Radical Actionist Association

A left-wing radical actionist group that has been functioning since the beginning of 2007. Gained fame thanks to a series of outrageous and radical performances. In 2011 she became the winner of the art award "Innovation".

The emergence of an art group

The art group "War" (in the works of the members of the group it is customary to write its name without quotes) was created on the initiative of a graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University (MSU) Oleg Vorotnikov (nickname Thief), who was later called the "founding father" , , , . Back in 2005, Vorotnikov and Natalya Sokol (nicknamed Koza) created the Sokoleg art group, which was engaged in outdoor photography (according to other sources, avant-garde fashion) and performances on the topic of paradigm shifts in art. In the spring of 2006, they met the artist Anton Nikolaev, the leader of the Bombily art group, with whom they began an active collaboration. The headquarters of the joint project became one of the workshops of the prominent action artist Oleg Kulik, who, however, denied using any of his own ideas in the performances of the group,,.

In early 2007, the most radical and politically minded project participants, led by Vorotnikov and Sokol, organized the War group,. Initially, the art group "Voina" was supposed to be left-wing, "since there was no left spectrum in Russian art at all" . At the same time, it was later emphasized that the political component of the project was more important than the artistic part.

Major stocks 2007-2010

In February 2007, the first performance of "War" took place - a performance of "Thugs" at the Zverev Center for Contemporary Art, where the group was invited to the opening of the exhibition "Military Actions". During the performance, three participants of the "War" were cast in such a way that they formed a single sculptural group, which was then allowed to ride on ice cream briquettes ("frozen mud under the tank tracks").

Shortly thereafter, "War" and "Bombillas", as well as actionist Sergei (Emelyan) Gdal, created the "Street Art Trade Union". On May 1, 2007, Voina, with the assistance of Bombil, held the Mordovian Hour event at the McDonald's restaurant on Serpukhovskaya Square in Moscow. Activists of the art group shouting "Free cash desk!" pelted the restaurant counters with live cats, which was "a gift to the low-paid fast food labor force, deprived of rest and enjoyment of modern radical art on a holiday." This action also contained a reference to the protest activities of Western anti-globalists, for whom the McDonald's restaurant chain is one of the symbols of globalization, , , , . .

Over the following months, Voina activists held several more actions, and also took part in a number of performances, the main organizer of which was Bombily. In early July 2007, "Voina" was supposed to hold a joint performance with the famous figure of the artistic avant-garde Dmitry Prigov: it was assumed that the activists of the group would bring a closet with Prigov sitting inside to the twenty-second floor of the student dormitory of Moscow State University, who was supposed to conduct a poetic dialogue with his own notes. However, the action did not take place - it was forbidden by the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University, and immediately on the eve of the performance, Prigov was hospitalized, a few days later he died,,. At the end of August of the same year, Voina, with the participation of Bombil, held the Feast event - a wake for Prigov, laying tables in the Moscow metro car,,. Subsequently, in February 2008, "Pir" was repeated on three metro lines in Kyiv, after the authorities of the Ukrainian capital initiated the closure of the "Common Space" exhibition, in which, in particular, a video recording of the Moscow commemoration for Prigov was shown,.

Since that time, the political component of the activities of the "War" has become obvious. In 2007, its activists participated in Saratov in the "March of Dissent" - a speech by opponents of President Vladimir Putin - with the slogan "I want to eat halva, I want to sit on the Putka" (attributed to the poet Alexander Brener). In November 2007, on the eve of the elections to the State Duma, "Voina" held an unauthorized action "PP (Monument to Prigov vs Putin's Plan)" at the opening of the Non-Fiction fair in the Moscow Central House of Artists: activists of the group unexpectedly descended along a stretched banner from the mezzanine floor of the exhibition center with live sheep in their hands, .

In December 2007 (according to other sources, in February 2008), active cooperation between Voina and Bombil ceased. This was due to the fact that while the Nikolaev group planned to work outside Moscow with local groups, Voina preferred to work in the capital - partly counting on the press's reaction to its activities. In addition, Nikolaev himself admitted that by this time he was tired of engaging in "clown actionism". At the same time, the philologist and author of works on obscene vocabulary Alexey Plutser-Sarno joined the group.

At the end of February 2008, a few days before the presidential election, which was won by Dmitry Medvedev, "Voina" held one of its most famous actions - a group orgy at the Biological Museum in Moscow against the backdrop of the slogan "F***ing for the heir Bear ", , , (with similar slogans, members of the "War" participated in the same days in the rally of the pro-Kremlin movement "Young Guard" and in the Moscow opposition "march of dissent"). The members of the group described the action at the Biological Museum as "parting words to the young leader, all possible support for the Little Bear at the beginning of a long path" . A photo report about the action was published on the Plutser-Sarno blog (reports about the further activities of the "War" also appeared there), in connection with which a criminal case was opened against him for distributing pornography. No corpus delicti was found in the actions of the protesters themselves, but later there were reports that the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation had re-opened a case regarding the orgy in the museum.

Immediately before the inauguration of the new President Medvedev, in early May 2008, Voina organized a new action: its participants broke into the police station in Bolshevo near Moscow, hung a large portrait of Medvedev and began to read Prigov's texts dedicated to the police.

In the future, the theme of law enforcement took a significant place in the activities of the group. So, in July 2008, the action "Cop in a priest's cassock" took place, during which Vorotnikov, dressed in a cassock over a police uniform and personifying "an ambivalent creature who is allowed to do anything," collected a large amount of food in the Seventh Continent supermarket and carried it out with impunity them without paying , ; subsequently it was indicated that this action anticipated the story of police major Denis Yevsyukov, who in the spring of the following year staged the execution of buyers in a supermarket. In May 2009, on the first day of the trial of the organizers of the scandalous exhibition "Forbidden Art-2006" Yuri Samodurov and Andrey Erofeev, the participants in the "War" unexpectedly performed the song "All cops are bastards!" in the courtroom. , , which was condemned by both the lawyers of the accused and the human rights activists present, in particular, Lev Ponomarev, (at the same time, "Voina" had previously held actions against the persecution of the curators of "Forbidden Art"; for example, in May 2008, the group staged a performance near the prosecutor's office , where Erofeev was interrogated).

Two actions carried out by Voina at the end of 2008 received a significant response. On the night of November 7, several activists of the group projected an image of a skull and bones onto the House of the Government of the Russian Federation, after which other members of the activists climbed over the fence of the government residence, freely crossed its courtyard, and then disappeared , , , . The following month, Voina sealed with steel sheets the entrance to the Oprichnik restaurant, which, according to some sources, belonged to pro-Kremlin journalist Mikhail Leontiev,; in January 2009, a criminal case was opened on this fact. During the same period, some fighters for the rights of sexual minorities joined the group; in addition, "Voina" began to cooperate more actively with Moscow anarchists and anti-fascists.

War also continued to use the theme of supermarkets (as Plutzer-Sarno later stated, this was due to the fact that "a supermarket is a public space where a stage is ready, a theater is ready, spectators are ready, confrontation is ready, and certain situations can be played there. "). In September 2008, the group imitated the hanging of homosexuals and guest workers in one of the Auchan hypermarkets,; it became "a symbolic gift to the mayor of Moscow, Luzhkov, as a token of his merits in spreading xenophobia, homophobia and nationalism in the city." In 2009-2010, the participants in the War, who publicly admitted that they usually steal food in stores, carried out actions to consume or take away food in supermarkets in a number of European countries and the United States, posing as hungry illegal migrants from Russia, which was a kind of testing the tolerance of society in these countries, . In the summer of 2010, "Voina" held a ritualized removal of frozen chicken from one of the supermarkets in St. Petersburg.

In June 2009, there was a scandal associated with the participation of the "Voina" group in the exhibition "Russian lettrism" curated by Andrey Erofeev at the Central House of Artists. On the eve of the opening of the exhibition, the director of the exhibition center Vasily Bychkov demanded to dismantle the "War" exposition, dedicated, among other things, to the group's action in the Biological Museum. As a result, there was a skirmish between the participants of the "War" and the guards, and, as reported, some of the exhibits were damaged; nevertheless, the "War" exposition was removed,.

At the beginning of 2010, Leonid Nikolaev, an activist of the opposition movement Solidarity, a member of the political council of his Moscow association, joined the "main staff" of the "Voina" group. In May 2010, at the height of public protests against the excessive use of special signals on cars, Nikolaev walked out with a blue bucket on his head, symbolizing a flasher, onto the road near the Kremlin and ran over the hood and roof of a Federal Security Service (FSO) car moving with a special signal; over the next days, a video of Nikolaev's speech was widely distributed on the Internet,. At the end of May, Nikolaev was kidnapped by FSO officers, but soon released after being charged with hooliganism. Although in the future the court refused to accept the case of Nikolaev for consideration in connection with violations of the norms when collecting evidence of his guilt, the Voina activist himself from that time actually switched to an "illegal position" and was hiding from law enforcement agencies.

In June 2010, a new resonant action "Voina" was held in St. Petersburg: in protest against increased security measures on the eve of the International Economic Forum, activists of the group painted a huge phallus measuring 65 meters long and 27 meters wide on the Liteiny Bridge. After the bridge was pulled apart, the raised image of the phallus appeared in front of the windows of the Office of the Federal Security Service for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region,,,,. Nikolaev was detained during the action and fined for petty hooliganism. The action became widely known due to the spread of information about it in blogs: the message about it held the first place in the main blog ratings for several days.

In connection with the activities of Voina, blogs and the press regularly discussed why the activists of the group were not detained by the police, and if they were detained, they were soon released. The members of the "War" themselves explained this by the fact that all their actions were carefully planned in order to avoid even a minimal risk,,.

In September 2010, the "War" action "Palace coup" took place in St. Petersburg, the purpose of which was "to show how the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs should be carried out." During the action, the activists of the group overturned several police cars, and at that moment there were policemen inside some of the cars,,.

Persecution of "War" (since 2010)

Soon after the "Palace coup" was carried out, a case was opened against the main activists of "War" under article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (hooliganism committed by a group of persons by prior agreement), members of the group were put on the wanted list,. On November 15, 2010, Vorotnikov, Sokol and Nikolaev were detained in Moscow and interrogated at the "E" center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs involved in the fight against extremism. Soon Sokol was released, and Vorotnikov and Nikolaev were sent to an isolation cell in St. Petersburg,,,. In the same month, it became known that Plutser-Sarno left Russia, fearing persecution.

The action "Palace coup" and the subsequent arrest of Vorotnikov and Nikolaev caused a heated discussion in the press about the boundaries of what should be treated primarily as art. Many artists and critics admitted that the action was a criminal act. At the same time, a number of artists and journalists came out in support of "War", recognizing its right to radical actionism, and called for the rejection of punishment, or at least for its mitigation,,,.

Already in December 2010, several events were held in support of the "War". In particular, blogger Vagif Abdilov, who lived in Norway, organized the issue of custom-made stamps of the Norwegian Royal Mail, which depicted the group's action on Liteiny Bridge,. In the middle of the month, the British street artist Banksy arranged an online sale of reproductions of one of his works and announced the transfer of the proceeds from the sale in the amount of about 90 thousand pounds (approximately 4.5 million rubles) to help "War" ,,. On December 18, a small rally was held in Moscow in defense of the group, in which many famous artists and art journalists participated,. Subsequently, in mid-February 2011, a well-known rock musician Yuri Shevchuk published a video message in support of the leaders of the War.

The terms of detention of Vorotnikov and Nikolaev were extended until February 21 and 22, 2011, when the court of the Dzerzhinsky district of St. Petersburg agreed to release them on bail of three hundred thousand rubles for each,,,. A month after the release, Vorotnikov and Nikolaev said that they had transferred the money collected as a result of the actions of Abdilov and Banksy to help two political prisoners, as well as one of their former cellmates, whose charges, in their opinion, were fabricated.

As it became known, on March 3, 2011, Vorotnikov, Nikolaev and Sokol in the center of St. Petersburg were attacked by persons who introduced themselves as employees of the criminal investigation department,. At the end of March, in connection with this incident, a criminal case was opened under the article "beatings".

On March 31, 2011, several participants in the "War", including Vorotnikov, Sokol and even their little son, were detained for several hours during an unauthorized opposition "march of dissent",. On April 14, a second criminal case was opened against Vorotnikov: he was accused of hooliganism, the use of violence against a representative of the authorities and insulting a representative of the authorities,. In July 2011, it became known that a criminal case under Article 319 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (insulting a government official) was also opened against Natalia Sokol for her behavior on the "march of dissent".

In April 2011, the Voina group became the winner of the Russian art award "Innovation": the action on the Liteiny Bridge was recognized as the best "Work of Visual Art". The organizers of the award tried to exclude "War" from the list of nominees, citing non-compliance with the regulations, but under public pressure they were forced to return it to the list of contenders for the award,. Received as the main prize 400 thousand rubles "Voina" handed over to the interregional human rights association "Agora", which was going to use them to "protect civil activists." The lawyers of this association also helped the art group itself.

Vorotnikov did not appear for interrogations and in July 2011 he was put on the international wanted list, arrested in absentia, and his bail of 300 thousand rubles was seized in favor of the state,,. At the end of August 2011, it became known that Sokol was put on the federal wanted list. Two months later, she was detained, but released a few hours later, and disappeared again, after which, in early December, Sokol, who was eight months pregnant, was put on the international wanted list and arrested in absentia (although on December 27 the decision to arrest was canceled) . At the same time, in October 2011, it became known that on September 1, the criminal prosecution of Vorotnikov and Nikolaev, which began after the "Palace coup" action, was terminated due to the fact that the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation incriminated to them did not correspond to the actions committed by him,,,,. In this regard, on October 24, the decision to withdraw bail for Vorotnikov was canceled. Subsequently, the investigation into the case of the "Palace coup" was repeatedly resumed, and then suspended again,,,,.

