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Russians fear Pokémon Go a Western plot to destabilize nation from within

maxcriden

Member
Russia_1c4ae9_1035139.jpg


Literally tears are forming in my eyes from laughter.

Excerpts:

MOSCOW — From pro-Kremlin politicians to Cossacks, many Russians are convinced that the wildly popular Pokemon Go smartphone app is either a cunning Western plot to destabilize Russia or the spawn of Satan.

And quite possibly both.

“There is a feeling that the devil came through this mechanism and is simply trying to destroy us spiritually from within,” Franz Klintsevich, a senior Russian security official, told the state news agency TASS.

Although Pokemon Go by Nintendo has not received an official release in Russia, many people have downloaded the app by adjusting their smartphone settings. Popular sites for “catching” the game’s garish “pocket monsters” include Red Square, the territory of the city’s landmark Hotel Ukrainia and other areas in central Moscow.

Mr. Klintsevich, vice chairman of Russia’s Committee on Security and Defense of the upper house of parliament, also expressed concerns that the augmented reality game is a Western “psychological operation” that could be used to manipulate the minds of young people.

“This could lead all the way to revolution,” he said.

Mr. Klintsevich urged both houses of Russia’s parliament to consider legislation to restrict the use of Pokemon Go after Sept. 18 parliamentary elections.

State media quoted a retired national security service agent this month as saying the game could be a way for the U.S. to enlist unknowing people, including soldiers, into taking photographs of strategically important locations. The gaming app uses a smartphone’s GPS to create a map of the user’s surroundings and taps into the phone’s camera to superimpose an image of a Pokemon monster on the screen.

“Imagine that the little beast in question doesn’t appear in some park but at a secret site where a conscript or other soldier takes and photographs it with his camera,” Aleksander Mikhailov, a retired major general of the Federal Security Service, told state news agency RIA Novosti. “It’s recruitment by one’s own personal desire and without any coercion. This is the ideal way for secret services to gather information.”

Russia’s Communists, the second-largest political party in parliament, are also up in arms.

“Users of mobile devices with this game installed on it could become unsuspecting accomplices in terrorist acts,” read an official complaint that Communist Party lawmaker Denis Voronenkov sent to the Federal Security Service.

Mr. Voronenkov also said Pokemon Go was developed by the CIAto carry out “uninterrupted spying activities” in Russia.

His opinion was echoed by Alexander Dugin, an ultranationalist thinker with reported links to the Kremlin who said Niantic, the San-Francisco-based developer of Pokemon Go, has links to a CIA venture capital firm.

In St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-biggest city, the leader of the local Cossacks urged Russian officials to ban the smartphone app.

“We need to drag people out of the virtual world. It all smacks of Satanism,” Andrei Polyakov, leader of the Irbis Orthodox Union of Cossacks, told Russian media.

In a bid to counter Pokemon Go mania, Moscow city officials announced Monday that a Russian-developed version of the game would be launched in the capital next month. It will feature famous Russians such as Ivan the Terrible and Pyotr Chaikovsky in place of multicolored Pokemon creatures.

The storm over Pokemon Go reflects widespread suspicions among Russian officials over foreign technological innovations.

Mr. Putin in the past has called the internet a CIA project, and Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-installed leader of Chechnya, recently urged men to prevent their wives from using the WhatsApp smartphone app after anger over a forced marriage spread on the popular messaging service.

Full story:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/28/russians-fear-pokemon-go-a-western-plot-to-destabi/

(Via GoNintendo.com)

Imagine that the little beast in question locks this thread if old.
 
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHHA! This might top all the negative press about pokemon ever. My sides, my poor sides.

Edit: OH GOD, that first post.
 

Platy

Member
They are right that Pokemon Go will dstabilize nations from within.... but that has nothing to do SPECIFICALY with russia. It is destabilizing USA, Japan, Australia ... hell it is even destabilizing south america BECAUSE it is not here yet =P
 

Wonko_C

Member
But Pokemon is Japanese... That's east, not west of Russia last time I checked.

Edit: Beaten with a thousand Pokeballs.
 
Don't be silly it's obviously a plot between the Japanese Government and Google to locate the GPS coordinates of military bases in the People's Republic of China!
(I'm serious, the Chinese Communist party literally said that)
 

chadskin

Member
In a bid to counter Pokemon Go mania, Moscow city officials announced Monday that a Russian-developed version of the game would be launched in the capital next month. It will feature famous Russians such as Ivan the Terrible and Pyotr Chaikovsky in place of multicolored Pokemon creatures.
3E13pcD9_a_TFdHLpCcZNA.png


Looks just as fun!
 
In a country where Counter-Strike and Dota 2 are the leading games, you gotta wonder how they tied Pokémon to Satanism at all.
 

joecanada

Member
“Imagine that the little beast in question doesn’t appear in some park but at a secret site where a conscript or other soldier takes and photographs it with his camera,” Aleksander Mikhailov, a retired major general of the Federal Security Service, told state news agency RIA Novosti. “It’s recruitment by one’s own personal desire and without any coercion. This is the ideal way for secret services to gather information.”


so this is actually an awesome idea lol.
 

L.O.R.D

Member
history is repeating itself.

in saudi arabia some are calling them self "Tech expert" saying that Pokemon GO is a way to spy on the nation,and it will locate every movement you do and will capture and photo and video and send it to the CIA.
 
These are not "Russians." These are few ultra conservative fifty-somethings raised in Soviet Union who do not understand anything new, yet are ready to tear apart whatever young 'uns are doing this week.

Russians laugh at them as much as all of you do. That's kind of a morbid laugh for us, though, because these people are in power over our country, and that's, alongside with other events of recent history, is freaking sad.

I am sad about my country's future and overseas reputation ruined by old farts in power. And, yes, it directly affects every Russian who is participating in worldwide communications on the Internet. Please take that into consideration.

And yes, Pokémon Go is as phenomenal here as worldwide, and it haven't even launched here.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
At least they don't think it's witchcraft or something
Someone hasn't read the OP :p

rom pro-Kremlin politicians to Cossacks, many Russians are convinced that the wildly popular Pokemon Go smartphone app is either a cunning Western plot to destabilize Russia or the spawn of Satan.

“There is a feeling that the devil came through this mechanism and is simply trying to destroy us spiritually from within,” Franz Klintsevich, a senior Russian security official, told the state news agency TASS.

[...]
“We need to drag people out of the virtual world. It all smacks of Satanism,” Andrei Polyakov, leader of the Irbis Orthodox Union of Cossacks, told Russian media.
 
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