About the Anarcho-Putinists
Author: Anatoly Dubovik
Date: 19 June 2022
Language: en
Topics: Russia, anarcho-syndicalism, Putin, entryism, crypto-authoritarianism, IWA-AIT, Ukraine, criticism and critique
Source: Retrieved on 20th June 2022 from a translation of the Russian original.

Anatoly Dubovik

About the Anarcho-Putinists

The text is addressed primarily to anarchists and sympathizers in

Ukraine and Russia. Nevertheless, it can and should be read, and not

only by anarchists, and not only in the former USSR.

It will be about a group of Moscow “anarchists” and scientific

professionals, headed by a leading researcher at the Institute of World

History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Historical

Sciences Vadim Damier. About the position of this group, which calls

itself the “Confederation of Revolutionary Anarcho-Syndicalists”

(hereinafter CRAS), in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. An

equally important topic related to the attitude to this and some other

issues of an international organization that calls itself the

“International Workers Association” (IWA), of which CRAS is an integral

part, will also be touched upon. Due to the light hand of Damier, the

name IWA is mistakenly translated into Russian as the “Mezhdunarodnaya

Assotsiatsiya Trudyashchikhsya”, and henceforth we will call it that

way, MAT.

I immediately formulate my main idea: despite many loud words about

internationalism, anti-militarism, condemnation of the current war, and

so on and so forth, the CRAS supports the most important propaganda

theses of the Putin regime ruling in Russia regarding the war, regarding

Ukraine. To be convinced of this, it is enough to carefully study the

materials of the CRAS website (

aitrus.info

If someone suddenly forgot or does not know what is at stake, let me

remind you. Taking advantage of the military-political weakness and many

internal problems of Ukraine, which had just survived the

national-democratic revolution of the Euromaidan, the Russian Federation

in late February — early March 2014 seized the Crimean peninsula by

force, and then announced its annexation; the annexation was framed by a

fake “referendum” that had no legal force either under Russian or

Ukrainian law. A month later, pro-Russian rebellions began in the

eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, which Russia inspired and

supported with its military equipment and its military specialists. The

fighting between the Ukrainian authorities and anti-Ukrainian

separatists began with the capture of the city of Sloviansk by a group

of Russian military men led by Colonel of the Federal Security Service

(FSB) Igor Strelkov (Girkin). In the summer of 2014, the entire Donbass

was already engulfed in a bloody war. In subsequent years, the war took

on a positional character, but did not stop for a single day. Russia

continued to play the most active role in the events, but verbally

denied its participation in the conflict. The masks were dropped at 5

a.m. on February 24, 2022, when dozens of cities in Ukraine were

subjected to rocket and sabotage-terrorist attacks, and the Russian army

launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine from many directions at once.

The war is accompanied by barbarous bombardments and shelling of

residential areas of Ukrainian cities and villages, massacres and

violence against the Ukrainian civilian population (regardless of age

and gender), the creation of “filtration” (actually concentration)

camps, mass forced deportations, the flight of millions of people in

attempts find a safe place from Russian aggression.

This is the reality we are in. A reality with tens of thousands of

killed Ukrainian men, women and children. A reality with completely or

largely destroyed cities, including such large ones as Mariupol,

Kharkov, Chernihiv, Volnovakha. A reality where people keep dying right

now as you read this text.

But the CRAS exists in some of its invented pseudo-reality. There is no

Russian attack in it. In it, the responsibility for the war is placed on

both sides, thereby equating the victim of aggression in his “guilt”

with the aggressor himself.

The position of the CRAS was already set out on February 25, 2022 in the

“Statement of the I.A.T. in the Russia region”:

“The ruling elites of Russia and Ukraine, instigated and provoked by

world capital, greedy for power and bloated with billions stolen from

the working people, came together in a deadly battle. Their thirst for

profit and domination is now paid for with their blood by ordinary

people” (

aitrus.info

This formula — “both sides are to blame” — was repeated later:

“In the current war, we are talking exclusively about the confrontation

between two states, two groups of capitalists, two nationalisms”

(“CRAS-MAT interview on the military conflict in Ukraine”, March 16,

2022.

aitrus.info

);

