The first mention of the Nashi youth movement, created on the initiative of the Presidential Administration in 2005, already had a negative connotation. The article in the newspaper "Kommersant" was called "Ordinary" Nashism "by analogy with the famous film" Ordinary Fascism ". This movement did not emerge on empty grounds and was reorganized from another pro-Kremlin youth movement, Walking Together, which by that time had already discredited itself sufficiently by numerous provocations and humiliation of opponents.
"Walking Together" was headed by Vasily Yakimenko, a man with a dubious reputation, who used highly controversial methods of political struggle, propaganda and PR. After rebranding, Yakimenko headed the Nashi movement until 2007, after which he was appointed head of Rosmolodezh. The new movement was created in a difficult foreign policy situation - in 2005 NATO expanded to the East, and this alliance was joined by Russia's closest neighbors - Georgia and Ukraine, in which the so-called "color" revolutions took place.
The state had no other choice but to distract young people from revolutionary sentiments, organize them and direct the energy of this very radical stratum of society in the direction needed by the authorities. Vladislav Surkov, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, met with several dozen young people appointed by the "commissars" of the Nashi movement, which testified to the importance of the tasks assigned to the movement.
But this movement never became a real “youth” movement in the broad sense of the word. In its ranks it was rare to meet serious, adult and responsible people. If they were, then these are those who used Nashi as a launching pad for their further political career, such as the same Yakimenko.
Composed of high school and college students, the Nashi movement has used rather dubious methods to achieve its goals. And this is natural - in the bulk of its members were individuals who were not yet formed and irresponsible. Therefore, there was nothing surprising in the persecution that they arranged for the opponents of the regime, and in that naive self-promotion with the use of Photoshop, which provoked deserved ridicule of their political opponents.
The activities of the movement consisted of various projects. In particular, it was engaged in the training of management personnel, education of tolerance, preparation for army service, public legal activities, etc. Annually, Nashi held their forum in Seliger, where various sections worked. The movement was financed from the federal budget.
In April 2012, the founder of the movement, Vasily Yakimenko, announced the dissolution of Nashi, but his activities are likely to continue in a new form - as a political party with a different name.
