The skinheads and other neo-Nazi type groups in Russia have been ever more and dangerously active, as follows from a report by the center of information and analysis SOVA, devoted to the manifestations of extremism and xenophobia in Russia last year. The events of the past few days and months point in the same direction.
The law enforcers have noticeably expanded the struggle against the neo-Nazis of late, analysts say, but civil society remains very indifferent about this threat. In the meantime, a true neo-Nazi underground has taken shape in Moscow.
Last year was one of the most eventful ones in terms of the manifestations of radical nationalism and resistance to it by the state and society, SOVA said in its report. The number of victims of racism and xenophobia-fuelled violence last year totaled at least 525, of whom 97 died. (In contrast to this in 2007 85 were killed and 605 others injured).
In all, 2008 racist and neo-Nazi attacks were registered in 44 regions of Russia, but most of them were in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as before.
The main victims of xenophobic aggression were Central Asia and Caucasus-born nationals. However, not a single individual of non-Slavic appearance is secure from racists' attacks. The same applies to the representatives of left-wing youth movements and subcultures alternative to the neo-Nazis (the Punks, the Emos and the Goths), whom the neo-Nazis regard as "traitors of the white race and its ideas."
The neo-Nazis' terrorist practices have been expanding. Last year saw at least ten explosions or attempts to blow up makeshift bombs in Moscow and the Moscow Region, in which neo-Nazis are suspected to have been involved.
"At present one can say with certainty there exists a whole chain of neo-Nazi groups capable of coordinated action, at least in the biggest cities of Russia," the report says.
In St. Petersburg last Sunday a group of 20 neo-Nazis armed with baseball bats and knives attacked spectators at an anti-Nazi festival. According to Fontanka.ru, a dozen attackers were detained.
Concerts and other actions by anti-Nazis often end with attacks by skinheads and racists on the audience.
In Novosibirsk last January skinheads armed with sticks attacked a street procession by anarchists, who were commemorating lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasiya Baburova, shot dead on a Moscow street earlier, says NEWSru.com.
As Itogi magazine reports, over the past four months Moscow, where the neo-Nazi underground has its headquarters, saw a hundred major incidents in which neo-Nazis were involved.
Analysts say that a series of explosions on the railways, at an outdoor bazaar, at a McDonalds, at an Orthodox church and some others are to be blamed on the same organization. The bombs were identical and the explosive used in it was the same - a mixture of aluminum powder and saltpeter.
During the same period of time groups of young men armed with knives attacked passers-by only to promptly escape from the scene.
That there exists a tight-knit conspiracy operating under the slogans of National Socialism became clear after the detention in the middle of January of several members of nationalist-minded combat cells, says the magazine.
The National-Socialists position themselves as skinheads' opponents. Most NS groups' members go in for sports, take no mind-affecting drugs (in contrast to the skinheads) and are obsessed with the idea of a healthy lifestyle. While skinheads prefer to show off to be well-noticed in the crowd, the NS activists keep a very low profile.
The system is their arch foe.
"One should be perfectly aware that the National-Socialists profess Nazi ideology, and are not just united by the plain wish "to go and give a dark-skinned a punch," the magazine quotes an operative of the counter-extremism squad at the Russian Interior Ministry as saying. "Many think that the skinheads are stupid rascals, but it is enough to read their web-sites to realize that among them there are former law enforcers, some real computer geniuses, and students of elite colleges - future journalists, doctors and lawyers. The down-and-out-guys-from-working-class-neighborhoods version does not work."
According to some sources, the members of the National-Socialist movement and their supporters in Moscow and the Moscow Region number some 20,000.
The federal security service FSB and the Interior Ministry lately dealt a combined blow on the neo-Nazis.
"On January 11 three college students suspected of complicity in at least five attacks against guest workers from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were detained," says a police operative. "And on January 17 operatives detained another five NS group members. One of them was the chief of a department at the Russian Ministry for Sports, Tourism and Culture."
According to the investigators, the group was plotting an explosion at a Moscow mosque.
Another group was caught on January 18 - three students are suspected of attacking three Chinese and a guest from Buryatia.
