“PVK Rodan” is a teenage subculture. Law enforcement officers in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia drew attention to boys and girls wearing checkered pants and bikes with a spider image. Genei Ryodan, or Spiders, is a criminal group from the Japanese anime Hunter x Hunter. Literally translated from Japanese, the name means “Ghost Brigade”. The basis of the fans of the movement are teenagers – fans of Japanese anime. Not all fans of “Rodan” add the prefix PVK (“Private Military Company”). For example, one of the most popular representatives of the subculture, the Russian rapper Shadowraze, says that it is necessary to write “Generation” and not “PVK”.
In Belarus, through the “Rodan” communities created at the end of February, calls were made on social networks for teenagers to meet near large shopping centers. As a result, on February 28, 200 teenagers were detained near one of them in Gomli. For this collection, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case for “organization of actions that grossly violate public order” (Article 342 of the Criminal Code).
On March 1, the police reported the detention of 52 people in Brest, also allegedly during meetings of “Rodan”. On March 2, as stated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, 80 people were detained in Minsk. According to the department, the detentions took place in connection with the meetings of the Rodan PEC.
“The class manager asked every two hours in the chat: ‘Where are your children?’
A resident of one of the regional centers, whose son is now in the 10th grade, told Svaboda on the condition of anonymity, how teachers are now “fighting” with “PVK Rodan”.
“Some of my son’s friends were detained. They, minors, were kept in police custody for six hours, and they were ordered to keep their hands on the wall. And none of the teachers or parents, as far as I can see, were excited about it,” says Lyudmila.
The woman says that the next day after the arrests, a parents’ meeting was held at the school. There, according to Lyudmila, parents were threatened with criminal and administrative liability if their children were seen at any gathering of teenagers.
“On Saturday, children were obliged to come to school and play various sports there. After lunch, the class teacher wrote to the Viber group almost every two hours: “Where are your children? I need to report!”. All the parents wrote back that “My house”, “My house”, added Lyudmila.
“The policeman warned that the boys should not wear a bobbed hairstyle, because there will be problems”
Elena’s children go to school – a son and a daughter. She says that after the detention of the teenagers, the school called an emergency meeting of parents. Everyone had to be present, and under the painting.
“They threatened that if no one was there, they would just go house to house with the police. A policeman spoke at the meeting. He said to monitor the children on social networks, so that the children do not go to any “spider” gatherings. Told not to wear checkered pants or any clothing with spiders on it. He even told the boys not to wear bobbed hair, because “there will be problems” and they can be detained for it! – said Alena.
According to her, the policeman ordered not to let the children out of the house on Saturday, March 4, because “a gathering of “spiders” is planned.” At the school, all clubs and extra classes had to work on Saturday, so that the children would not go to the “Rodan” meeting. Alena believes , that such measures against teenagers are terrible.
“These children did not beat anyone, there was no fight. Grab them by the sweater with the spider? For long hair? Are you serious? I also believe that this is a diversion of people’s attention from what happened in Machulyshche. And from the fact that Russia is not winning the war. So that people worry about their children and don’t think about what will happen to Belarus and Belarusians after Russia’s defeat in the war,” says the interlocutor.
Her teenage children, the woman says, are outraged by the situation. “The children said that those from “Rodan” are simply “dead inside” (a popular meme that translates as “dead inside” and means “sad people”. – RS). The children said that they are harmless and do not touch anyone. They only defend themselves when they are attacked. My children wanted plaid pants, my daughter wants a fairy tale with a spider. That’s the kind of advertisement they made,” Alena added.
“In my son’s environment there are such teenagers – “shitholes” and “clowns””
Siarhei told Svaboda that there were no special “distributions” in their school. Only the class teacher wrote something standard about child care in the parent chat.
“My children, daughter and son, teenagers, they are not in these trends. They came to my son’s class and read a lecture about the harm of “Rodan”. But he practically did not remember anything, because he is not interested in it. In my son’s environment, such teenagers are considered “scumbags”, “clowns”. Other children look down on them. By the way, my son didn’t know anything about them before this hysterics,” said Siarhei.
Alesi’s son goes to senior classes. He is a lover of Japanese culture, anime. “But he didn’t know anything about this “Rodan PVK”. This is something unhealthy that arose suddenly, in a day and a half. In the first days after the arrests of the teenagers, the headmistress wrote every night in the chat, asking where our children were. She asked them to give her a report that they are at home,” says Alesya.
Olga’s son is in the sixth grade. “The next day after that arrest in Gomli, the class teacher said that the parents should definitely pick up their children from school, from the second shift. Dad went, he noticed that at every intersection, on every corner near the school there were policemen in civilian clothes. At the school, they spent classroom hours for the children, they explained that they should not go anywhere,” says Olga.
The woman added that her son does not really understand what these teenagers from “Rodan” are like.
“I do it myself, to be honest. Moreover, neither my son nor I understand what good they did or planned to do, for which they were detained,” says Olga.