Supporters of the Russian movement Redan Group were detained in Ukraine: what is known about it

In some cities of Ukraine, street actions were held with the participation of teenagers and young people. The representatives of the Redan Group movement, founded in Russia, have appeared in Ukraine; its members are currently being detained en masse in the Russian Federation, social media reports.

In Kharkiv, the police even detained teenagers to prevent a mass fight. Law enforcement officers identified 245 participants of the mass event, calling it a flash mob launched by the Russian Federation.

According to Volodymyr Tymoshko, the head of the National Security Service of Kharkiv Oblast, law enforcement officers are in contact with parents whose children took part in the flash mob. Police officers who work with young offenders will meet with them and have preventive discussions.

UP.Zhyttia found out what kind of organisation it is, what it does, what its ideology is, and how widespread the Redan movement is in Ukraine.

What is known about Redan Group?

Information about the new movement began to spread actively in the media outlets and social media after the mass detention of teenagers in the malls of large Russian cities.

300 people were detained in one evening in one of Moscow's shopping malls.

The reason for the arrests were mass fights which, according to Russian media, were organised by representatives of a new youth subculture – the Redan "private military company".

Young people also call themselves Spiders, whose images with the number 4 are worn on their clothes. Teenagers consider themselves as freaks and claim that they have nothing related to military formations, and Group (by analogy with Prigozhin's infamous Wagner Group) was named "as a joke".

The emergence of the subculture is associated with the Japanese anime series HunterXHunter, in which there is a gangster group called Genei Ryodan, whose symbol was a spider and the number 4. Also, redans can wear chequered trousers and prefer black clothes.

However, teenagers do not consider themselves as a criminal group. On social media, it is claimed that community representatives oppose "white football fans and natives of the Caucasus and migrants." At the same time, redans declare that they "do not oppress people because of their religion or nationality."

According to the Russian media outlets, Redan is an organisation of representatives of the so-called anime subculture, however, unlike self-absorbed and sometimes apathetic admirers of the genre, these boys and girls can stand up for themselves.

"Redans". Photo from social media

On social media, Redans are contrasted with so-called 'offniks' (football hooligans) – representatives of the opposite subculture, who advocate brute force.

Meanwhile, propagandist Russian media outlets are claiming that Redans are a "psychological operation by Ukraine, which is very happy to see fights in Russian shopping malls".

Background: Russian authorities have been "fighting" with Japanese comics (manga) and anime for a long time. Certain books and films are banned through the courts. For example, popular anime like Death Note and Tokyo Ghoul have been banned in Russia since 2021.

Redans in Ukraine

It is currently unknown whether there are many so-called redans in Ukraine. They gather with the help of social media, where they call for revenge for every "freak".

Gatherings of teenagers, sometimes even with fights, have already been noticed in Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, etc.

Teenagers who oppose the Redans also gather together and go along to disperse them.

"In Cherkasy, the Redan Group has not yet been spotted en masse, but local teenagers are already gathering to deal with them. They are also recording relevant videos. The Group itself has local social networks where teenagers are gathered," writes the local Uman-Info media outlet.

A gathering of teenagers was also held in Ivano-Frankivsk. The oblast police told Ukrainska Pravda that no fights were reported. However, law enforcement officers conducted educational work with some teenagers and are currently investigating the situation. There are also reports of a fight between teenagers in Lviv, which was stopped by the police.

Actions with the participation of redans were also held in Kharkiv. According to publicist and journalist Andrii Popov, representatives of the organisation are being "packed" by the police near the shopping centre.

"At first it spread in the Russian Federation (where else could such a thing be invented - anime-like teenage gangs that consider themselves a private military company and attack other subcultures?)," says Popov. "In fact, this is an anime version of the skinheads of the 90s, who also went shopping and beat up anyone who was ‘different’. Since the Russian Federation has suppressed all traditional radical movements, especially the ‘ultras’ (mad football fans), aggressive young people are seeking thrills elsewhere, showing creativity and trying to imitate what they see in the news."

According to the police, law enforcement officers identified 245 participants of the mass event. The boys and girls were detained and taken to police units to clarify all the circumstances.

What most worries patriotic young people in Ukraine is the fact that the Redan movement is of Russian origin.

Some Ukrainian anime fans joke that they can be related to the Redan Group because of the symbols on their clothes and backpacks.

Blogger and Japanese language teacher Borys Moroz says that even the name of the group was created in Russia.

"Correctly, according to the anime canon, it was Ryodan (旅団, ‘troupe’), but in Russian they often write the letter (yo) without the two dots [causing it to be pronounced "e" rather than "yo"], so the name ‘Redan’ appeared, which does not mean anything. The participants of Redan in the Russian Federation have created their own revolutionary ideology. At its heart is the idea that freaks who have been beaten up by ‘gopniks’ and ‘ultras’ (thugs) can gather in a group and beat people up themselves," he says.

In Kharkiv, law enforcement officers identified 245 participants of the mass event

Moroz also explained why, in his opinion, children are imitating the Russian subculture, despite the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation.

"The Ukrainian anime community has been concentrating only on the war for a year. And then the Russian group Redan appeared and offered an idea that helps to immerse yourself in the romantic pre-war life with showdowns of officers and non-fighters in the aesthetics of anime. The choice of a 14-year-old person from Ivano-Frankivsk or Poltava is clear here."

Detention of teenagers in Kharkiv. Photo: National Police

According to psychologist Kateryna Holzberg, the Redan movement in Ukraine is currently not too widespread and massive.

"I asked several teenagers. No one had even heard such a name. There is no basis for the development of such a movement in Ukraine," says the psychologist.

Volodymyr Tymoshko, the head of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kharkiv Oblast, appealed to parents:

"Be attentive to your children, maintain constant communication with them, help them understand what is happening, where is good and where is evil. The war is not only on the battlefield. The enemy wants to destroy our country and uses our children to achieve their bloodthirsty goals. Only together can we stop it."

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