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English Language Page In the region, there have been attempts to create skinhead organizations. The mass media in the Astrakhan region spread a significant amount of xenophobia. With respect to migrants belonging to ethnic minorities, local newspapers use the following words and combinations of words: “get out of here;” “settle in;” “Caucasians running amok;” “hooligans of Caucasian nationality;” “an increase in the Chechen diaspora led to the ouster of the local population;” “officials of the border patrol detained the Caucasians, who were ‘running amok;’” “they have now only one perspective — either to settle in or get the hell out to their historic homeland;” “a Chechen with forged documents;” “its too bad that he still has a Georgian last name;” “refugees and migrants aggravate the situation;” “soon in Astrakhan there will not be any Astrakhanis;” “the Chechen gang appeared in court;” “how the Chechens captured the district police station;” etc. Tajik refugees are represented as: “throngs of annoying beggars, an additional headache for doctors, disease control stations, and law enforcement agencies;” “gangs of Tajik-gypsy juveniles have appeared;” “refugees are found at every turn, more common than trash barrels;” “for the time being, townspeople must ride in buses side by side with dirty, noisy kids and their parents, and they must brush away little beggars in the streets;” etc. At the same time, Russians are identified in the mass media as the ethnic group that forms the foundation of the state. The Governor of the region, A. Guzhvin, expresses apprehension about changes in the ethnic composition of the region in last 10 to 15 years because of continued illegal migration that, in his opinion, inevitably leads to worsening crime. According to the statement of the Deputy Governor, A. Zhilkin, the regional administration is advocating that the government of the Russian Federation make regulations for migration stricter. It is insisting on the introduction of a quota on the number of people entering the area. This quota would take into account the ethnicity of potential migrants, the availability of jobs and the provision of housing. According to A. Zhilkin, no matter who the central Asian migrants are and no matter what they want, the regional authorities intend to evict all of them beyond the borders of Russia during the next half of the year. Several trainloads of migrants were already sent to Tajikistan at the expense of the regional administration during 2001. According to regional monitors, the police and the administration illegally force citizens to violate the registration procedure. They systematically stop people on the street, detain them — keeping them in a special holding cell — and imposed fines. In 2000 in Astrakhan, there were 4 500 Chechens, but only 100 people received permanent registration. RNE operates in the region; it has around 500 members. “Vityaz,” an organization that is ideologically close to RNE, also operates in the region; it has around 300–400 members. A regional, special-purpose program, “Formation of Core of Tolerant Consciousness and the Prevention of Extremism in the Astrakhan Region (2002–2005),” (operating since 2001) was approved by the Governor in Resolution ¹45 on February 11, 2002. In the Bashkortostan Republic, numbered among the nationalist organizations are the Bashkir ethnic center “Ural” and the Union of Bashkir Youth. The rhetoric of these organizations consists of aggressive attacks on federal power, which supposedly is striving to deprive Bashkirs of sovereignty. The regular policy of the authorities contains noticeable signs of discrimination against citizens not belonging to the “titular” ethnic group, the Bashkirs. The practice in one of the state institutions of higher education in the republic can serve as an example of xenophobia in everyday life. In this institution, the department heads, who are ethnic Bashkirs, discuss professional questions in the Bashkir language in the presence of staff members — professors and other instructors — who speak only Russian. In the Bryansk region, RNE is very active. RNE members regularly distribute leaflets, set up weekly public meetings, and paint symbol and slogans of RNE on walls. Members of RNE are included in a public advisory chamber, organized by Governor Y. Lodkin. According to regional monitors, after a short slump related to a schism in the central organization, the activity of RNE in 2001 has again begun to grow. Besides RNE, it is possible to refer to “Ultra-Bryansk” and, to some degree, “Bryanskoye Narodnoye Veche” as a registered, radical-nationalist organizations. The membership of “Ultra-Bryansk,” is comprised of around 100 local students. Skinheads have been operating for three years in the region already, and for a number of years local law-enforcement agencies have been getting reports of Caucasians being beaten up. According to relevant data, the backbone of the skinheads is comprised of a core of approximately 30 to 50 individuals, their overall membership however, is ten times as great. Annually in Bryansk, on days of military holidays (Navy Day, Air Force Day, and Border Guard Day), there are unsanctioned public demonstrations of youth (former servicemen). As a rule, these demonstrations are accompanied by the theft of goods from Caucasian merchants. On August 2, 2001, Air Force Day, one of the orators said, “Comrades, we will not allow these freakin’ non-Russians to occupy our freakin’ region.” After a short rally, groups of former paratroopers went to the central market. They went along the stalls there and took goods from merchants and immigrants from Transcaucasia. According to regional monitors, manifestations of xenophobia are found most often in the weekly Bryanskaya Pravda and in the newspaper Bryansky Rabochy. The latter regularly exaggerates the seizure and occupation of markets by immigrants from the Caucasus who, due to complete inaction on the part of local authorities, collude to keep prices in the markets high. According to the opinion of one of the authors of those articles, one should look to the experiences of their closest neighbors (in the Oryol region and in the Kaluga region) as, supposedly, they have already brought “order” to their markets. Practically every issue of Bryanskaya Pravda, has a place