Russian Racist Neo-Nazis and Skin Heads Attack and Kill Immigrants
NewsToBeRead
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120752659637493575.html
Russia Becomes More Dangerous for Immigrants
Racist Attacks On Rise in Cities Despite Crackdown
By ANDREW OSBORN
April 7, 2008; Page A8
MOSCOW -- A significant increase in anti-immigrant attacks by neo-Nazi
skinheads in Russia has led to a rare police crackdown in Moscow and a
warning of vigilante justice by diaspora organizations.
Ultranationalist skinheads killed 41 people in the first three months
of this year, a more than 400% increase from the same period last
year, according to the Moscow-based Sova center, which monitors such
attacks. The victims were nonwhite Russians, dark-skinned immigrants
from former Soviet republics, and people from Asia and Africa.
Sova says the number of such racist attacks is increasing, as is the
severity -- evolving from simple stabbings to torture and
disfigurement.
The Kremlin hasn't been able to control the problem, and some critics
say nationalist rhetoric from the government is feeding the problem,
even though ultranationalist politicians have been marginalized or
operate only under strict Kremlin control.
The leaders of countries that supply Russia with migrant labor took
time out of a political and economic summit in February to complain
about the violence to President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Putin promised
tough action.
Diaspora groups and migration experts estimate there are as many as 15
million immigrants living in Russia -- out of a population of 142
million -- including a large number of illegal immigrants. Immigrant
numbers are growing, according to the United Nations, a trend that
Russian officials say is aggravating tensions.
Racism experts and officials are divided on why skinheads have cranked
up the violence. One theory is that they are reacting to tougher
policing; another that it is the work of infamy-hungry copycats.
Killing migrants with a knife has become a skinhead pastime, says
Semyon Charny, an expert at the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights.
The attackers sometimes record their crimes on videos as proof of work
done for shadowy neo-Nazi groups that, police believe, commission the
killings.
"People are afraid to walk the streets," says Muhammad Egamzod, a
spokesman at the embassy of Tajikistan, a country whose citizens have
been targeted.
In the past year, police have made a string of arrests, breaking up at
least four gangs. In Moscow, where most of Russia's race-related
murders occur, police have begun stopping and fingerprinting skinheads
in the subway. The crackdown hasn't stopped the killing, though.
Diaspora groups have said immigrants will take the law into their own
hands if the police don't control the problem.
Galina Kozhevnikova, deputy head of Sova, says the Internet allows
racist killers to become heroes in ultra-right circles whose adherents
believe a war is raging to keep Russia ethnically Russian. The
killers' "fans" then try to copy and outdo them, she says.
One 18-year-old skinhead arrested last April was hailed on ultra-right
Russian Web sites as a "patriot" after a closed-circuit video camera
apparently showed him stabbing an Armenian man to death. The skinhead
told police he had killed 37 nonwhites, though he later recanted,
according to local media reports. In transcripts of his interrogation
leaked to local media, the teenager said Moscow needed to be
"cleansed." He is awaiting trial.
The Moscow Bureau for Human Rights and Sova estimate Russia is home to
about 70,000 skinheads -- including neo-Nazis, antifascists, and those
who merely dress the part wearing heavy laceup boots, black bomber
jackets and buzzcuts.
Sova says about half of these skinheads are informally aligned with
groups that promote anti-immigrant violence.
The skinheads are largely located in Russia's urban centers, primarily
Moscow, St. Petersburg and Voronezh. At times, they brawl with
antifascist skinheads. In Moscow on March 16, neo-Nazi skinheads
killed a young antifascist. On the same day, in six attacks in Moscow
and Voronezh, three people ended up in intensive care and one victim
was permanently disfigured.
Vladimir Pronin, Moscow's police chief, did little to reassure
diaspora groups when they met with him in February to complain about
the violence. In comments shown on state television, he told them to
ensure migrants committed fewer crimes.
In an interview with a Russian paper the same month, Mr. Pronin blamed
skinhead violence on a lack of a positive belief system and poor
educational opportunities. "Teenagers have nothing to do," he said.
"They need an outlet for their aggression."
Ultranationalists complain that Kremlin dominance of the media and
politics has left their supporters with little outlet for their
frustration. "Legal forums for expressing feelings have become fewer
and fewer," says Alexander Belov, head of the ultra-right Movement
Against Illegal Immigration, an activist group.
He says recent parliamentary and presidential elections -- where
pro-Kremlin parties squeezed out most of their opponents -- left many
feeling disenfranchised. "Some youths feel like they have no other way
of expressing their feelings."
Dmitry Rogozin, one of the most prominent ultranationist politicians,
was forced out of politics by the Kremlin as his party gained in
popularity. He was sidelined and named as Russia's ambassador to NATO
in January.
Sojun Sadykov, head of Azerbaijani diaspora group Azeross, says many
migrants are straining for revenge. "If it continues like this for
another two or three months, there will be civil war," he says.
Write to Andrew Osborn at andrew...@wsj.com