On December 31, 2011, on New Year's Eve, Voina activists, as a "gift to political prisoners", held a "Mento-Auto-Da-Fe" or "Fucking Prometheus" action near one of the St. Petersburg police stations, during which they set fire to police car for transporting prisoners "Ural" , , , . A few days later, in connection with this incident, a criminal case was initiated under Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Hooliganism".

"Moscow faction" art group

At the end of 2009, one of the most active participants in the project, Pyotr Verzilov, was expelled from Voina, who allegedly condoned the arrest of actionist Alexander Volodarsky (known by his “nickname” Shiitman) during an imitation of copulation near the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in protest against the activities of the National Expert Commission on the protection of public morality (according to the activists of the "Voina" Verzilov proceeded from the fact that the conviction of Volodarsky could become a "cool PR" for the art group),. Subsequently, Verzilov and the actionists who joined him (including his wife Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, nicknamed Tolokno) continued to perform under the name "Wars", which actually led to the opposition of two projects of the same name,. In relation to the Verzilov group, the name "Moscow faction of the Voina group" was also used.

One of the most notable actions of the "Moscow faction" was the "Cockroach Court": on the day the verdict was announced in the case of the organizers of the exhibition "Forbidden Art" in July 2010, Verzilov released 3.5 thousand large cockroaches in the courthouse as a sign of protest,, (Plutser -Sarno claimed that the idea of ​​this action was stolen by Verzilov from the Vorotnikov group). In addition, the activists of this group in the summer of 2010 took part in protests against the construction of a highway through the Khimki forest.

Timed to coincide with the entry into force of the new law "On Police" on March 1, 2011, the action of the "Moscow faction" "Kiss the garbage", during which for two months at the beginning of the year the activists of the group kissed about a hundred female police officers in Moscow, in September of the same was presented at the fourth Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. The presentation of the action provoked sharp criticism from Plutzer-Sarno and some other artists, who even called for a boycott of the Biennale in connection with this.

At the end of August 2011, the "Moscow faction" also held a notable campaign called "Road-nurse". During the rally, activists stopped cars and collected help for re-certified police officers who, as a result of the police reform, allegedly lost the opportunity to collect money from drivers,.

Some of the members of the "Moscow faction" were also members of the feminist group Pussy Riot, which gained fame for the provocative "punk prayer" in the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior in February 2012,.

General ideology and composition

The Voina group constantly emphasized a special way of life, in particular, the maximum refusal of money (which was associated with the practice of stealing products in stores) and "aggressive squatting" - living in unoccupied apartments in new buildings,,. In addition to the actions, information about which was distributed, the group members were also engaged in "daily performances", that is, they represented actionism as the norm of life,.

During the period 2007-2010, more than two hundred people participated in the actions of "War". At the same time, as of autumn 2010, the core of the group was Vorotnikov, Sokol, Nikolaev and Plutser-Sarno,; according to some sources, unofficially in the "War" there were about sixty people. Former members of the group called Vorotnikov "one hundred percent author" of "War", at the same time, the main performances of the group were invented by Natalya Sokol.

Both critics and participants in the "War" noted that in their work the group continued the traditions of political actionism associated with American activists of the late 1950s, as well as Moscow actionism and the art of Sots Art,,,. As an important part of the group's activity, the semantization of the action, the attribution of interpretations (albeit multiple ones), which the group tried to control in the media environment, was noted. At the same time, Vorotnikov and other participants in the "War" criticized their predecessors, as well as their contemporary actionists, for insufficient radicalism and "lethargy", accusing them of being engaged exclusively in imitation of action. Representatives of the group specifically focused on the reality and non-artificiality of their activities: "The fact that there is almost no art in the actions of" War - and makes them ultra-modern new art ",. However, the minimum task of the group was "not to arrange bright shows, but to form a circle of people who are interested in such activities."

In mid-February 2012, Andrei Glazyev's film Tomorrow, dedicated to the lifestyle and actions of Voina, was presented at the Berlin Film Festival. Glazyev himself took part in the group's actions for some time; nevertheless, some critics accused the film of not reflecting the philosophy of "War" in it in due measure,,.

Used materials

"Pussy Riot" officially became the accused. - Interfax, 12.03.2012

Dmitry Marakulin. The case of the "Palace coup" is suspended. - Kommersant-Online, 12.03.2012

Two members of Pussy Riot arrested before the end of April. - Grani.Ru, 05.03.2012

The investigation of the criminal case on the action of the art group "Voina" with the overturning of police cars has been resumed. - Interfax, 20.02.2012

Alexey Medvedev. Viewers are only interested in "War". - Moscow news, 18.02.2012

Denis Kataev. The secrets of the art group "War" are revealed. - Rain, 17.02.2012

Elena Kostyleva. Battle in heaven. - Session, 15.02.2012

The art group "Voina" announced the end of the persecution of its activists. - RIA News, 08.01.2012

Ivan Skirtach. A criminal case has been opened on the fact of the arson of a police car in St. Petersburg, which was taken over by the art group "Voina". - ITAR-TASS, 07.01.2012

Vera Kopylova. Arson in the third degree. - Moscow's comsomolets, 05.01.2012. - №25837

New action-training of the War group "Mento-Auto-Da-Fe", or "F***ing Prometheus". - plucer.livejournal.com, 02.01.2012

The art group "Voina" burned a paddy wagon of the St. Petersburg police. - BBC News, Russian service, 02.01.2012

"War" has won. - Fontanka.Ru, 02.01.2012

The City Court of St. Petersburg canceled the decision on the arrest in absentia of the Voina activist Sokol. - Interfax, 27.12.2011

The court arrested in absentia a member of the art group "Voina" Sokol. - Fontanka.Ru, 07.12.2011

Voina activist put on international wanted list. - BBC News, Russian service, 06.12.2011

Ivan Skirtach. Member of the art group "War" put on the international wanted list. - ITAR-TASS, 06.12.2011

Sergei Shabokhin. Interview with the Russian art group Voina. - Art Aktivist, 03.11.2011

Voina activist Nikolaev became a defendant again, the prosecutor's office canceled the decision to dismiss the case. - Newspaper.Ru, 02.11.2011

The prosecutor's office canceled the decision to terminate the criminal case against the activist of the "Voina" Nikolaev. - Open News Agency, 02.11.2011

The court canceled the seizure of the bail made for the activist of the art group "Voina". - RIA News, 24.10.2011

The Voina activist failed to appear before the investigator again. - BBC News, Russian service, 19.10.2011

The St. Petersburg police detained an activist of the Voina group, Natalia Sokol, along with her son. - Newspaper.Ru, 18.10.2011

The detained Voina activist was released from the police, the lawyer said. - RIA News, 18.10.2011

