Residents of North Ossetia exposed and ridiculed "morality fighters."

An anonymous group of women hacked and seized an account in which a group of bloggers had been harassing young women from North Ossetia under the pretext of fighting for morality. The women are demanding an apology from a member of the North Ossetian parliament and intend to end the United Russia blogger's political career.

In March, an account dedicated to harassing young women from North Ossetia for their appearance and clothing appeared on Instagram*. Its authors called for a ban on short skirts for women, in particular.

The page's main spokespeople were misogynist blogger Armen Avanesov, who lives in the United States, and United Russia member Kirill Maksimkin, who positions himself as a "people's activist." North Ossetian parliament member Soslan Didarov also spoke out in their support.

"The page posted photos and videos calling for banning women from everything. The page recently underwent a makeover: it was hacked by an anonymous group of women tired of enduring this abuse," the human rights group "Marem" reported on its Telegram channel on May 14.

After gaining control of the page, the women changed its name—it is now called na_kavkaze_travli_net—and its appearance: they feminized the symbols and visual imagery used by the account to promote "traditional values." The page now calls for honoring, loving, and respecting women, not "traditions."

The account also publishes revelations about Avanesov and Maksimkin, the instigators of the harassment. "If such activists aren't nipped in the bud, this infection will spread. Current North Ossetian parliament member Soslan Didarov, a latent misogynist like them, who loves to categorize women (...), promises to create a roundtable to address the issues and grievances of these psychopaths," the page's owners said.

They demand an apology from Didarov for his offensive statements about women. The activists also want Maksimkin to be forced to end his political career: today's post from an intercepted account claims that the United Russia moralist starred in pornographic videos, which he himself posted online. "Meanwhile, he shouts louder than anyone about traditional values ​​and, together with another 'patriot,' Armen Avanesov, advocates for a ban on miniskirts for women in North Ossetia. Such are the double standards," the post reads.

In 2017, the online community page "Carthage" published photos of Chechen women without headscarves or in "inappropriate clothing," sometimes with links to relatives who were urged to "deal with" the girls for their behavior. This public page was added to the registry of banned resources, but continued to operate behind closed doors, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Carthage: Traditions and Bullying in Chechnya and Dagestan."