“As chaotic fighting between Russian-Donbass and Ukrainian forces

continues in Ukraine, there is growing resentment from the wives and

mothers of soldiers being sent to slaughter as cannon fodder for rival

oligarchies trying to continue the redivision of the ‘post-Soviet’

space” (“Women’s Protests : “There were even calls to lay down their

arms.” May 23, 2022.

aitrus.info

As already mentioned, the Russian leadership denied the fact of

aggression against Ukraine for years. In full accordance with Putin’s

rhetoric, since 2014 and until recently, the CRAS also did not recognize

any aggression, calling what is happening a “civil war”:

“The Ukrainian civil war dealt another heavy blow to those social forces

in Russia that call themselves “left”, “anti-fascist” or “anarchist

movement”. (…) These groups split into supporters of one of the

bourgeois camps, who clashed among themselves in the struggle for power

in Ukraine” (“The Ukrainian Crisis and the “Lefts”: Necessary

Explanations.” September 28, 2014.

aitrus.info

/3948).

The CRAS continued to use this term in 2015: “Both sides of the civil

war violated the Minsk agreements” (“Anti-war rally in Donetsk: “Go

away!”, June 16, 2015.

aitrus.info

). – By the way, in the same publication, another wonderful phrase from

the dictionary of Putin’s propaganda was used – “the Kyiv regime” (at

the same time, CRAS never mentions any “Moscow regime” or “Putin

regime”); “Rebellion against the arbitrariness of the military against

the background of the civil war in the country” (“Ukraine: Anti-war riot

in Konstantinovka”, March 18, 2015.

aitrus.info

This was repeated in 2016:

“We do not share the political views and beliefs of Ruslan Kotsaba, but

we appreciate his bold speeches against the civil war in Ukraine,

mobilizing the population for this war and inciting militaristic

hysteria in the country” (“Success of the international campaign:

Ukrainian critic of the war Ruslan Kotsaba at large, July 16, 2016,

aitrus.info

Another very important thesis of Putin’s propaganda is the denial of the

very existence of the Ukrainian people, the promotion of the concept

that “Russians and Ukrainians are one people, maybe with slight regional

differences in language.” CRAS cannot repeat illiterate statements like

“Ukraine was invented by Lenin when he worked in the Austrian General

Staff.” But even among Russian propagandists and top statesmen, this

monstrous absurdity is by no means voiced by everyone. Moreover, CRAS

figures, certified professional historians, cannot say such a thing.

They have to carefully choose their words in order to convey to their

audience the same thoughts about the “artificial origin of Ukrainians”

and about “one people”:

“History, culture and even the language of Russians and Ukrainians have

always been closely intertwined. The very word “Russian” originally

meant the Kievan state of the 9^(th) century! 30% of “Russians” have

relatives in Ukraine. (…) Many Ukrainians who are now being bombarded by

Russian bombs are Russian speakers! (…) Nationalists inflate differences

or even create them artificially by imposing the exclusive use of a

single language at the expense of multilingualism, so that yesterday’s

relatives and neighbors go to kill each other” (“Why is “No war between

peoples” a wrong slogan?”. 16 May 2022.

aitrus.info

Open anti-Ukrainian propaganda was carried out by the CRAS from the very

beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war (we recall that at first these

figures called it the “civil war in Ukraine”). This is how the

separatist pro-Russian “republics” and Ukraine were equated in the fall

of 2014:

“The regimes in the East of Ukraine are extremely repressive (like

Kyiv). International human rights organizations record numerous

violations of human rights in both zones of the country. (…) Censorship

is practiced and political opponents are harassed; there are arrests,

kidnappings and beatings of people. From both parts of Ukraine, there

are reports of forced mobilization into military formations or

“fortified works” (“The Ukrainian Crisis and the “Left”: Necessary

Explanations.” September 28, 2014.

aitrus.info

At the same time, the question of why, according to the UN, 1 million

228 thousand people left the Donbass occupied by Russia for independent

Ukraine, despite the supposedly identical “extremely repressive” policy

of the “two parts of Ukraine”, remains a mystery. there has never been a

flow of refugees in the opposite direction. Why in “Nazi Ukraine” there

are independent media, many different public organizations, marches of

feminists, sexual minorities, May Day is celebrated, in general, there

is a real civil society (with all its shortcomings and problems that no

one hides) — and in In the “people’s republics” of Donbass, all this is

strictly prohibited and suppressed by the “people’s authorities” using

the most terrorist methods.

