2023-04-30 14:32:46
Hundreds of members of the Night Wolves, who are loyal to Putin, want to drive from Moscow to Berlin with “Z” symbols and Russian flags on their motorcycles. It’s not her first such trip.
Published: 04/30/2023, 14:32
The Russian night wolves are coming.
Bild: Keystone/EPA
Members of the so-called Night Wolves, a nationalist motorcycle club from Russia, have left Moscow for a tour to Berlin.
As a journalist from the AFP news agency observed, the column started on Saturday in the south-east of the Russian capital. It consisted of hundreds of members of the Night Wolves club, which vehemently supports Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
Several rally participants carried Russian and Soviet flags. Some had affixed the letter Z to their motorcycles, which symbolizes the offensive in Ukraine, which the Kremlin officially calls a “military special operation”. The rally is called “The Routes of Victory”.
The rally is scheduled to end in Berlin on May 9th. May 9th is the anniversary of the end of the World War in Russia, in Germany and other European countries this anniversary is already celebrated on May 8th.
Friend of Putin leads the rally
The rally is led by Alexander Zaldostanov, the boss and founder of the Night Wolves, who describes himself as a “friend” of Putin. Zaldostanov is under Western sanctions for his support for Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.
The night wolves in Switzerland
Image: Nicole Nars-Room
The rally should first lead to Volgograd – the former Stalingrad. The Red Army’s victory over Hitler’s Wehrmacht in the almost six-month battle there (1942-1943) marked a turning point in the Soviet Union’s struggle against Nazi Germany in World War II. February 2, in the presence of Putin in Volgograd, marked the 80th anniversary of this been committed victory.
Night wolves also want to drive through Ukraine
The rally is then scheduled to continue to the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, where participants plan to distribute humanitarian aid to civilians and Russian soldiers. Last September, Moscow declared Donetsk and three other Ukrainian regions annexed. However, the four regions are only partially controlled by Russia.
The Night Wolves were founded in 1989 shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the past, delegations from the club have repeatedly left Moscow for Berlin to celebrate the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany. Members of the group also appear again and again in other German cities, for example in Cologne last year.
(afp, place)
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