Young and Connected, ‘Office Plankton’ Protesters Surprise Russia

James Hill for The New York Times

Denis Terekhov spoke Friday to his employees at Social Networks Agency, advising them to be careful if they attended Saturday’s planned protest in Moscow against the government.

By ELLEN BARRY
NYT

MOSCOW — On Friday afternoon, Denis Terekhov gathered together his employees for an impromptu staff meeting.

They were workaholics in their 20s — “office plankton,” as they are sometimes called here — punchy from an apocalypse-themed office party, some headed for winter vacations in Egypt and Turkey. But Mr. Terekhov had another order of business. Watch yourself, he told them, if you choose to attend Saturday’s antigovernment protest.

“Any suggestions about how to behave in prison?” someone asked, and everyone laughed. As they headed back to their work stations, the information technology director called out, “Attorneys’ phone numbers will be distributed separately!” Mr. Terekhov was not laughing. “Call me if something happens,” he said, and the meeting was over.

A mystery has been unfolding here over the past month, and office plankton are in the middle of it. A critical mass of young Russians decided this month that they had the power to alter the course of political events. They organized outside the channels of mainstream politics and took the country’s leadership by surprise, as other crowds have done this year in Israel, India, Spain and the United States.

(More here.)