After February 24, the CRAS website continues to scare its readers with

terrible horrors that allegedly occur in Ukraine:

“In Ukraine, anti-war protests are even more difficult than in Russia.

In addition to the repressions of the authorities, which have begun to

ban and arrest political opponents and adopt terrorist laws (including

punishments for “collaboration with the aggressor”, “looting” and “high

treason” from 15 years in prison to life imprisonment), the conditions

of hostilities themselves prevent protests. How to go to street actions

under a hail of Russian rockets and shells that pose a direct threat to

life? (“Anti-war protests in Russia and Ukraine.” March 30, 2022.

aitrus.info

The main thing here is not even “how to get out?”, But “why go out?”.

Why would Ukrainians “take to street actions” if the meaning of their

“anti-war protests” is zero in all respects? The goal of Russia in this

war is to seize the whole of Ukraine, subdue it, exterminate everything

Ukrainian, up to the physical destruction of all those who do not agree

with this prospect. This goal is practically not hidden, it has been

voiced more than once by the highest figures of the Russian government.

This goal is evident from the behavior of the Russian army in the

territories now occupied. Therefore, the “hail of Russian missiles and

shells” can stop ONLY the military defeat of Russia. CRAS ignores all of

this. The main thing is to tell as many terrible stories as possible

from the life of Ukraine, where, it turns out, some protests are “even

more difficult than in Russia.” In Russia! Where you can end up in jail

for throwing a plastic cup at a police officer, for a poster with the

inscription “Two words” (meaning “No war”), and even for appearing on

the street with blue and yellow balloons, the colors of the Ukrainian

flag.

Here is another example of terrible horrors about Ukraine from CRAS:

“The current Russian-Ukrainian military conflict has led to a wild

explosion of the most disgusting, cavernous nationalism on both sides of

the front line” (“Anti-war actions in Russia and Ukraine”, March 30,

2022.

aitrus.info

The author of these words, the most venerable doctor of science Vadim

Damier, visited my country for the last time almost a quarter of a

century ago, during an international meeting of Eastern European

anarchists in Lvov, in 1998. True, he spent most of the time during this

meeting making and using a certain product from local hemp (until he was

threatened with “stuffing his face” and the brew he prepared was thrown

away). But that doesn’t matter. Any events and processes in Ukraine are

best seen from Moscow, and the wise Moscow scientist is deeply convinced

of this. You, readers of the CRAS website, also believe in the “wild

explosion of disgusting nationalism” in the “Ukrainian caves”.

If the CRAS members do not have enough of their own words for

anti-Ukrainian hysteria, they post other people’s texts on their

website. Here is an example: the statement of the “International

Communist Current”. The document was published by Moscow anarcho

professors without any comments, although those who are familiar with

the practice of Damier and his friends in CRAS and MAT need not be

reminded with what care these people look for the slightest deviation

from their own views and statements, how easy it is they declare other

people “traitors” and “enemies”. In this case, nothing of the kind

happened, which means that the editors of the CRAS website fully share

what was said by the “international communists”:

“Thanks to an intense nationalist campaign, he [Zelensky] managed to arm

the population, sometimes by force, and recruit a whole group of

mercenaries and militants elevated to the rank of “heroes of the

nation.” As for the “heroic Ukrainian resistance”, it does what all the

armies of the world do: it kills, robs and does not hesitate to beat and

even execute prisoners!” (“Against the imperialist war – class

struggle!” April 14, 2022.

aitrus.info

Does everyone understand? It is not the Russian army that came to

Ukraine to kill, rob and execute, it is the Ukrainians themselves who

kill and rob themselves!

