We set on fire three large trailers of the British-Dutch corporation Shell at the gas station of the company in Lund (Sweden) in the night of August 27. The reason to take Shell as an aim for attack was Shell`s participation in the construction of the natural gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 as an investor. This action was carried out within the International Week of Solidarity With Anarchist Prisoners (August 23–30).
Nord Stream 2 belongs to the Russian State Corporation Gazprom and it is a strategic project of Putin’s regime. This gas pipeline will become a serious weapon in the hands of the dictatorship. Nevertheless, Shell and several more Western companies help the Russian state economically.
Moreover, Shell does not only act as an investor, but also use its lobbying power in the West to help Putin. Shell lobbyists claim the lack of alternatives to the Russian gas.
Support for Putin’s regime is not the only Shell atrocity. The list is very long. This is the creation of incompatible with normal life conditions for millions of people, especially in the countries of the so-called “third world”, and cooperation with dictatorship in Nigeria, which defended the enrichment of capitalists from Shell by murder and torture, and the destruction of nature around the world. It`s not that hard to find information about it.
Fortunately, guerilla fighters in different countries attack property of Shell often. And we are very happy that we made our modest contribution in this fight. We believe that our attack against Putin’s accomplices from Shell during the International Week of Solidarity With Anarchist Prisoners is the correct way to express the support to our imprisoned comrades.
The Russian dictatorship subjects anarchists to brutal repressions. The trial on three anarchist teenagers Nikita Uvarov, Denis Mikhailenko and Bogdan Andreev continues in the city of Kansk. They are threatened with a long prison term under the article of “training the terrorist activities” and some more accusations. Azat Miftakhov was sent to the prison camp, where the prisoners are often tortured. Maxim Smolnikov was accused in justifying terrorism and has spent 4 months being locked up. Later he was sent to house arrest. “Network case” prisoners carry out their long prison sentences. Yevgeny Karakashev was sent to 6 years in a prison colony for “calls for committing of terrorist activity”. Recently he met his 43th birthday in prison. The trial against Anastasia Safonova and Dmitry Tsibukovski is continuing in Chelyabinsk (Anastasia and Dmitry are waiting for 2 and 2.5 years in prison respectively). The activities of anarchist groups on the territory of Russia are suppressed by new criminal cases and torture. Our attack is a reminder of our imprisoned comrades.
The Russian imperialism strives to suppress revolutionary impulses all over the world. Over the past year we have seen many times how Putin provided material and diplomatic support to the Belarusian dictator Lukashenko. Those of European political forces who are loyal to the Kremlin, including a number of ultra-right parties, have tried and are trying to block sanctions against the Belarusian regime. The Russian security agencies closely cooperate with the Belarusian ones. Persecuted Belarusian revolutionaries founded on the territory of the Russian Federation would be arrested. Recently the Russian court decided to extradite Andrey Kazimirov, an antifascist from Brest, back to Belarus. In 2010 anarchist Igor Olinevich was handed over by Russian security agencies (FSB) to the Belarusian (KGB) without any court proceedings at all.
In 2014, after the uprising and overthrowing of the oligarchic regime of Yanukovych in Ukraine, the Russian Armed Forces began the invasion of this country. The Syrian dictator Assad sits on his bloody throne only thanks to Russian military aid. The Putin regime sells weapons to the military dictatorship in Myanmar, the weapons are used in the war against the rebels, including our anarchist comrades. Shell at least indirectly supports all these atrocities.
Russian state and oligarch`s companies arrange one ecological catastrophe after another, just as Shell do. The Russian state suppresses by repressions any attempt to resist the destruction of nature. To attack Nord Stream 2 and its European investor Shell means to protect people, animals and our entire planet from merciless dictators and greedy capitalists.
It is also worth to add that we do not divide capitalists on good and bad ones, we do not believe in the existence of “green” and “ethical” capitalism. The entire capitalist system, which is based on the exploitation of people and the destruction of nature, must be destroyed. Now we attacked Shell, because the cooperation of this corporation with the Russian state is obvious. But our struggle will not be completed until the complete destruction of all states and capitalism will be done.
Nord Stream 2 as an investor. This action was carried out within the International Week of Solidarity With Anarchist Prisoners (August 23–30).