In recent months, Russia has seen several adolescents carry out armed attacks against schools and their students in locations as disparate as the Moscow suburb Ivanteevka, the regional center Perm, and a village near Ulan-Ude in the Chelyabinsk region. In almost every case, media sources, government agencies, and investigative organizations tied these events to “AUE,” a criminal movement that allegedly targets adolescents. The abbreviation is usually expanded as “Arestantskoe Urkaganskoe Edinstvo” (which translates roughly to “The Prisoners’ and Gangsters’ Union”) or “Arestansky Uklad Edin” (“the Prisoner’s Lifestyle Is Unified”).
Russian Senator Anton Beliakov has even responded to rumors about the movement by proposing a prohibition against “propagandizing criminal subcultures.” Opinions about what AUE actually is diverge widely; some call it an informal societal movement, others describe it as a social structure parallel to the government itself, and yet others believe it is a simple greeting that is common in criminal circles. Meduza special correspondent Sasha Sulim traveled to the Irkutsk region, where she found both adolescents obsessed with the culture of AUE and police officers who combat it. Sulim’s story was translated into English by Hilah Kohen.
