The Eurasian Youth Union (ESM; ; Yevraziyskiy soyuz molodozhi, YeSM) is a Russian Eurasianist political organization, the youth wing of the Eurasia Party headed by Aleksandr Dugin. The organization has branches in several countries. In 2011, the Government of Ukraine has branded the ESM as an extremist anti-Ukrainian organization, convicted of a string of vandalism offenses and banned it in Ukraine.
Ideology According to some observers, the ESM was created as a reaction to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine and the role the younger generation played in it. It is suggested that ESM represents an opposition to a Ukrainian youth organization PORA.
The early-20th century Eurasianist ideology of a part of the Russian emigration and modern neo-Eurasianism developed by Aleksandr Dugin has been declared the main ideology of the organization. On its website, the movement declared the West and in particular the United States as its main opponent and termed it as the "main evil":
In its internal policy, the ESM supports the current government of Russia and in particular its President Vladimir Putin. Some also claim that the movement receives tacit support from the Russian government eager to see a movement opposed to a possibility of an Orange Revolution happening in Russia.
Activities In Russia, the ESM has allied itself with organizations like the National Bolshevik Front, and other groups of that type. It organizes and takes part in the annual Russian marches in Russia and other countries of Eastern Europe. Very often these marches are accompanied by violence, especially in Ukraine.
After Ukraine's Orange Revolution in 2004, the ESM set up branches in several Ukrainian cities and voiced its sharp criticism of the pro-Western Ukrainian government. The ECM was responsible for a string of attacks on property and organizations they deemed pro-Western. It organised attacks on several Ukrainian Security Service branches, monuments to Ukrainian Insurgent Army veterans and hacker attacks on the website of the President of Ukraine. The most prominent of these attacks that received nationwide attention was the desecration of Ukrainian state symbols on Mount Hoverla in October 2007. The other attack on Ukrainian targets was in Moscow, where several ESM members trashed an exhibition devoted to the Holodomor (1932–1933). Due to the relatively high profile of these attacks the Ukrainian police asked for assistance from Russia in finding people responsible for them, but no suspects have been apprehended yet.
The organization's vandalism and sharp anti-governmental stance received wide condemnation among Ukrainian media and provoked a response from different Ukrainian organizations of the opposite orientation. Several threats were made against the organization and its members and an arson attack was reciprocated on the ESM's offices in Moscow.
Bans In 2011, a Ukrainian court banned the ESM and its leaders Dugin and Zarifullin were declared personae non grata. In June 2015, Canada added the organization to its list of sanctioned entities.
Criticism The "Sova Center" in its classification classifies the ESM as the "ideological neighbors" of radical Russian nationalists. At the same time, Eurasians claimСергей Бузунов Типа мудрые и бдительные // Информационно-аналитический портал «Евразия», 21.04.2008 that the Sova Center cannot objectively evaluate the patriotic organizations of Russia, since it is funded from the United States.National Endowment for Democracy
Some RussianНа Ющенко напали вирусы // Деловая газета «Взгляд», 29 октября 2007Активисты радикальной организации «Евразийский союз молодёжи» взяли на себя ответственность за интернет-атаку официального сайта президента Украины Виктора Ющенко // Радиостанция «Эхо Москвы», 29 октября 2007 and UkrainianКиевлянка разрушила Тризуб на Говерле // Левый берег, 10 июня 2010Вандалы разбили Герб Украины на Говерле — ТСН (телепередача), 7 июня 2010 media outlets, the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine,Антисемитизм и ксенофобия в Украине: еженедельная хроника 1-7 мая // Ассоциация еврейских организаций и общин Украины Kharkiv Human Rights Group,Temporary ban on Eurasian Youth Union // Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group Galina KozhevnikovaГалина Кожевникова Радикальный национализм в России и противодействие ему в 2007 году // Полит.ру, 1 февраля 2008 года and Tatyana StanovskayaРоссийская молодёжь: угроза или ресурс? // Журнал «Индекс/Досье на цензуру», 23/2006 consider the ESM a radical organization.
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