The case against the leader of the Voina art group Vorotnikov was dismissed. - Interfax, 13.10.2011

Maria Moskvicheva. "War" forgiven "Palace coup"? - Moscow's comsomolets, 12.10.2011

The case against the activist of the art group "Voina" Leonid Nikolaev was dismissed. - Interfax, 11.10.2011

Nikita Zeya. The police are not a social group. - Newspaper.Ru, 11.10.2011

The participation of "War" in the Moscow Biennale caused a conflict. - openspace.ru, 26.09.2011

Group War in the action "Road-nurse": lawlessness of cop families. - wisegizmo.livejournal.com, 12.09.2011

Impact on poverty. - Kasparov.Ru, 12.09.2011

Decree on the termination of criminal prosecution of the investigator of the investigative department for the Central District of the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for St. Petersburg (criminal case No. 276858), 09/01/2011

The wife of the leader of the art group "War" was put on the wanted list. - Interfax, 30.08.2011

Members of the art group "Voina" are preparing a new action for the authorities. - RBC, 22.07.2011

The court arrested Voina activist Vorotnikov in absentia. - infox.ru, 22.07.2011

The activist of the art group "Voina" Vorotnikov has been put on the international wanted list. - RIA News, 21.07.2011

The activist of the art group "Voina" is suspected of insulting government officials. - BaltInfo, 13.07.2011

Voina activist Sokol is suspected of insulting policemen. - RIA News, 13.07.2011

Julia Vinogradova. Art is for political prisoners. - Independent newspaper, 05.07.2011

In St. Petersburg, a criminal case has been initiated against a native of the Perm region, suspected of committing hooliganism, using violence against a government official and insulting a government official. - Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for St. Petersburg (sledcomspb.ru), 14.04.2011

The War case. - Interfax, 14.04.2011

Svetlana Yankina. The art group "Voina" received the "Innovation" award. - RIA News, 08.04.2011

Tatiana Voltskaya. "War" suffered for the Constitution. - Radio Liberty, 01.04.2011

Maria Tsvetkova, Denis Pinchuk. A baby was injured in the struggle between the authorities and the opposition in the Russian Federation. - Reuters, 01.04.2011

State Prize "Innovation". Reference. - RIA News, 29.03.2011

A case was opened in St. Petersburg about an attack on Voina activists. - RAPSI, 25.03.2011

The War group donated the money raised by Banksy to help prisoners. - RIA News, 22.03.2011

In fact yesterday's attack by unknown artists of the art group "Voina" turned to the police. - Echo of Moscow, 04.03.2011

"War" ran into people in civilian clothes. - Interfax, 04.03.2011

The ideologue of the art group "War": we did not kiss the policemen. - BBC News, Russian service, 02.03.2011

Girls from the art group "Voina" forcibly kiss female policemen. - NEWSru.com, 01.03.2011

Vladimir Kostyushev. How was it? Comments and photos on the trial of Oleg Vorotnikov on February 21, 2011. - Cogita!ru, 22.02.2011

The court decided to release Leonid Nikolaev on bail. - , 22.02.2011

The second member of the art group "Voina" was released on bail. - BaltInfo, 22.02.2011

The court decided to release Oleg Vorotnikov on bail. - Free War (free-voina.org), 21.02.2011

Activists of the art group "Voina" were left under arrest. - Art TV, 15.02.2011

War on society. - Kasparov.Ru, 11.02.2011

The St. Petersburg court did not release Lenya Nikolaev and Oleg Vorotnikov from the Voina art group from custody. - NEWSru.com, 14.01.2011

The rally in support of the art group "Voina" brought together about two hundred participants. - Grani.Ru, 18.12.2010

A rally was held in Moscow in support of the arrested artists. - Radio Liberty, 18.12.2010

The sale of Banksy in favor of the group "War" went with a bang. - BBC News, Russian service, 14.12.2010

Banksy raised more than 4 million rubles for the art group "Voina". - Novye Izvestia, 14.12.2010

Tom Parfitt. Banksy pledges £80,000 to Russian radical art group Voina. - The Guardian, 12.12.2010

Stamps with the "Petersburg phallus" came out in Norway. - Salt, 08.12.2010

Stamps depicting the action of the "Voina" group were issued in Norway. - RIA News, 08.12.2010

Nina Petlyanova, Elena Racheva. military losses. - New Newspaper, 29.11.2010

Mikhail Bokov. "War" hit the run. - MR7, 29.11.2010

Anton Kotenev. What is the group War. - Liberty.ru, 22.11.2010

Is it necessary to show solidarity with the Voina group? - openspace.ru, 22.11.2010

Oleg Vorotnikov, a liberal activist from the Voina group, who escaped from Russia, describes his impressions of life in Europe with horror. The Radio Liberty journalist was shocked and did not even know what to say when he heard from the radical activist the desire to return to Russia.

A few years ago, Oleg Vorotnikov, previously infamous in Russia under the nickname "The Thief", the leader of the no less scandalous art group "Voina", left our country with curses, announcing that he was fleeing from a dictatorial and repressive regime. But now, having pushed around in the vastness of "civilized Europe", he was horrified, and announced that he was a "fan of Putin", and in Europe he feels "like in hell."
Such an incredible, it seemed, pirouette, of course, is hard to believe. That is why his former liberal friends, having heard about what their former idol is now broadcasting, went to Europe in the hope of proving that this is just "Putin's propaganda." And suddenly - a miracle! It turned out that all this is in fact - the purest truth. A certain Dmitry Volchek published on the website of the American "Radio Liberty" a report about a meeting with Vorotnikov, and such that one involuntarily begs the question, did not "Putin's propagandists" recruit him?

With a phallus on the bridge

But let's start in order. At first, Volchek describes with undisguised sympathy the scandalous deeds of the Voina art group, dear to his liberal heart, best known for the depiction of a giant phallus on a bridge in St. Petersburg. For this, they were raised to the shield by the liberal press and crowned with numerous awards.

“The last action of the art group “Voina” took place on December 31, 2011,” writes Volchek, “on New Year’s Eve, a police paddy wagon in St. Petersburg was cleverly burned. For Mento-Auto-Da-Fe, Voina received the Russian Activist Art Award from fans, and a criminal case under Article 213 ("Hooliganism") from the state. After that, Oleg Vorotnikov and his wife Natalya Sokol (nicknamed Koza) crossed the border and ended up in Europe, where their life was not the best: tiresome information about scandals, detentions, beatings and other incidents can be found on the group's website.

“A campaign in support of actionists, organized by philologist Alexei Plutser-Sarno, who calls himself a “media artist of War,” Volchek continues, “was held in Europe, America and even in the Philippines. I myself participated in one of the actions when a huge portrait Oleg Vorotnikov with the inscription Voina Wanted was hung on the Charles Bridge in Prague.When the same poster was hung on the Tower Bridge, the London police intervened, and in Bucharest Oleg Vorotnikov's defenders were completely beaten and detained.

In 2014, there were reports that Vorotnikov supported the takeover of Crimea and became a supporter of Putin. It was hard for me to believe it: how could such a metamorphosis happen to an urban "partisan"?

He also came up with actions that ridiculed Putinism - in the role of Mentopop he went to a supermarket, drew a huge penis on a drawbridge opposite the UFSB building in St. Petersburg, overturned police cars, projected a skull and crossbones onto the building of the Russian government and went to prison for it.

Annoyed, Volchek went "to Europe", apparently with the laudable purpose of exposing the slander that is erected against his liberal idol. “And now,” he writes, “in one of the European cities I meet Oleg and his wife. They have three children, the younger ones are sleeping, the eldest - Kasper, whom I remember as a baby, grew up and should have gone to school. But where will they take him? The parents are in an illegal position, they have no documents, let alone medical insurance, and a daughter named Mama, who was born in St. Petersburg when her parents were hiding from arrest, is not registered at all. When the Goat went to the antenatal clinic for an examination, the doctors identified her and wanted to call the police, as if repeating the story from the series about Stirlitz. The goat ran away and prudently gave birth at home without the involvement of midwives in uniform.

Oleg immediately warns that he will not give me an interview, because he does not want to deal with the "liberal" media. Yes, everything turned out to be true, - Volchek throws up his hands in amazement, - he is now a “Putinist”. And not just a supporter of the capture of the Crimea: Oleg believes that Putin "admirably completed the work of saving Russian statehood", Vyacheslav Volodin is a "brilliant leader", Sergei Lavrov is an outstanding diplomat who knows how to win in an enemy environment, "Zak he Dima Yakovlev" is fair, and in general "there is nothing more beautiful than national unity" ... He is sure that Western propaganda is worse than Russian, because a taxi driver in Europe can say that he likes Putin, but the intellectual is afraid.

"Good Russian propaganda is a ray of sunshine on the last page of Pionerskaya Pravda on a July day," says Oleg, and I suspect this is a quote from Prokhanov's article.

He has never seen anything worse than Switzerland

After spending several years in Europe (and he visited many cities - Venice, Rome, Zurich, Basel, Vienna, and even in Cesky Krumlov, where Egon Schiele vegetated a hundred years ago), Oleg was unconditionally disappointed in the West. "I wasted years of my life and didn't find anything interesting." People here are intimidated by the system, they make a "positive bet on hypocrisy", the left movement is helpless and there is no art. Most of all, he dislikes Switzerland: "I have never seen anything worse than this country" ... It all ended with a conflict with squatters, which Oleg described in an interview with the Furfur website:

"We managed to capture the massacre, but when we told the police, they tore the camera out of our hands and hid it. Then we visited a human rights organization that helps victims of violence. They provided a lawyer for four hours - they are so ready to pay for a lawyer, and they are expensive here. At the migration In prison, I had a conversation with the police, they drew two possibilities: either to the camp and ask for political asylum, or they will separate us from the children and deport us separately to our homeland as illegal immigrants. Plus, in my case, at the request of Interpol. The usual police manipulation of children began, and we We succumbed to asylum. We are not emigrants, not refugees, it was not a gesture, like our friends. We arrived for a while, and then the return channel was closed. Traditionally, the Swiss authorities call to leave the country by a certain date. If not, then repressive mechanisms are activated. We they took us to the camp, filled out the documents and literally left us lying on the floor in the aisle. We were told that this is the best camp for families with children."

Oleg describes the refugee camp as an underground hell, where the terrified inhabitants are let out for walks according to a schedule, like prisoners. According to Oleg, only a lawyer who became famous for defending Roman Polansky agreed to help them, but even he failed to do anything because of bureaucratic resistance.

Before that, there was a similar conflict with his neighbors in a squat in Venice ... Oleg colorfully describes how, in front of the stunned Japanese tourists clicking cameras, he was handcuffed, with a bandaged head, policemen were transported by boat along the Grand Canal. He spent only a few days in prison, and from Venice - "this is not a city, but a cemetery, what to do there?" - Moved to Rome. "The best years of our children were in hell," he complains bitterly now. "I'm a Russian, why do I need their valuables?"

"I refuse on principle to organize actions here, to participate in artistic life. You can criticize Russia only from within, and not sitting in the West," says Oleg. He does not like everything that happens in European art...

Disappointment in the West led to the fact that what is happening in Russia began to seem wonderful to Oleg and his wife. “Most of all,” Volchek admits, “they dream of returning to their homeland. "If they told me - we get into a taxi and go to the airport, I would not even begin to pack my things."
But it is impossible to return: Oleg is on the international wanted list, Koza is on the federal wanted list. And where to go with three small children? Their relatives are not interested in their fate, a significant part of their friends have turned their backs, there is nowhere to live.

“There is no such freedom as in Russia anywhere”

“Oleg,” Volchek laments, “praises the wisdom of Putin, who “perfectly beat” the liberals in 2013. In his opinion, Putin dealt with his enemies gently, "there was so much paternal care in these decisions!" The reminder of the fate of Udaltsov (who also supported the annexation of Crimea), Oleg Navalny and Boris Nemtsov does not impress him - all this is Western propaganda. Oleg recalls his time in prison in Russia with delight. "This is one of the best experiences in my life. I have three or four radiant memories, and one of them is a prison." During the years spent in the European hell, the homeland began to seem to him the promised land. He is convinced that there is no such freedom as in Russia. "When I was on the wanted list, every day I cycled past the main entrance to the prosecutor's office, where they were waiting for us, and nothing happened."

“But what to do now? The Vorotnikovs are really in a desperate situation... How to help people without documents who are on the wanted list? Nobody needs them in Europe…”, Volchek writes in conclusion and does not find answers to his questions.

On December 31, 2011, members of the Voina group burned a police van in St. Petersburg - this was the last documented action of the artists. Behind were the storming of the White House, the hanging of migrants in the supermarket, public sex in the Zoological Museum and the phallus on the Liteiny Bridge. “Understand, this is not an artistic, this is a super-artistic action! This will be our bonfire of vanity,” Radio Liberty quotes a statement following the arson. The group announced that a total of seven police vehicles had allegedly been burned by 1 January 2012. In January 2012, an arson case was opened.

In March 2013, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that the participants in the War, Oleg Vorotnikov, who had previously been in a pre-trial detention center for hooliganism, and his wife Natalia Sokol had left for Italy. Sokol was also charged under articles 318 and 319 of the Criminal Code for attacking and insulting police officers in 2011 during the Strategy-31 rally. Since then, activists have been in Europe, moving from one acquaintance to another.

Now the leaders of the art group Vorotnikov and Sokol, together with their three children, are on the run again. After the attack by neighbors in the squat, Russian artists were arrested by the Swiss police. They were sent to a migrant camp, from where they escaped. In an interview with FURFUR, Oleg Vorotnikov spoke about the conflict with neighbors, Swiss migration policy and longing for Russia.

