The September 11, 2001 attacks are recalled not through a description of the attacks themselves but through their immediate effect on the public image of Eduard Limonov and the National Bolshevik Party. While Limonov is in prison, the attacks supply a new frame for presenting the party: a television film portrays it as an extension of Al-Qaeda, turning a remote encampment in the Altai into an imagined training ground for fanatics.

Occurrence and Context

The narrative places the attacks during Limonov’s imprisonment and connects them to the moment he arrives in Saratov. It offers no account of the attacks’ course or casualties. Instead, the event serves as the historical circumstance against which a new, more menacing portrayal of his political movement becomes legible.

The Television Reframing

As Limonov reaches Saratov, Channel One Russia airs a film called The Ghost Hunt. The film presents the National Bolshevik Party as a branch of Al-Qaeda and depicts a hut in the Altai as a secret camp training hundreds of fanatical fighters. The book contrasts that image with the reality of Limonov’s small group and its limited presence there; the imagined camp, it notes, was closer to his own dream than to what existed.

Consequences in Prison

The film’s account circulates inside the prison: every inmate has seen it, and Limonov becomes known as bin Laden. The nickname carries two opposing consequences. It flatters him by casting him as the protagonist of a spectacular threat, but it also makes him more dangerous to be around. In this episode, the attacks matter to the narrative chiefly as the backdrop to a transformation in political meaning: a television story converts Limonov’s ambitions and a modest encampment into evidence of an international terrorist menace.