Moscow's Night Wolves bikers are rebels with a cause

Roaring through Moscow after dark with their big bikes, long hair and leather jackets, the Night Wolves could be Russia's answer to the Hell's Angels. But these are riders with a cause, and that cause is the motherland.

"Our values are quite simple: love your country, have faith and don't use or sell drugs," summed up Alexander Benish, second in command of the club whose members President Vladimir Putin calls his "brothers".

They may share a passion for the open road, but the Night Wolves - "Nochnye Volki" in Russian - reject the American biker label altogether.

"The biker lifestyle is anti-social. It's all about 'let's drink beer, break glasses, and if anyone has a problem with that, we beat them up'," said Benish, who at 46 has been a Wolf for two decades.

"They think they are better than the rest of society, and they have this cult of violence. That's not our philosophy. We only use violence as a last resort."

Founded in 1989, just before the fall of the Soviet Union, the Night Wolves have since spread across Russia and the former Soviet bloc, with an estimated 5,000 members - including the Kremlin-backed Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov.