Racism and xenophobia 'on the rise' in Russia

Racism and xenophobia are growing at an alarming rate in Russia, rights groups said today, problems fuelled by economic hardship and what they say is the government’s failure to come up with a plan for reducing ethnic tensions.

A study conducted by the Moscow Bureau of Human Rights said 10 people have been killed and another 200 victimised by hate crimes in the first half of 2005. The number of fatal attacks is nearly three times higher than last year, the study found.

The study, which was funded by the European Union, also estimated that Russia was home to more than 50,000 skinheads, more than five times more than law enforcement officials estimated.

A nationwide opinion poll, meanwhile, found that as many as 58% of respondents either fully or partially supported the concept “Russia for Russians.” A similar poll conducted last year found 53% believed that.

Growing extremist sentiments are rooted in the country’s economic problems and in the Soviet collapse, which sent thousands of migrants from poorer former Soviet republics to Russia seeking jobs, the report said. Experts also accused political parties of openly using racially tinged messages to appeal to voters sceptical of foreigners.

“Russia still lacks a comprehensive state strategy on countering xenophobia and the activity of nationalist radicals,” the study said.

Attacks on Jews along with dark-skinned people from the Caucasus have become increasingly frequent in Russia’s big cities.

Today, a court in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg sentenced three young men to a year in prison each for participating in an extremist organisation. The men assaulted several ethnic Yakuts in April, having mistaken the Asian-looking residents of the remote Yakutia region for Chinese.