And, of course, CRAS could not pass over in silence one of the most

important points of Putin’s propaganda, the myth of “Nazi Ukraine”,

including the myth of the terrible “Nazis from the Azov Battalion”. This

topic was happily picked up by CRAS at the very beginning of the war,

almost simultaneously with the generals of Russian propaganda Solovyov,

Simonyan, Skabeeva and other scoundrels:

“The Azov Battalion is an openly neo-Nazi unit of the Ukrainian

‘National Guard’.” (“The Ukrainian Crisis and the “Left”: Necessary

Explanations.” September 28, 2014.

aitrus.info

“Openly ultra-nationalist and neo-fascist forces and groups seized

hegemony on the streets and in discourse” (“On the war in Ukraine and

social movements. Interview with the international secretary of the

CRAS”, April 6, 2015.

aitrus.info

And here is an even more frank statement, this time about the Nazis not

on the street or in the mysterious “discourse”, but in control of all of

Ukraine. CRAS website, reprint of the statement of the

Anarcho-Syndicalist Initiative (IWA branch in Serbia):

“It is clear that the trend towards the expansion of the most powerful

and aggressive military alliance in the world, NATO, into Ukraine, as

well as its support for the deliberately nazified regime created after

the 2014 coup in this country, served only as an excuse for Russia to

attack Ukraine, since the interests of Russian ruling class. (“Let’s

turn capitalist wars into a workers’ revolution!” March 5, 2022.

aitrus.info

Note that this is the only text published by the CRAS that directly

refers to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. And it is characteristic that this

text was not compiled by the Crasovites: for them, as we remember, there

is no attack, there is no aggression, there is only “confrontation

between two states”.

And again about Azov, already this year and again through the mouth of

CRAS:

“The Ukrainian troops also include openly pro-fascist armed formations,

such as, for example, Azov”; “Azov battalion, a formation originally

composed of neo-Nazis (with the SS Wolfsangel badge), but now welcoming

nationalists of all kinds” (“CRAS-MAT interview on the military conflict

in Ukraine.” March 16, 2022. https://aitrus. info/node/5933).

Here you need to pay attention to two points.

First. CRAS just doesn’t understand what they’re judging. No “Azov

battalion” simply exists, and for a very long time. As early as

September 17, 2014, this battalion was reorganized into the regiment of

the same name, which then became the Azov Separate Special Forces

Detachment. By the beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion, Azov

was a regular unit of the National Guard of Ukraine. Ethnic Ukrainians,

ethnic Russians, ethnic Georgians, Jews, Greeks, and so on served in its

composition, and the commander was ethnic Karelian Denis Prokopenko.

Perhaps this is what was meant by the words about “nationalists of all

kinds.” Indeed, for anti-Ukrainian propaganda, almost any citizen of

Ukraine who does not agree to submit to Russia is equal to a

nationalist.

“But there are many photos of “Azov” with Nazi symbols! But after all,

several captured “Azov” with Nazi tattoos were shown on Russian

television!”

Right.

Let’s be honest with ourselves:

Nazism is not tattoos. Nazism is not some symbols and icons, flags and

pictures. The Nazis are not those whom the Russian propaganda (and CRAS

after it) called the Nazis. The Nazis are those who massively kill and

rape civilians, men, women, children. The Nazis are those who destroy

entire cities and villages. The Nazis are those who “filter the

suspicious” in concentration camps, who deported hundreds of thousands

of people. The Nazis are the ones who unleashed the bloodiest war in

Europe since 1945. The Nazis are those who deny the right to exist to

entire peoples.

And these are not Ukrainians.

You need to look at business, not tattoos.

The only thing that the battalion, regiment, special forces detachment

“Azov” was engaged in was the protection of the people of Ukraine from

physical destruction, which was and is being carried by Russian

aggressors. Protecting people regardless of their ethnicity. If, on this

basis, someone considers them Nazis, and considers the genocide of the

multi-ethnic Ukrainian people to be anti-fascism, such a person is

simply insane.

Second. For some reason, it seems to me that the citizens of the

anarcho-professors from the Moscow CRAS should be more interested and

worried about nationalism and Nazism in their own country. The CRAS

website could tell about the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the

Russian Federation Dmitry Rogozin, who quite recently, less than ten

years ago, spoke at rallies with speeches that “Moscow is a city for

Russians” and publicly “threw ridges” (https: /

/www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7FUpOyEdHw). About the Rusich sabotage and

reconnaissance assault groups ), which consist of ideological Russian

Nazis and have been participating in the war against Ukraine since the

summer of 2014. About the militants of the Nazi “Russian National Unity”

who went to war this spring (

www.youtube.com

There is nothing of the kind in the publications and statements of the

CRAS. The problem of Nazism in Russia simply does not exist for Russian

“anarcho-syndicalists”.

