Young women are ordered to hand over their thong underwear and replace it with more modest garments as they enter the military-style Nashi summer camp on the shores of picturesque Lake Seliger, 350km northwest of Moscow. It is for their own good, they're told, since thongs can 'cause sterility' and undermine propriety.
Welcome to the brave new world of Nashi, which means 'Ours' in Russian, the Putinista youth movement established by the Kremlin two years ago to ward off the threat of a Ukrainian-style orange revolution in Russia. With massive infusions of cash from undisclosed sources - probably Kremlin-friendly businesses - the self-proclaimed 'anti-fascist' group has since swelled to 200,000 members, including many would-be future politicians.
About 10,000 hardcore activists attended the third annual summer retreat on Lake Seliger recently, where they camped out military fashion, awoke early to calisthenics (for women) and gruelling 5km runs (for men), and spent their days absorbing patriotic lectures. Alcohol was banned and failing to show up for a class meant instant dismissal.
'I decided to join Nashi because I couldn't remain indifferent to what was happening in the country,' says Alexander Golovko, a 22-year-old student from the central Russian industrial city of Lipetsk. 'It was either sit around drinking beer and complaining or do something.'
Mr Golovko and his fiancee, Katya Kozlova, were among more than 30 couples aiming to get married in special ceremonies during the camp, in order to 'set a good example' for other Russian young people.
Though the participants, mostly aged between 14 and 25, looked and sounded much like regular youths, this was clearly no ordinary summer camp. Among those who met selected Nashi campers was President Vladimir Putin, who used the occasion to rail against Britain's demand that Russia turn over Andrei Lugovoi, the chief suspect in last year's radiation murder of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko.