Activists from the National Liberation Movement, or NLM, have held a sanctioned rally in front of the offices of media holding RBC, accusing journalists working at the agency of spreading "pro-Western propaganda."
About 20 protesters from the NLM — whose goal is to "fight the dominance of the U.S. and Europe" according to a statement on their website — gathered in front of the building, chanting slogans like "Motherland! Freedom! Putin!" and holding up signs with anti-American messages, RBC reported.
"Mass media — your hands are up to the elbows in the blood of children," one sign reportedly read.
Other signs included one reading "Obama, take away your mercenaries from Ukraine" and "the U.S. is a sponsor of world fascism and terrorism."
The activists also targeted well-known journalists working at news outlets, such as The New Times journalist Arkady Babchenko, who they accused of "selling out his country and people."
Oddly, the most popular chant in his direction was: "Babchenko the liberal journalist is worse than a tapeworm!"
The official website of the NLM says it has 139,179 members in 260 cities across Russia.
One of the founders of the organization is Yevgeny Fedorov, a State Duma deputy representing United Russia, who found himself in the spotlight recently after claiming that famous Soviet rock star Viktor Tsoi had actually been in cahoots with the CIA.
Fedorov has frequently spoken out against what he sees as U.S. interference in Russia's domestic affairs, suggesting Russian media that receives financial support from abroad should be labeled as foreign agents.
He recently denounced RBC, Snob, the Ekho Moskvy radio station, Newsru.com, Slon and Dozhd TV as foreign threats to Russia, calling them a "powerful fifth column of the media" in comments to the Duma.