In the same way as the leading mass media of the Russian Federation do

not say anything about this.

A touching unanimity between Damier and Skabeeva, isn’t it?

There is another topic that does not make sense to look for in CRAS

publications. This is the topic of war crimes of the Russian army in the

occupied territories.

When at the beginning of April 2022 the whole world was numb from the

horror that opened up in the cities liberated from the Russian Nazis

near Kyiv — in Bucha, Irpin, Gostomel, Borodianka — CRAS kept silent

about it. Ignored. It would be too stupid to deny this horror, as the

official propagandists did (“It was the Ukrainians themselves who killed

themselves!”). I had to pretend that this simply did not happen, but

there was nothing to comment on.

Sometimes silence is much more eloquent and much more important than

words. This is exactly the case.

And further. When the Ukrainian army goes on the counteroffensive, when

it liberates Mariupol, Berdyansk, Kherson and other cities now captured

by the Russian Nazis, there will be much more mass graves and corpses of

people thrown in the streets with their hands tied and shot in the back

of the head. Before the war, these cities were larger than little Bucha,

which means that there will be more deaths there. You don’t have to be a

prophet to know this.

But RED will remain silent even then. To know this, it is enough to know

the people from CRAS.

---

“But CRAS is conducting internationalist and anti-war propaganda! But

CRAS is calling for an end to the war!”

Right. CRAS talks about it. For example:

“We urge the soldiers sent to fight not to shoot at each other and even

more so not to open fire on the civilian population. We urge them to

refuse en masse to carry out the criminal orders of their commanders.

STOP THIS WAR! BAYONET TO THE GROUND! We call on people in the rear on

both sides of the front, the working people of Russia and Ukraine not to

support this war, not to help it — on the contrary, to resist it with

all their might! Don’t go to war! Not a single ruble, not a single

hryvnia from our pockets for the war! Strike against this war if you

can! (“Statement of the M.A.T. section in the Russia region” (February

25, 2022.

aitrus.info

Words are beautiful in their abstraction. But where is the action?

Suppose the members of the CRAS really did not give “a single hryvnia”

to the war. But did they refuse to pay taxes, even if only in “one

ruble”? Did the leading researcher of the Institute of World History of

the Russian Academy of Sciences V.V. Damier? How many days has the

associate professor of Moscow University and the leading specialist of

the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History D.I. Rublev?

Or do they “can’t”?

However, CRAS claims that in early March, “two of our comrades were

detained and fined” (“CRAS-MAT interview on the military conflict in

Ukraine”, March 16, 2022.

aitrus.info

). But neither the names of these people, nor any other evidence is

given. With the same success, they could talk about “twenty arrested and

eighty executed comrades.” And I could argue that for its position on

the war, CRAS received a cash bonus from the authorities (why — we will

talk about this a little later). I have no grounds for making such

statements, and I do not make them. CRAS has no reason either, but CRAS

talks about it.

Following the release of the M.A.T. 75 days have passed in the Russia

region. Seventy-five days of non-stop bombing and killing of Ukrainians

by the Russians. And CRAS decided to give new advice, this time to only

one side of the war. Advice carelessly disguised as a supposed fact:

“The main method of resisting the war on the part of the Ukrainian

population is to refuse to participate in it” (“Anti-war protests in

Russia and Ukraine continue.” May 11, 2022.

aitrus.info

Again, two points need to be noted here.

First. Refusal to participate in the war — all these “bayonets to the

ground”, “do not shoot”, “do not go to war” — can have two results.

If the Russian army heeds this call, lays down its arms and goes home,

the war will stop and peace will come.

If the Ukrainian army listens to this call, if it lays down its arms and

goes home, Russia will occupy all of Ukraine without a fight and a

single grandiose Bucha will begin on its entire territory. The death

toll will reach millions.

Everything is very simple. And there is only one way to end the war: the

complete military defeat of the Russian army and the Putin regime.

Fortunately, the “Ukrainian population”, or rather, the Ukrainian

people, to which I have the honor to belong, understands this very well

and intends not to surrender, but to destroy the invaders until the last

armed Russian soldier leaves for his country.

Second. Around the same time that CRAS was giving interviews “about the

military conflict”, telling scary stories about “Ukrainian Nazis from

the Azov battalion” and calling for “sticking bayonets into the ground,”

Vladimir Putin, who calls himself Russian President, also turned to the

Ukrainian military. He suggested that they “arrest a gang of Nazis and

drug addicts that have settled in Kyiv”, after which “it will be

possible to agree.”

The words and, perhaps, the intentions of Putin and Damier and his

friends are different. Not very strong, but different. The result of

following their advice would be the same.

Bucha.

---

I repeat once again what was said at the very beginning of this text:

CRAS supports most of the most important propaganda theses of the ruling

regime in Russia regarding the war, regarding Ukraine.

CRAS talks about “Ukrainian Nazism”, about “one people” and “the

Ukrainian nation does not exist”, about “Ukraine’s fault for starting

the war” (even if, from the point of view of CRAS, Russia is also a

little to blame), and more recently – and about the “civil war in

Ukraine”.

And the CRAS is silent about exactly the same things that the Russian

authorities and Russian propaganda are silent about. About war crimes

and massacres, about deportations, about Russian Nazism, about the open

dictatorship of Putin and his gang in Russia itself.

CRAS fully deserves to be considered and called a group of

anarcho-Putinists.

I see the only explanation for this: in fact, the CRAS is collaborating

with the Putin regime.

It is unlikely that the leaders of the CRAS are direct secret agents of

the Russian special services. What they call “snitches”. This is,

however, very doubtful.

But here’s what I personally have no doubt — the leading figure of the

CRAS Vadim Damier (at least he is the only one) is what they call

“agents of influence.” That is, a person whose fame, position, abilities

and reputation are used to introduce into the minds of certain social

groups such views, ideas and concepts that are needed by the ruling

regime, and / or its special services, and / or their individual groups.

They are used to find out the reaction of the society to the information

“stuffing” made by such agents. Used for other “delicate assignments”.

An obvious example of an agent of influence is the already mentioned FSB

colonel Igor Strelkov. Its task is to unite and mobilize the most

conservative, the most dense sections of Russian society, proudly

calling themselves patriots and nationalists, for the “fight for Russia,

against the West”. Warn the Russian leadership about the dangerous

consequences of his actions (where Strelkov’s handlers for some reason

find it inconvenient or impossible to speak on their own). If necessary,

to carry out purely military tasks where the open presence of the

Russian army is undesirable. As it was in the Donbass in 2014. For this,

Strelkov is allowed much of what is inaccessible to mere mortals: to be

an oppositionist, to create and lead opposition parties and movements,

to fiercely criticize the government and its individual representatives,

up to the Emperor Vladimir the First himself. And he is not subjected to

any persecution, even a symbolic fine. Although other citizens of Russia

are often imprisoned even for using the word “war” in the context of

current events.

Damier as an agent of influence has a different task. He does not work

within Russian society, because even among the overwhelming majority of

Russian anarchists he does not enjoy the slightest authority. Its target

audience is abroad. Foreign, primarily European anarchists and other

“leftists” (I don’t know what “leftists” are in the realities of the

21^(st) century, but they call themselves that). His task is to carry

Putin’s propaganda to this environment. Ultimately, to influence Western

society in order to spread pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian ideas in it.

Of course, this propaganda is adapted to the terminology and the system

of views of anarchists and “leftists”. For this, Damier is allowed much

of what is inaccessible to mere mortals: to be an oppositionist, to lead

an anarchist organization, to criticize the government and its

individual actions, even declare itself an opponent of the war. And he

is not subjected to any persecution, at least a symbolic fine, on the

contrary, he continues to make a successful career in the state system

(supposedly) hated by him. Although other citizens of Russia are often

imprisoned for the mere self-identification of themselves as anarchists.

In addition to a completely prosperous existence under the conditions of

the Putin regime, Strelkov and Damier have one more thing in common:

both of them seem to believe in what they say. This is also

understandable and easy to explain. The agent of influence must be

persuasive. And self-righteousness is perhaps the best way to influence

your audience. Therefore, the curators of both can only offer them to

focus on this or that circumstance, but in no case can they demand to

voice or do something that contradicts the beliefs of agents of

influence. As one brave Gascon said to one cardinal of France, “I would

be badly received here and looked badly at me there if I accepted your

proposal, your grace.”

However, there is one important difference between Strelkov and Damier,

in addition to a different target audience and everything connected with

it.

Igor Strelkov is a subjectively honest and direct person, a brave

military officer, which he proved with his deeds. This is an enemy that

deserves some respect. Perhaps, when after the trial they will hang him,

they will show all the military honors due to the officer.

Vadim Damier is a cunning, deceitful and extremely cowardly creature,

which is well known to everyone who knows him personally. Always

avoiding the slightest risk for himself, but not shy about “teaching the

life” of other people. I remember how a long time ago, in 1996, when

there was still a semblance of personal human relations between us, he

listened to my story about the general strike of Donbass miners, about

our Ukrainian anarchist-syndicalists, participation in it, about the

defeat of this struggle, — after which he said: “You should have raised

an armed uprising.” “But all of us would have been destroyed within two

days!” I replied. “Of course. But we, our International, would then make

heroes out of you, they would write memories about you and sing songs.

Vadik, I know that you are reading this text now. Show that you are not

an agent of influence, not a coward and not an empty place. Go to the

barracks and hand out leaflets to the Russian soldiers about “turning

the bayonets against the authorities” until you are arrested. Become a

hero. Do for once in your life what you demanded from others. I’ll even

sing a song about you. Then.

---

How successful are Damier and CRAS as agents of influence of the Putin

regime, as anarcho-Putins? Are there any results of their pro-Russian

propaganda in the West?

There is.

People who are in the subject know well HOW MUCH there are fans of

Russia among foreign anarchists, Marxists, anti-authoritarian

socialists, environmentalists and simply “leftists”. How strong among

them are the myths about “Ukrainian Nazis”, about the notorious “Azov

battalion”, about the “Kyiv junta”, “military coup on the Maidan in

2014”, “persecution of Russians” and simply about “Ukrainian fascism”.

This information could get to them in two ways. Or through the Russian

state TV channel “Russia Today”, but they do not watch it, rightly not

trusting the state propaganda. Either from Damier and similar agents of

influence.

The funny thing is that it simply doesn’t occur to them to ask the

opinion of Ukrainian anarchists, Marxists, anti-authoritarian

socialists, environmentalists and just “leftists”. What for? There is

Damier and CRAS, they are in Russia, it is practically the same as in

Ukraine, and if the Ukrainian “leftists” say something else, then they

are somehow suspicious. Perhaps in reality they themselves are fascists

or, at best, nationalists. After all, this is how Damier speaks of them.

I remember well how in 2014–2015 European anarchist websites and

magazines in great numbers rushed to interview about the events in

Ukraine (Euromaidan, separatist uprisings, the outbreak of war) ... from

Moscow anarchist professors. The anarchists of Ukraine simply did not

exist for them at that time. This situation began to improve only around

2016. But many people already have an opinion.

Above is a quote from a statement by Serbian pro-Russian anarchists.

Here is another text, from a Bulgarian anarchist. Who, of course,

considers himself an internationalist, but understands nothing about the

events taking place in Ukraine and repeats the thesis about “the equal

guilt of the two oligarchic clans.”

