Check this out: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/world/europe/08moscow.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Baked Beans and I saw a bunch of them downtown on Victory Day (May 9, when Russia celebrates the USSR's WWII victory, which people agree was pretty much singlehanded). They were teenaged, traveled in groups, and wore the same red t-shirts. BB said that many of them were from Siberia and were in Moscow for the first time, thanks to this organization Наши (Nashi).

It still amazes me how easy it is to be insulated from anything political. When I read the New York Times, it sounds as if Moscow is becoming more and more volatile, with constant demonstrations downtown and Russians falling into ranks for or against Putin. From what I see, though, ignoring politics is alarmingly easy, and almost universally done. Critical thought about government seems confined to celebrities like Gary Kasparov and Boris Berezovsky (the billionaire in London who says he's planning a violent revolution). Part of it, I'm sure, is that I'm just not looking in the right places, but nevertheless it's unsettling to read the Times and find it so different than what's apparent.