This was kind of funny. I think Donahue was trying to let reality slip past his censor when he let this through:
The group said "the first person to issue a genuine challenge to the regime of oligarchic capitalism by strengthening the state was Vladimir Putin."
This is true, you know.
(It's also hilarious to call a motley group of lunatics and opportunists the political opposition. They are not the political opposition, the political opposition is the Communist Party [website here: http://www.cprf.ru/ )and the Movement Against Illegal Immigration.)
--- Michael Givel <mgivel at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aDy15GnKqYcw&refer=europe
>
> U.K. Complains to Russia, Says Pro-Putin Youths
> Harassing Envoy
>
> By Patrick Donahue
>
> Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The British Embassy in Moscow
> has lodged a
> complaint with the Russian Foreign Ministry because
> the U.K. ambassador,
> Anthony Brenton, has been pursued by protesters from
> a youth group that
> backs the extension of state control by President
> Vladimir Putin.
>
> The Russian government ``has assured us that our
> concerns are being
> addressed urgently and we look forward to that
> happening,'' embassy
> spokesman Anjoum Noorani said today in a telephone
> interview.
>
> The group, Nashi, is conducting a campaign of
> harassment against Brenton
> to protest his meeting with members of Russia's
> political opposition
> before the Group of Eight summit in July in the
> Russian city of St.
> Petersburg, the Financial Times reported today.
> Nashi leaders meet
> regularly with Putin and his deputy chief of staff,
> Vladislav Surkov,
> the newspaper reported.
>
> The complaint adds to the strain on U.K.-Russian
> ties that has developed
> since the fatal radiation poisoning of Putin critic
> Alexander
> Litvinenko, a former spy for Russia's FSB secret-
> service agency who
> died in London on Nov. 23. In a statement two days
> before his death,
> Litvinenko, who had become a British citizen, blamed
> Putin for the
> contamination with polonium 210.
>
> Nashi members have blocked the ambassador's car,
> waved banners and
> shouted abuse at him since the G8 summit, FT said.
> It cited Brenton as
> saying the group's campaign is ``professionally
> done'' and ``borders on
> violence.''
>
> ``We are happy to discuss civil society issues with
> Nashi, and the
> ambassador has already invited them to do so, but
> they declined,''
> Noorani said.
>
> Nashi, which means ``Our Own,'' identifies itself as
> an ``anti-fascist''
> youth group that supports Putin's expansion of the
> state in opposition
> to what it calls ``oligarchic capitalism,''
> according to its charter,
> published by Russia's Interfax news agency April 15.
> The group said
> ``the first person to issue a genuine challenge to
> the regime of
> oligarchic capitalism by strengthening the state was
> Vladimir Putin.''
>
> To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick
> Donahue in London at
> pdonahue1 at bloomberg.net .
>
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