New Revolutionary Alternative

New Revolutionary Alternative (Russian: Новая Революционная Альтернатива) (NRA) is an anarchist organization devoted to insurrectionary struggle in Russia. Authorities consider the organization to be a terrorist group.

Little is known about the NRA. The media has speculated that it may have as many as 100 active members while others believe that it may not exist at all.

History

The NRA first surfaced in 1996, carrying out a number of actions (including bombings and arsons) in protest of the First Chechen War. Targets included conscription centers, government, military and police stations.

After the April 2, 1998 bombing of a police bus, the NRA released a statement calling on "the people to answer police terror with revolutionary terror and fascist provocations with anti-fascist direct action."

On April 4, 1999, a bomb detonated in Moscow, seriously damaging the Federal Security Bureau. Several days later, the bombing was claimed by the NRA, who stated that the attack was "a protest against the bourgeois terror of the Russian state police system against the radical opponents of the regime." Many journalists rejected the NRA's claim as unlikely. Two women, Olga Nevskaya and Nadezhda Raks, were arrested on February 23, 2000 in conjunction with a criminal investigation into the attack.

On April 14, 2003 three individuals were convicted of participation in various NRA activities. Nadezhda Raks received 9 years in prison, Larisa Romanova received 5.5 years in prison, and Olga Nevskaya received 6 years in prison. Raks, a member of the "Revolutionary Communist Union of Youth (Bolsheviks)" (cf. Bolshevik), is not supported by Russian anarchists due to alleged right-wing ties.

In October, 2005 Larisa Romanova was freed from prison.