Alexandr #Milchakov from “Rusich” fondly recalls the violent suppression of protests in #Vilnius in 1991 by the Soviet army (14 killed)[^1] and the murder of lawyer Merkelov and human rights defender Baburova in #Russia in 2006.[^2]
He calls both of them ‘Russophobes’, which illustrates quite well the fluidity of this term in contemporary Russia. The perpetrators of the murder were Russian neo-Nazis from the BORN group, who were then under the supervision of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and probably had permission to liquidate the two, who actively publicised Russian crimes during the Second Chechen War.
Since there were still some actual free media outlets operating in Russia at the time, the murder caused outrage in liberal circles and prompted a reaction from the authorities, who changed their friendly neutrality and brought charges against the perpetrators. Neo-Nazis naturally perceived this as “betrayal” but soon they were offered a “peace deal” because after 2012 they were restored to favour, this time against immigrants and soon after against #Ukraine.
[^1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_Events
[^2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Stanislav_Markelov_and_Anastasia_Baburova






