Abstract
Volunteer militias of young people wearing red armbands have grown into an increasingly common sight in Russia during the last five years. They patrol the streets for what they consider violations of public order, persecuting the transgressors. The militias emerged from a combination of central, regional and local government support, and from grass-roots activism. This chapter uses newspapers, television broadcasts, legal documents, political statements, legislation and digital media such as websites to examine the public discourse about these volunteer patrols. I focus in particular on youth engagement in militia activities, and do not discuss the special cases of Orthodox Church and Cossack patrol groups.
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Tsipursky, G. (2016). Public Discourse and Volunteer Militias in Post-Soviet Russia. In: Schwartz, M., Winkel, H. (eds) Eastern European Youth Cultures in a Global Context. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137385130_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137385130_16
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