Nochnoy Dozor (russian: Ночной дозор, Night Watch, et, Öine Vahtkond) is a group of mostly
Russophone political
activists living in
Estonia. It was set up in the middle of 2006, with its original declared goal of defending the
Bronze Soldier, a monument grave marker in
Tallinn, near the
Estonian National Library
The National Library of Estonia ( et, Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu) is a national public institution in Estonia, which operates pursuant to the National Library of Estonia Act (). It was established as the parliamentary library () of Estonia on Decemb ...
and next to a
trolleybus stop, against "defacing, relocation and exhumation".
Media savvy
The group has made several anti-governmental statements and are said to be supported by the
Russian Foreign Ministry. Nochnoy Dozor refers to itself as an
anti-fascist
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...
organization.
The group has made a number of public statements dubbing various Estonian politicians as
Nazis and calling for their resignation. These statements are often rapidly taken up by
Russian language
Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...
media channels. Following the relocation of the
Bronze Soldier of Tallinn in April 2007, the group called for the resignation of the whole Estonian cabinet of ministers. According to an article in the Estonian ''
Postimees'', during July 2007 the group was instrumental in constructing a controversy over the 50th birthday party of
Rein Lang, Estonian Minister of Justice; Nochnoy Dozor was involved in calling for Lang's resignation.
The group is also semi-humorously referred to as ''Nochnoy Pozor'' (''Night Shame'') after its well-recognized
chant
A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes ...
of ''Pozor! Pozor!'' (
Russian for ''Shame! Shame!'') in the course of the day preceding the
Bronze Night
The Bronze Night ( et, Pronksiöö), also known as the April Unrest (') and April Events ('), refers to the riots in Estonia surrounding the controversial 2007 relocation of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn, a Soviet World War II memorial in Talli ...
.
Devaluation panic affair
On November 25, 2007, the group's website republished, with a title "business training" and a link to the forum disbunking the hoax, wrong information about the supposed secret
devaluation of the
Estonian kroon.
The Security Police started an investigation of the matter. The accusation is based on a message published at organization's message board that originated from the portal Arif where it appeared under the header "Business training. This is a game scenario". Later, after speculation in local media and blogs mentioning Nochnoy Dozor's forum as a source, a link to Arif's website was added on Nochnoy Dozor's forum and a message describing the news post as a game appeared.
"Singling out" subcontroversy
The Russian news portal
Newsru.com incorrectly reported that the press secretary of the
Security Police told the media that the organization singled out Nochnoy Dozor because of this organization's connections to Russia.
[Полиция Эстонии проверяет роль организации "Ночной дозор" в истории с валютной паникой]
/ref> Newsru quoted him as saying that while there was no ground for the criminal investigation, the investigation can continue on different grounds.
See also
*
Dmitri Linter
Dmitri Linter (russian: link=no, Дмитрий Серге́евич Линтер) (born November 22, 1973) is a counselor of vice-director of Russian Military Historical Society He is also a pro-Kremlin political activist, who has worked as ...
*
Mark Sirők
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Finn ...
References
External links
Official website, with some information in Estonian and English
Another ND site
*Eesti Ekspress
''Eesti Ekspress'' (''Estonian Express'') is an Estonian weekly newspaper.
Founded in 1989, ''Eesti Ekspress'' was the first politically independent newspaper in the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic during the Soviet control of Estonia.
Th ...
May 31, 2006
Notšnoi Dozor
by Viktoria Ladõnskaja, an article on the early history of the group
{{Russian nationalism
Russian nationalist organizations
Political advocacy groups in Estonia
Politics of Estonia
Russians in Estonia
2006 establishments in Estonia