Nochnoy Dozor (russian: Ночной дозор, Night Watch, et, Öine Vahtkond) is a group of mostly
Russophone
This article details the geographical distribution of Russian-speakers. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the status of the Russian language often became a matter of controversy. Some Post-Soviet states adopted policies of derussi ...
political
activists
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
living in
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
. It was set up in the middle of 2006, with its original declared goal of defending the
Bronze Soldier
The Bronze Soldier ( et, Pronkssõdur, russian: Бронзовый солдат, ''Bronzovyj soldat'') is the informal name of a controversial Soviet World War II war memorial in Tallinn, Estonia, built at the site of several war graves, which w ...
, a monument grave marker in
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...
, 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 Decembe ...
and next to a
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...
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
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (MFA Russia; russian: Министерство иностранных дел Российской Федерации, МИД РФ) is the central government institution charged with lea ...
. Nochnoy Dozor refers to itself as an
anti-fascist organization.
The group has made a number of public statements dubbing various Estonian politicians as
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
s and calling for their resignation. These statements are often rapidly taken up by
Russian language media channels. Following the relocation of the
Bronze Soldier of Tallinn
The Bronze Soldier ( et, Pronkssõdur, russian: Бронзовый солдат, ''Bronzovyj soldat'') is the informal name of a controversial Soviet World War II war memorial in Tallinn, Estonia, built at the site of several war graves, whi ...
in April 2007, the group called for the resignation of the whole Estonian cabinet of ministers. According to an article in the Estonian ''
Postimees
''Postimees'' () is an Estonian daily newspaper established on 5 June 1857, by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. In 1891, it became the first daily newspaper in Estonia. Its current editor-in-chief is Priit Hõbemägi. The paper has approximately 250 ...
'', during July 2007 the group was instrumental in constructing a controversy over the 50th birthday party of
Rein Lang
Rein Lang (born 4 July 1957) is an Estonian politician, a member of the Estonian Reform Party since 1995, and a diplomat. He was the Minister of Culture in Andrus Ansip's third cabinet until his resignation.
Personal life
Lang was born at Tar ...
, 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 of ''Pozor! Pozor!'' (
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
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
In macroeconomics and modern monetary policy, a devaluation is an official lowering of the value of a country's currency within a fixed exchange-rate system, in which a monetary authority formally sets a lower exchange rate of the national curre ...
of the
Estonian kroon
The kroon (sign: KR; code: EEK) was the official currency of Estonia for two periods in history: 1928–1940 and 1992–2011. Between 1 January and 14 January 2011, the kroon circulated together with the euro, after which the euro became the sole ...
.
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
NEWSru.com was a Russian online news site, based in Moscow, which had a government-critical orientation.
History
NEWSru.com was originally launched in 2000 at the address ntv.ru. When the government took over the NTV network in 2000, with the n ...
incorrectly reported that the press secretary of the
Security Police
Security police officers are employed by or for a governmental agency or corporations to provide security service security services to those properties.
Security police protect facilities, properties, personnel, users, visitors and enforce cer ...
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
*
Mark Sirők
References
External links
Official website, with some information in Estonian and English
Another ND site
* Eesti Ekspress 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