Dmitry Sidorov, the Washington DC-based bureau chief of Kommersant, has an opinion article today in Forbes about the frequent harrassment, threats, and violence against independent journalists in Russia, especially those working for Novaya Gazeta (which recently received a disturbing shipment of severed donkey ears – a mafioso-like message).  Sidorov points to the state-sponsored elements of these attacks, most notably in the activities of the Nashi.

Nashi was created with the help of Vladislav Surkov, the Kremlin’s resident ideological guru, who kept his post as deputy head of the presidential administration after Dmitry Medvedev was anointed president by Vladimir Putin. The organization has made a name for itself not only for its fawning admiration of Putin and Medvedev, but also for sinister bits of street theater targeting anyone they see as opponents of the Kremlin, be they foreign diplomats or Russian writers and journalists.