authorities of Ukraine accuses them Russia on the night of Thursday 2nd when he tried to create criminal gangs consisting of teenagers on Ukrainian territory. According to Kiev, the groups are inspired by a Japanese anime series and take to the streets for mass battles.
The name of the gangs is known as “Redan PMC”. The name Redan derives from Gen’ei Ryodan, a group of criminals and a Japanese anime series called Hunter x Hunter, while the acronym PMC stands for Private Military Company or Private Military Company, made famous by the Wagner mercenary group.
First, the trend started in Moscow among young people who wanted to fight organized football fan gangs. Members make appointments through the Telegram app.
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The gang members wear black hair, plaid pants, and a black sweatshirt with a drawing of a spider and the number four. Several videos of teenagers confusing them are already circulating on social networks. There are reports that the group is gathering to attack nonRussianlooking people in Kiev shopping malls. There are also reports of fighting on the subway.
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It has a new origin #Militia In #Moscowcreated by teenagers named “#PMC #redan“.
One of the distinctive features is black hair, clothes & a spider with the number “4” on the jackets.
The #Russian PMC attacks people of nonRussian appearance in Moscow shopping malls. pic.twitter.com/X548wZ1fat
— Erik Korsas (@KorsasErik) February 24, 2023
Russian authorities have already acknowledged Redan’s appearance, with more than 350 people, including 319 minors, going to police stations in Moscow for involvement with the gang. Young people were also arrested in Kazan, St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday it was important to stop “illegal acts”. And of course it’s, shall we say, a pseudosubculture that comes with a minus sign and doesn’t do our youth any good.”
In the past week, however, the phenomenon appears to have spread to neighboring Ukraine. Groups of teenagers rallied in the capital, Kyiv, as well as in Lviv and Kharkiv, and in Dnipro, a 16yearold suspected leader of the movement was arrested and imprisoned.
“Within two days, about 30 meetings took place in different regions of the country. The police officers reacted immediately and prevented conflicts between the teenagers,” Ukrainian police said.
Already overburdened Ukrainian police say the Russians are trying to export Redan’s negative influence on Ukrainian teenagers via Telegram channels in a bid to further destabilize the country. Last Tuesday, the Kiev authorities blocked 18 channels and groups “created to conduct information campaigns by the Russian military, to undermine the domestic political situation in Ukraine and to involve minors in illegal activities.”
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The leader of one of these groups, who was arrested by the police, explained in a video released by the company: “I am the founder of a group with about 2,500 members. I created it to make money from promotional posts as the Redan theme is popular on social media,” he said. “(The idea) came from Russia and intended to be destabilizing. I urge everyone to stop organizing meetings and looking for redanists.”
In Kiev, police said the instigators of the “subculture that came from Russia” were two teenagers, a 15yearold girl who created a Telegram channel and a 14yearold boy who organized a “conflict meeting”. Also in videos posted by the authorities, the girl said the group was “simple Russian propaganda.” I ask you not to believe such information and instead focus on tending to our men who are now fighting.”
Vasyl Bohdan, head of the National Police Department of Juvenile Prevention, said a total of more than 700 people, most of them minors, were called to the police stations. Bohdan urged parents to “show an interest in who their children communicate with.”