"War" is on the run again, what happened in your last residence?

On March 20, an armed crowd in motorcycle helmets, with bats and shields burst into our room, breaking down the door - pure Maidan. At that time we bathed the children in the tub. First, they poured pepper gas into our eyes, then they threw me on the floor and tied me hand and foot with tape, sat on top, and began to choke me. The goat (Natalya Sokol. - Ed.) was beaten, torn away from the children and thrown out of the stairs. We have three children - the six-year-old boy Kasper had his arm injured. The attackers stole two of our laptops and two iPads from the children.

The people who did this call themselves Swiss human rights activists, fighters for the rights of refugees. The police arrived, arrested us, the attackers did not touch anyone. The case is similar to the Venetian - then, too, only we were arrested. What Russian garbage would have done: they would have arrested everyone and then sorted it out. Here, only the disenfranchised are arrested.

What is this place where you lived?

In Basel there is a Wasserstrasse street - these are houses for the poor, which the city management rents out at scanty prices for Switzerland. Some of the apartments have been seized by squatters and, although old people and other unfortunate people continue to live there, they are gradually being driven out. The house where we lived belongs to a Basel cooperative, nevertheless the attackers called themselves the owners. We know some by face, some by name. We got there thanks to the Zurich art institution "Cabaret Voltaire", its director Adrian Notz found us a spacious room in the attic. Since last summer, squatters have been harassing us, throwing strollers, attacking children on the stairs - there was an episode with toilet paper, filmed by Koza on video.

Are you talking about bullying, why did it start?

The Swiss don't treat strangers well, and they needed a place. The squatters wanted to turn the room into a movie theater. We appealed to "Cabaret" - they do not answer, apparently, they are afraid that they will be drawn into a showdown with the police for harboring illegal immigrants. The criminal case is in limbo, because we are illegal immigrants - it, consider, is futile.

What did the police say about your complaints?

We managed to capture the massacre, but when we told the police, they pulled the camera out of our hands and hid it. Then we visited a human rights organization that helps victims of violence. They provided a lawyer for four hours - they are so ready to pay for a lawyer, and they are expensive here. In the migration prison, I had a conversation with the police, they drew two possibilities: either to the camp and ask for political asylum, or we will be separated from the children and deported separately to our homeland as illegal immigrants. Plus, in my case, at the request of Interpol. The usual police manipulation of children began, and we succumbed to the asylum. We are not emigrants, not refugees, it was not a gesture, like our friends. We arrived on time, and then the return channel slammed shut. Traditionally, the Swiss authorities call for people to leave the country by a certain date. If not, then repressive mechanisms are activated. We were taken to the camp, paperwork was done, and we were literally left lying on the floor in the aisle. We were told that this is the best camp for families with children.

What is a camp?

Switzerland is perhaps the worst country in terms of seeking asylum. First, they avoid language related to politics. Secondly, Swiss conditions for refugees are the worst. After all, we lived for years in the most difficult circumstances. They lock you in a closet - only *** [eccentric] can offer to live like this and only *** [eccentric] will agree to such conditions. Probably, if you are a Syrian who no longer has not only a home, but also a native city, then maybe you will be glad. The officers search every time: I saw a Caucasian-looking family return, and they searched everyone, including the crying baby. And proud Caucasians, who cannot be broken, smiled when the child fell into hysterics.

Then the families are driven to a camp in the town of Ash. People are settled in the basement in tiny pantries without windows, stacked like coffins. It's a little better in a Russian prison. At the same time, they take away any means of communication, laptops, and lock them up without a break for an indefinite period. Eyes for observation are built into the walls. At the migration police, we were guaranteed that we would be accommodated together. As a result, in the pantry, where we were taken, there were two rows of bunk beds and ten people were already lying. Total 18 people per 15 square meters. Refugees walk around the camp like shadows, men, dressed in light green vests, are periodically taken out for garbage collection - our Tajiks are resting.

We stayed for about 20 minutes - everyone literally lives in pantries with no windows, stuffed to capacity, we laughed homerically and left the camp, which is a gross violation. According to the police, you are put on the national wanted list and removed from the database of applicants - you are no longer an asylum seeker, but an illegal person. In general, the decision on asylum lies with the judge. But I am retelling what I was told at the migration police.

“Since last summer, squatters have been harassing us, throwing strollers, attacking children on the stairs - there was an episode with toilet paper filmed by Koza on video.”

What are your next steps after the flight?

If it were not for the need to return the camera with the video and the computers with the archive, then we would have scored for interrogation on April 6, where they could be arrested. Now the details - before or during the interrogation, with or without a camera - will be sent. The lawyer is now strained to return the camera, the authorities are simply going to catch and deport. We are ready to continue our underground life, and it is almost impossible to catch us. We went to Basel - tried to interrogate, unsuccessfully, only lost time. Plus, lawyer Anton Drel described the situation to us in more detail: if we don’t find a way to testify, then garbage has the right to eventually destroy the evidence as not useful. That is, they stupidly throw out the camera. There is no talk of her return yet. I try not to believe it.

If we recall the Venetian case, the website "The Day After Tomorrow" at one time published the point of view of the Italians themselves. Don't you think that after seeing a similar episode, people will obviously not be on your side?

Such an opinion does exist - it is the main one among European anarchists. But, Lord, European anarchists are an empty place. In Venice, it was much more dramatic, then we were beaten half to death - I had an operation on my head. I was sure that the attackers would not escape responsibility, but despite the lawyers in Italy, no responsibility came.

No one treats illegal immigrants on ceremony, but the situation in Basel is not just our words against their words. Now there is video documentation - we do not have it, but the police have it. But even if they destroy it, this will not be the only problem - they stole laptops with the entire archive, where all our life and work in recent years.

The last action of "Voina" and Pyotr Pavlensky is a fire, in one case, setting fire to a paddy wagon, in another - doors. Only the lazy did not compare you with Pavlensky, for example, the same Marat Gelman: “Pavlensky is certainly a strong artist, stronger, for example, than the War group, whose statements are not always intelligible.” What do you think about such comparisons?

I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to engage in art criticism and intellectual conversations now. Our position is almost fantastic - I wake up in the morning and am surprised. It’s good to notice some nuances in artists when everything is in order with you. What Gelman thinks, what Gelman does not think is a completely different life, but we, of course, are aware of all events.

But of all Voina's actions, which one do you consider the most important for yourself personally?

Then you will have to answer about Pavlensky and the bald devil, and I would like to avoid this art-critical stickiness. There is nothing worse than an artist who ******** [talks] about art, especially from distant Switzerland. The artist, as you yourself probably guess, is just about camps, and about arrests, and about unexpected ones.

Previously, you were awarded awards, interviewed. Now you are illegal immigrants, you are pursued by fights - enough demotivating thing for your sympathizers.

