Employees of St. Petersburg’s Kontakt social center and representatives of the Russian Interior Ministry’s Center for Countering Extremism (also known as Center “E”) are preparing to conduct raids at shopping malls and other places where teenagers and young people gather. The measures are expected to begin in August and September, according to an excerpt from a city juvenile affairs commission resolution published by the Telegram channel Ostorozhno, Peterburg. The local outlet 78.ru also reported on the document.
Point 2.2.1 reads "These raids shall be aimed at identifying young people with radical views, including on the basis of distinctive outward features in their clothing, various accessories associated with informal antisocial groups, and similar signs, in order to involve them in preventive work focused on deradicalization and constructive socialization, taking into account current trends and challenges."
Source: Ostorozhno, Peterburg (@ostorozhno_spb / Telegram)
Law enforcement officers have been instructed to identify “radical-minded youth” by looking for “distinctive external attributes in clothing” and accessories that could indicate possible membership in “informal antisocial groups.” Such teenagers will be targeted for further “preventive” work aimed at “deradicalization and constructive socialization.”