Three key law enforcement agencies are probing into the activity of extremist groups - the related departments at the FSB's anti-terrorist center, the department for the resistance to extremism at the Interior Ministry, and the 19th department of the Moscow Criminal Police. continues here
The law enforcers have noticeably expanded the struggle against the neo-Nazis of late, analysts say, but civil society remains very indifferent about this threat. In the meantime, a true neo-Nazi underground has taken shape in Moscow.
Last year was one of the most eventful ones in terms of the manifestations of radical nationalism and resistance to it by the state and society, SOVA said in its report. The number of victims of racism and xenophobia-fuelled violence last year totaled at least 525, of whom 97 died. (In contrast to this in 2007 85 were killed and 605 others injured).
In all, 2008 racist and neo-Nazi attacks were registered in 44 regions of Russia, but most of them were in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as before.
The main victims of xenophobic aggression were Central Asia and Caucasus-born nationals. However, not a single individual of non-Slavic appearance is secure from racists' attacks. The same applies to the representatives of left-wing youth movements and subcultures alternative to the neo-Nazis (the Punks, the Emos and the Goths), whom the neo-Nazis regard as "traitors of the white race and its ideas."
The neo-Nazis' terrorist practices have been expanding. Last year saw at least ten explosions or attempts to blow up makeshift bombs in Moscow and the Moscow Region, in which neo-Nazis are suspected to have been involved.
"At present one can say with certainty there exists a whole chain of neo-Nazi groups capable of coordinated action, at least in the biggest cities of Russia," the report says.
In St. Petersburg last Sunday a group of 20 neo-Nazis armed with baseball bats and knives attacked spectators at an anti-Nazi festival. According to Fontanka.ru, a dozen attackers were detained.
Concerts and other actions by anti-Nazis often end with attacks by skinheads and racists on the audience.
In Novosibirsk last January skinheads armed with sticks attacked a street procession by anarchists, who were commemorating lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasiya Baburova, shot dead on a Moscow street earlier, says NEWSru.com.
As Itogi magazine reports, over the past four months Moscow, where the neo-Nazi underground has its headquarters, saw a hundred major incidents in which neo-Nazis were involved.
Analysts say that a series of explosions on the railways, at an outdoor bazaar, at a McDonalds, at an Orthodox church and some others are to be blamed on the same organization. The bombs were identical and the explosive used in it was the same - a mixture of aluminum powder and saltpeter.
During the same period of time groups of young men armed with knives attacked passers-by only to promptly escape from the scene.
That there exists a tight-knit conspiracy operating under the slogans of National Socialism became clear after the detention in the middle of January of several members of nationalist-minded combat cells, says the magazine.
The National-Socialists position themselves as skinheads' opponents. Most NS groups' members go in for sports, take no mind-affecting drugs (in contrast to the skinheads) and are obsessed with the idea of a healthy lifestyle. While skinheads prefer to show off to be well-noticed in the crowd, the NS activists keep a very low profile.
The system is their arch foe.
"One should be perfectly aware that the National-Socialists profess Nazi ideology, and are not just united by the plain wish "to go and give a dark-skinned a punch," the magazine quotes an operative of the counter-extremism squad at the Russian Interior Ministry as saying. "Many think that the skinheads are stupid rascals, but it is enough to read their web-sites to realize that among them there are former law enforcers, some real computer geniuses, and students of elite colleges - future journalists, doctors and lawyers. The down-and-out-guys-from-working-class-neighborhoods version does not work."
According to some sources, the members of the National-Socialist movement and their supporters in Moscow and the Moscow Region number some 20,000.
The federal security service FSB and the Interior Ministry lately dealt a combined blow on the neo-Nazis.
"On January 11 three college students suspected of complicity in at least five attacks against guest workers from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were detained," says a police operative. "And on January 17 operatives detained another five NS group members. One of them was the chief of a department at the Russian Ministry for Sports, Tourism and Culture."
According to the investigators, the group was plotting an explosion at a Moscow mosque.
Another group was caught on January 18 - three students are suspected of attacking three Chinese and a guest from Buryatia.
Three key law enforcement agencies are probing into the activity of extremist groups - the related departments at the FSB's anti-terrorist center, the department for the resistance to extremism at the Interior Ministry, and the 19th department of the Moscow Criminal Police. continues here
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