For them, that's what it looks like. Already when we got here, we were faced with the fact that no one needed us. Even before any fights were thrown on themselves. Illegals, without documents, money, wanted and with children in their arms. Here, initially they treat the visitor as a second-class person, and if there are children, then this is entirely your problem. As long as you're a fun hipster, that's one thing, when you're an undocumented person, no one is interested in you.

The image of the West that the intellectuals in Russia paint is a fiction. People here do not violate anything - it is not for nothing that stagnation in European contemporary art is more powerful than under Brezhnev. Art is packed into the entertainment ghetto for rich people. You can be a clown - and only then will you be interesting. They sit and wait for an idea to come from the third world. This is how I explain the success of Russian actionism, when the most elementary actions are well read.

Did your background of famous artists help in some way in Europe?

Here is an amazing situation. When we meet artists, they begin to write with delight: “Oh,“ War ”,“ *** in captivity ”,“ Punk in court ”, it's all you!”. They feel like just lucky people who managed to communicate with those legends that they read about. But when the conversation turns into a practical plane - is it possible to find housing or a lawyer - then almost everyone loses interest. We are good somewhere - when in a Russian prison, we are good.

Would you like to organize a “War” in European realities?

When they arrived, they did not plan to conduct activities, they considered the circumstances uninteresting, and the European public was unworthy of being presented with works of art. During our wanderings, we worked with archives, but then we realized that there was nothing to throw beads. We tried to adapt several actions for the European context, but it turned out to be impossible to find activists who are ready to fight and violate, as in Russia. The human material is much lower - we did not manage to find a single person with whom we could at least discuss the plans. People are completely cowardly and clamped in every sense. If something is to be done, then in Russia. Europeans don't need it - and neither do we now. It's just a full pigsty here. Even if the persecution in Russia does not stop, I want to return. Europe is a remote place without living ideas. To live in Russia is to live in culture, but here it's like animals on a farm.

At the end of the 19th century, wanting to avoid arrest, Lev Tikhomirov, member of the Narodnaya Volya, left for Switzerland, but after a while he became disillusioned with his old ideas, and then he was allowed to return to Russia. Do you find any parallels in this historical example?

We did not consider ourselves immigrants and did not communicate with such parties before. Only now I began to communicate, and many Russians who left for political reasons walk around with similar sentiments. They say that there is complete cultural isolation, and there are so many things in Russia. Someone remembers the level of Moscow students, which one cannot even dream of here. It would be interesting to make a movement of "sad Russians of Europe". Many Russian communities in Germany are happy to watch Dmitry Kiselev - for the soul, as they say.

Are you also watching?

I don’t watch Kiselyov myself - I just don’t have a TV, otherwise I would have watched it with pleasure. This is a symbol of its time, pop patriotism, which alone with one gesture brings liberals to a boil.

Images: personal archive of Oleg Vorotnikov

Dmitry Volchek, a columnist for Radio Liberty, met with the emigrated Oleg Vorotnikov (The Thief) - the leader of the Voina art group that thundered five years ago

The last Russian action of the art group "Voina" with the participation of Oleg Vorotnikov, Natalia Sokol, Leonid Nikolaev and anonymous activists took place on December 31, 2011. No one then could have thought that "Mento-Auto-Da-Fe" would be their last statement for many years and the last action performed in a classic line-up.

At one time, the progressive youth of the two capitals, at least, followed the radical actions of the art group with amazement. It was they who arranged a memorial service for Dmitry Prigov with a feast in the metro, welded the entrance to the Oprichnik restaurant with an “iron curtain”, “stormed” the White House with laser graphics, organized a run with blue buckets on their heads on the roof of the FSO car, and finally, drew 70- meter member on the Foundry drawbridge in St. Petersburg. For this and other actions they received several months of imprisonment and the state award "Innovation". Videos of artistic and political actions with the participation of the Thief, the Goat, Lenya Crazy and several anonymous activists "blew up" the Internet five or six years ago. They were, perhaps, the most coveted information "ban", a symbol of reckless protest against consumerism and lack of freedom at a time when the two capitals seemed unable to breathe the air of change.

Then something went wrong. And to be honest, it all went wrong.

Around 2010, the main "instigators" of the artistic turmoil were firmly pressed by the authorities along the criminal line. Vorotnikov the Thief and Nikolev the Crazy spent several months in prison. Released in 2011 on a small bail, the activist leaders immediately disappeared and were put on the wanted list. In 2010, Aleksey Plutser-Sarno, the mouthpiece of Voina on the Internet, co-author and chronicler of all actions, left the country somewhere in the Baltics. After some time, it became known that Vorotnikov, with his wife and two children, also illegally moved to the West, to Europe. The same rumors circulated about the most reckless activist of the group, Lena-Crazy. But they turned out to be lies. It came to light under the saddest of circumstances. Lenya, who pulled fate by the mustache more than once, died as a result of a domestic accident. On September 22, 2015, Leonid Nikolaev fell from a height and later died in hospital from his injuries. It turned out that for several years he lived illegally in the Domodedovo region and was preparing a new radical action - perhaps the most daring in the entire history of the "War".

About Vorotnikova and Sokol with children after their emigration, little was heard in the context of actionist art. In Europe, the family moved from place to place. From time to time there were strange reports about their skirmishes and fights with local anarchists and informals. Then rumors came that Vorotnikov and Sokol with their children had moved to Switzerland at the invitation of Adrian Notz, the director of the cradle of Dadaism, the Cabaret Voltaire, familiar to our readers (also, by the way, one of Lenin's favorite places). But otherwise, only rumors, there are few details.

And just the other day, an article by Dmitry Volchek “Five years without “War”” was published on the Radio Liberty website. The author managed to meet (where exactly, it is not directly stated, but most likely in Switzerland) with Oleg Vorotnikov and his wife Natalia Sokol. Vor refused to give an interview, but the conversation took place. And his retelling, sometimes with quotes, was recorded by Volchek. The text is permeated with sympathy for the art rebels of the past, but in general the information is not funny.

Volchek's text, for obvious reasons, is replete with understatements, so I will briefly retell it as I understood it myself. In Europe, the guys were also driven into a corner. They pressed the children again (there are now three of them, the third daughter, Trinity, was born in Switzerland). In the migration prison, they were given a choice: either they go to a refugee camp and ask for political asylum, or they are separated from their children and deported through Interpol. They did not want to ask for political asylum, but there was nothing to choose from. Vorotnikov's words are quoted in Volchek's text: "... and we succumbed to the shelter ... We were taken to the camp, paperwork was done and literally left to lie on the floor in the aisle. We were told that this is the best camp for families with children.”

In the words of Vorotnikov, it is difficult to separate sincere statements from outrageous ones, for this you need to know him personally. But the author of the article confirms that Vorotnikov, perceived as an implacable opponent of the authorities, has indeed now become a supporter of Putin, positively assesses the role of Volodin (who is already beginning to be called a possible successor), and admires Lavrov's foreign policy actions. Liberals are spoken of rather with contempt.

