The infamous Night Wolves, a group of bikers loyal to Putin, have set out from Moscow for a rally that will take them all the way to Berlin. The column started in the southeast of the Russian capital on Saturday. It consisted of hundreds of members of the motorcycle club, which Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin strongly supports.
Several rally participants carried Russian and Soviet flags. Some had taped the letter Z to their motorcycles, symbolizing the offensive in Ukraine, officially dubbed “military special operations” by the Kremlin. The rally is called “The Routes of Victory”.
Biker boss and Putin friend lead group
The group is led by Alexander Zaldostanov, the leader and founder of the Night Wolves, who describes himself as a “friend” of Putin and goes by the nickname “The Surgeon”. Before his questionable career as a biker loyal to Putin, Zaldostanov even worked as a doctor in a dental clinic. He is under Western sanctions for his support of Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia.
Motorcyclists want to go to Donetsk
The rally must first lead to Volgograd – the former Stalingrad. The Red Army’s victory over Hitler’s Wehrmacht in the nearly six-month battle there (1942-1943) marked a turning point in the Soviet Union’s struggle against Nazi Germany in World War II. On February 2, it was 80 years since this happened in the presence of Putin in Volgograd, victory was committed.
Afterwards, the motorcyclists want to continue to the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, where the participants want to distribute humanitarian aid to civilians and Russian soldiers. Last September, Moscow declared Donetsk and three other Ukrainian regions annexed. However, the four regions are only partially controlled by Russia.
The destination is Berlin, just in time for World War Day
The rally was supposed to end in Berlin on May 9, which is hard to imagine, at least for the Russian participants, given the EU sanctions against the night wolves. But the gang also has supporters in the Balkans.
May 9 is the anniversary of the end of the world war in Russia, in Germany and other European countries this anniversary is already celebrated on May 8. The Night Wolves were formed in 1989, shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the past, delegations from the club have repeatedly left Moscow for Berlin to celebrate the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany.
Source: Krone
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