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Nashi to Flood City for Elections

A Moscow forum is expected to draw up to 30,000 supporters of the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi to the capital just in time for the State Duma elections, Gazeta.ru reported Tuesday.

Nashi activists have been asked to sign up on the Vkontakte social networking site for the youth forum running from Dec. 4 to 6 — overlapping with election day on Dec. 4.

The forum will be similar to the Nashi-organized camp near Lake Seliger, but with covered tents due to the cold and buses to the polls standing by.

Participants "have the right to bring their absentee ballots" enabling them to vote, Nashi commissar Liana Azizyan told the online newspaper.

The announcement of the Nashi event comes after opposition parties declared their intention to stage mass protests during the elections, which they say will likely be marred by widespread violations.

Nashi was nominally founded in 2005 as an anti-fascist movement, although speculation has circulated that its real goal is to harass the Kremlin's opponents.

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