“Today, the rulers of the world are again sending two peoples to the

slaughter of war (...) On both sides of the front line, brothers from

the “lower classes” fight and die for the interests of “their” rulers

and oligarchs. The real enemy is they, inside each of the warring

states. In this bloodshed and devastation, we are for revolutionary

defeatism,” and so on and so forth (Georgi Konstantinov. “Comrade

Anarchists!” March 11, 2022.

www.anarchy.bg

But the anarchists from the Spanish women’s group “Moiras” are

interested in CRAS how to solve an unsolvable problem, how to explain to

their Spanish population that it is not Putin who is to blame for the

war, but someone else, for example, the aggressive NATO bloc:

“In the countries of the European Union, the media, echoing the

governments, constantly repeat to us that Putin is solely responsible

for this war. Knowing the history of NATO led by the United States, we

think that this is not so. How can we explain this to our population

without making it seem like we are justifying the Russian attack and

supporting the Putin government?” (“CRAS-MAT interview on the military

conflict in Ukraine.” March 16, 2022.

aitrus.info

Senorita, but it’s very easy to explain. It is enough to prove that

Ukraine was attacked, Ukraine is being destroyed, Ukraine is being

killed — not by Russian troops, but by yours, the Spanish! Together with

American, Belgian and other Albanian-Montenegrin ones. In general, NATO

is to blame. Prove. Russian propagandists will definitely help you in

this noble cause.

One more statement. This time from MAT, but still taking Russia away

from responsibility for the horror of the war in which the Ukrainian

people found themselves, and hiding the essence of what is happening

behind meaningless verbiage:

“There are those who continue to think that some are only defending

themselves from the aggressor, in self-defense. But one can speak about

the aggressors and the attacked only in the mental framework of WE and

THEM. Because in the final analysis it is always about US, workers,

people. Regardless of the language we speak, the land we live in, or the

laws we are subject to. We are brothers and sisters who live only by the

strength of our hands and minds. (“May Day Statement of the I.A.T.

2022,” May 1, 2022.

aitrus.info

Directly while working on this text, I received a letter from a friend

from Greece. Here is what he writes: “I want to ask you, what is your

opinion about the Russian anarchist group CRAS? In Greece, in recent

weeks, a couple of their texts have been published, in which the

majority of Ukrainian anarchists are declared nationalists and far-right

(…) After the “Borotba”, which still has some support among the Greek

left, now this group of CRAS is also throwing mud at the anarchists of

the region.” — Briefly, I have already answered my friend, what is my

opinion about the Russian group CRAS. Now he has the opportunity to read

the detailed answer.

And here are the direct results of the anarcho-Putin propaganda. These

are no longer words and statements, but actions and deeds. Statement by

the Anti-Militarist Assembly of Turin, which brings together trade union

and political activists:

“To resist the state of military emergency, the increase in military

spending, the shipment of weapons to the Ukrainian government; to fight

for the withdrawal of all military forces from abroad, for the closure

and reconversion of the military industry, for the opening of borders

for all refugees and migrants — this is a concrete and urgent front of

struggle. General strike, boycott and blockade of military bases and

death factories!” (“Italy: against wars and those who supply them with

weapons!” April 13, 2022.

aitrus.info

A month and a half later, the “grassroots trade unions of Italy”

actually held a general strike “against the war, the economy of war and

the government of war.” During the day, almost all transport did not

work — railways, air and sea companies, public transport. The strike was

under the slogan, among other things, of refusing to send weapons to

Ukraine. (“Italy: General strike against the “policy of war” of NATO and

the government of the banker Draghi.” May 26, 2022.

aitrus.info

A similar situation occurs in Greece. In April, it was reported in the

news that the Greek Port Workers’ Union had refused to service any ships

carrying military supplies for Ukraine. This text was not prepared then,

I did not save the link, but if one of the readers can confirm this

unpleasant fact, I will be grateful.

So the anarcho-Putin propaganda of the CRAS and its friends in the MAT

works and brings results. In different countries of the world, it has a

fairly noticeable impact on certain groups of the population, on public

opinion in general. In Greece and Italy, it leads to the sabotage of aid

to Ukraine — which, of course, means not the end of the war, but more

deaths for civilians and military, more destruction and violence.

Regardless of the intentions and motives of trade unionists in these

countries.

The owners of the anarchist Ph.D. Damier can be pleased with the work he

has done on the propaganda front. In their place, I would write out a

prize for the Moscow anarcho-Putinites.

Thirty pieces of silver.

Well deserved.

---

The last part of this text will be devoted to the analysis of the

question of what is the MAT and why this international

anarcho-syndicalist organization has become a shame of the anarchist

movement, which has no precedent in history. The publication will take

place as soon as possible.

The reposting of this text, translation into other languages and its

widest distribution are welcome.