The Russian youth group “Nashi,” created not all that long ago, has been pledged to by the Kremlin to be the heirs of the government. They are among the most energetic of Putin supporters, often reported to have resorted to violence when dealing with those of opposing views.

A Kremlin spin doctor has promised to ???????hand over the country??????? to the activists of the recently established Nashi movement, the Gazeta daily wrote Monday.

Vladislav Surkov made the statement as he addressed a conference held by Nashi on the picturesque banks of Lake Seliger

The event was closed to the press with an exception made for state-run media outlets. Journalists were allowed into the camp only on Saturday, the RBC.ru website reported.

Participants of the event have to observe strict rules prohibiting the consumption of alcohol, using obscene language and leaving the camp at night. Those who fail to abide face immediate expulsion from the camp and from the movement, Gazeta reported.

A group of spin doctors, Duma deputies and pro-Kremlin media figures visited the Seliger camp over the weekend to greet the participants of the Nashi conference. High ranking guests included the State Duma deputy, head of the CIS affairs committee Andrei Kokoshin, upper house member Mikhail Margelov, television presenter Mikhail Leontiev, spin doctors Gleb Pavlovsky, Sergei Markov and Vyacheslav Nikonov addressed the youths with what some media described as ???????ideological brain washing speeches???????.

Kremlin spin doctors do not conceal the fact that they are pinning their hopes on the Nashi activists. ???????You must be ready to disperse fascist rallies and physically oppose attempted anti-constitutional coups,??????? Gleb Pavlovsky preached to those gathered on Saturday, according to Gazeta.

Pavlovsky expressed regret that the conference organizers offered no special physical training for its participants.

Deputy head of the Kremlin Staff, Vladislav Surkov, spoke of the need ???????to protect the youth from Western influence.??????? He promised to hand over the country to Nashi in the future. ???????Come to us sooner and we will hand over this country to you,??????? he said.

Gazeta????????s sources reported that the conference had cost 2.5 million to stage. The sources of the financing are being kept a secret. ???????The Kremlin has rendered us only moral support, but such support is worth a lot,??????? the head of the movement, Vassily Yakemenko told Gazeta.

The potential and power of a country’s motivated youth can be either a revolutionary blessing or a curse. It can be seen from the American anti-war movement of the early ’70s to the Ukrainian PORA group that helped organize the Orange Revolution. Deeply authoritarian governments realize this and use it to their benefit by creating such groups to support their regimes. Think Hitler Youth, something a liberal democratic government would never need to or be able to create.

Putin, however, is seizing on the power of youth that has worked so much against him in recent years and is turning it into an arm of the state. Effectively, these kids are being trained ideologically to continue a legacy of strong-arm governing. Since the government has much more funds and support to dispense than the squashed Russian civil society, their youth group has a much better chance to get off the ground (actually, it’s beginning to flourish in the thousands) than the floundering liberal groups. It’s too bad that the current government is so inept and corrupt that it would rather create a group like the current Nashi than one that promotes legal, economic, and governmental reform. But I guess that’s just not sexy enough.