After educating supporters at summer camps to identify the enemies of Russia, a pro-Kremlin youth group is sending activists into the streets to put their training into practice.

Members of Nashi (Ours) have begun street patrols alongside police in Moscow to “keep order” ahead of parliamentary elections in December. Organisers have made clear that their aim is to counter opponents of President Putin.

Around 200 activists have undergone training and donned red armbands as druzhniki, reviving a term from Soviet times to describe the volunteer corps. Nashi said that it planned to have 5,000 members patrolling Moscow during the elections, with more in other cities.

Nashi said that the patrols began after the city police accepted its offer to work together. But the initiative drew accusations that the organisation was being used as a vigilante force.

Ilya Yashin, head of the liberal Yabloko Party’s youth wing, told the Moscow Times: “It will come to a point where politics in Russia will end with fist-fights on the streets. When young, lively people are politically indoctrinated and given the backing of the State, they feel invincible. And that is very dangerous.” Nashi leaders said that volunteer “brigades” would be out in force against a rally in Moscow on October 7 planned by The Other Russia, the anti-Putin coalition headed by Garry Kasparov, the chess champion.

Riot police have repeatedly blocked attempts by the group to stage protest marches in Moscow. Nashi has also tried to stop meetings of opposition parties called to select a single candidate to run against the Kremlin’s choice in presidential elections next March. Nashi claims to be preparing 60,000 activists to take part in the elections and critics have dubbed it “Putin Youth” and part of a trend towards anti-Western nationalism in Russia. Vladislav Surkov, Mr Putin’s deputy chief of staff, has close links with the organisation. Nashi’s leaders deny that they receive Kremlin funding, but say they do get aid from “nationally orientated businesses” such as Gazprom, which is State controlled.

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