PMC Ryodan: The Strange Story of Anime Teens, their Sworn Enemies and the Kremlin – bellingcat

Across Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, men in tracksuits are attacking teenage anime fans — so the police are rounding them up.

via bellingcat: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2023/03/03/ryodan-anime-teens-kremlin-russia-ukraine/

PMC Ryodan is not a transnational terrorist operation, but rather a cheekily-named and loosely-organised group of teenage anime fans. Over the last week of February, panic spread through Russia and Ukraine about a mysterious subculture of teenagers wearing black hoodies adorned with a white spider, supposedly starting massive brawls in shopping malls. News spread of incidents of “the Ryodans”, identifiable by their ubiquitous fashion choices, gathering in flash mobs in malls and attacking people.