Unlike the political ones, Vorotnikov is extremely skeptical about the artistic processes inside Russia. Pavlensky - "secondarily, shamefully." In general, there is nothing interesting in Russia, except that "Enjoykin" (makes cool videos on youtube) well done. Authorities for Vorotnikov still do not exist, and at the global level, too. Even Banksy, who transferred money to War, is, in his words, "painters, they do everything for money."

Such is the strange metamorphosis. However, I'm not completely sure of its truth. Is it worth taking all the words of the artist at face value? Or is it non-conformism, taken to the limit, turned into ruthlessness towards colleagues, friends and sympathizers. No answer.

In the West, Vorotnikov is also obviously disappointed, he does not want to integrate into the local artistic life. He yearns for his homeland, wants to return. The position is like this: “I refuse on principle to organize actions here, to participate in artistic life. You can criticize Russia only from within, and not sitting in the West... We are not emigrants, we are not refugees, it was not a gesture, like our acquaintances. We arrived for a while, and then the return channel slammed shut ... "

Like this. That in Russia they were waiting for a prison and the risk of deprivation of parental rights, that in the West - the same thing.

On the whole, it once again confirms the idea that compulsion to emigrate remains one of the most sophisticated and effective methods of reprisal against the "soil" artist. Especially over a nonconformist. And even more so over the actionist. The break with the country, which provides the author with an artistic context and habitat, strongly knocks him out of the saddle. And the difficult information exchange between the artist and his audience complicates the situation even more. In a trap similar to the one into which Avdey Ter-Oganyan was previously driven and, now "War" also fell into. But these guys are special. I believe that they will figure out how to get out. And I wish them good luck.

The co-founder of the infamous art group "Voina" Natalia Sokol turned to the Commissioner for Children's Rights Anna Kuznetsova with a request to evacuate her to Russia from Berlin. After six years of wandering around Europe, Sokol and her husband Oleg Vorotnikov found themselves in a desperate situation: Oleg ended up in prison, and Natalya herself is pregnant and with three small children is freezing on the street.

Vorotnikov disappeared in Berlin after a police raid and, according to some reports, is being held in the Moabit prison. Natalia has children between the ages of 2 and 8 in her arms, they have to live on captured canvas-topped boats in Rummelsburg Bay.

At the same time, persuasion does not allow the founders of Voina to seek political asylum in the EU. For the same reason, they have practically no documents in their hands either for themselves or for their children, and they are all outside the law.

“Whether he was arrested, alive or not, I have no information. I tried to drive the dacha to the Moabit prison - they didn’t accept it: does that mean he’s not there? Contacted lawyers - refuse to assist. And the local press cannot be broken through, this is propaganda reinforced concrete. I live with three children on a boat with canvas walls - so as not to sit in a transit prison, waiting for an escort to a Swiss concentration camp, where people are kept for two years in closets underground. I don’t have friends or at least some sane acquaintances in Berlin,” Natalya Sokol writes on Facebook.

Kuznetsova’s office has already responded to Sokol’s request, got in touch with her and sent a request to the Consular Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Radio Moscow Says reports. As the negotiators told Natalya, Anna Kuznetsova plans to send a request for pardon to the President of Russia.

Recall that the left-wing radical actionist group "War" claims to achieve achievements in the field of conceptual protest street art. It was formed in 2007 by Oleg Vorotnikov, nicknamed the Thief, his wife Natalya Sokol, nicknamed Koza, Pyotr Verzilov with an obscene nickname, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of the punk band Pussy Riot.

Among the most resonant actions of the “War” are the “Palace coup” with a police car, a sex performance in the Timiryazev Biological Museum, an action with jumping on the FSO car, as well as an action with an image of a phallus on the Liteiny Bridge in St. Petersburg and others. The public was especially outraged by the trick of Elena Kostyleva, a member of the Voina group, in the St. Petersburg supermarket Nakhodka, where she stuffed frozen chicken into her crotch.

Vorotnikov was charged with insulting police officers and using violence against law enforcement officials after he poured urine on police officers on March 31, 2011 during the March of Dissenters in St. Petersburg. In addition, there are questions about past promotions. After that, Vorotnikov and Sokol with their children went on the run to Europe. In Russia, they are both wanted and arrested in absentia.

However, in Europe, an unusual family quickly got into trouble on such a scale that it is just right to write an adventure drama. Some of which "Reedus" talked about in this publication. Sponsors from among lovers of contemporary art left Vorotnikov and Sokol with their young children to their fate, and they actually turned into homeless people: they live anywhere, steal food and clothes from stores, wander from country to country, regularly dealing with the police, migration services and aggressive natives.

“I fought with the Nazis in the Prague metro, with human rights activists in Basel, with the hucksters who are fans of NO TAV in Venice. Now I always carry a hammer with me, ”Vorotnikov told reporters.

The police officers beat Natalia several times in the face while checking her documents.

“Even a Russian cop, he wouldn’t do this to a woman who has a child,” she complained to the Czech media.

Sokol's Facebook page, where she talks about her misadventures, is nothing short of shocking.

Dissidents and oppositionists from Russia are not eager to help the family due to the fact that Vorotnikov, having wandered around Europe, spoke positively about the activities of President Vladimir Putin, as well as the reunification of Crimea with Russia.

From his adventures, the actionist took away the firm conviction that Europe was "experiencing an epidemic of psychosis caused by fear for its high standard of living."

In 2010, when the activists of the Voina art group Oleg Vorotnikov and Leonid Nikolaev were detained after the Palace Revolution action, a group of Russian intellectuals came out in their defense: music critic Artemy Troitsky, art critic Andrei Erofeev, publisher Alexander Ivanov, journalist Andrei Loshak, co-owner of the Falanster bookstore Boris Kupriyanov, artists Alexander Kosolapov and Oleg Kulik.

Andrei Erofeev told Reedus that he was at the dacha and had not yet seen Natalya Sokol's appeal to the Russian authorities, and therefore could not comment. Andrey Loshak said that he "has no time" for this, Kupriyanov said that he "is completely unaware of this situation and cannot comment on it," and Troitsky, Ivanov, Kosolapov and Kulik were unavailable for comment.

“Apparently, in Europe it is even worse to live outside the system, especially with children. Therefore, disappointed in everything in general, the family asks for help from the Motherland. His system in comparison turned out to be better, apparently. The liberals who once defended the "War" are now silent. But the “quilted jackets” began to comment on the situation with the pregnant Sokol and children. They are calling for the return of these already intruding anarchists to Russia and somehow help them. Let them steal houses, or something, ”concludes journalist Natalya Radulova.

“The asocial behavior of the utyrks proclaimed by the “artists” is supported by the EU solely as an “export” colonial practice. This is an obvious banality - just as banality is the hypocrisy of the European media and the "public", feeding the mentioned scumbags for conducting an information war - and immediately forgetting about them, as soon as the puppets go beyond the prescribed role, ”says a researcher at the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Dyukov. In his opinion, it is high time to remove children from irresponsible parents.