for one or two articles in which bigoted statements about Jews or other ethnic groups are found. Also, there are statements made about political and public figures of non-Russian origin, “who scoff at Russia and Russians.” In Bryanskaya Pravda, one can find the following passages: “literally all of the Russians have been squeezed out of all of the various administrative apparatuses;” “even at high noon carrying a halogen lamp, you won’t find a Russian among the financial bigwigs or in the mass media, which aspires to be the fourth power in the country. In other leading posts, there are few Russians. Thus, it turns out that the Russian people are deprived of the possibility to fulfill their historic mission;” and “the people will stand up to the clamorous parasitic minorities… all of the filth in society comes specifically from them.” The State Duma Deputy elected in the Bryansk region, V. Shandybin, published his thoughts on the new legislative initiative of the federal authorities in Bryanskaya Pravda: The new Land Code, which is against the interests of the people, was thought up by a group under the leadership of G. Gref, a German by birth. . . who obviously intends to create a Greater Germany from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and to fulfill the long standing dreams of our enemies. In the Vologda region in 2002, the newspaper Stupeni Vologodskiye published several interviews devoted to the threat of fascism. To quote Natasha, a tenth grader: The local branch of the National Bolshevik Party is active in the region. National Bolsheviks have public rallies and distribute the party newspaper Limonka. In the town of Cherepovets, an unregistered gang of skinheads has existed for more than two years. The local authorities pretended that skinheads did not exist for a long time. After the pogroms in Moscow in November 2001, a “show” raid was carried out by the police: officers in the rapid reaction composite police unit turned up at the place where, according to their information, a clash between skinheads and Caucasians was supposed to take place; they detained more than 20 skinheads. This event was shown on local television. In February 2002, in the center of the city of Vologda, Oprichny Listok (issue ¹57) was distributed. It contained the following text: “A great feat of recent times was the profession of the Christian faith through the refusal to accept an identification number forced upon God-fearing people by the Talmudic kikes.” The piece was signed by Nikolai Kozlov. It did contain any other contact information. A series of publications directed against Jehovah’s Witnesses were included in the local mass media. According to the publications, the Jehovah’s Witnesses do the following: They recruit into their ranks an endless multitude of lonely and unsettled people, promise them paradise on earth and deliverance from their misfortunes, and inspire them with even more utopian ideas… Every year, more and more unhappy people fall into the firm grasp of the sect, destroying families and fortunes. Among the nationalist organizations in the Voronezh region, particularly worthy of mention is “Russian Rebirth,” which broke off from RNE, and also several gangs of Cossacks. RNE, after a long pause, resumed its traditional activities — pasting numerous leaflets with the slogans “Respect Russia or leave” and “Russia for Russians,” and also writing graffiti of similar content. Besides this, several orthodox-fundamentalist organizations, such as the “Orthodox Patriot” and the “Orthodox Brotherhood,” also operate in the region. A large branch of LDPR (according to official data around 5 000 members) is operating in the Voronezh region. The headquarters of the Congress of Russian Communities (KRO) are also located here. In 2002, over ten gangs of “skinheads,” are active, two of them directly connected with the Moscow skinhead organizations “Skinlegion” and “United Brigades 88.” According to data from local FSB, the number of skinheads in the region exceeds 600. Two murders committed by skinheads have been documented. On April 4, 2002, on a central street in the city of Voronezh, a citizen of Tunisia was beaten unmercifully (and later died in a hospital). On April 5, a citizen of Jordan died as a result of a knife wound. On the eve of April 21 (the birthday of Hitler), skinheads tried to organize a series of actions. One gang distributed leaflets with racist contents in a district in which a large number of foreign students resided. Another gang prepared an explosive device that it planned to use on April 20, but their activities were cut short by officials of FSB. Two skinhead journals come out irregularly. One journal, Aryskoye Vozrozhdenie, reprints various materials from the Russian and Western “skinhead” press. The other journal, Fair Power, is basically oriented towards soccer fans, but in every issue several articles with openly xenophobic and bigoted contents are published. Fair Power, in fact, serves as a mouthpiece for all of Voronezh’s skinheads. The weekly newspaper Bereg represents the greatest source of xenophobic propaganda. (The newspaper is by no means a marginal periodical — it was actually founded by the Voronezh administration.) On its pages, publications attributed to nationalists have appeared repeatedly. According to regional monitors, the position of the regional authorities with respect to nationalists is complex. Literally, their position has changed over a six-month period. In 2001, regional government and law enforcement agencies were refusing to even recognize the existence of gangs of skinheads. Now, the head of regional FSB is creating a special section in his report devoted solely to this problem. The position of city authorities is equally complex. On one hand, city authorities are not pleased with the activities of nationalist gangs who paste leaflets and write nationalistic graffiti. On the other hand, the authorities have never undertaken an attempt to initiate an administrative case against the perpetrators, let alone a criminal prosecution. With respect to religious associations, the authorities fully support the policy of the Russian Orthodox Church, which obstructs the construction of religious buildings for other groups and practically prohibits, in a direct or indirect way, the building of any religious structure, even on private land. In the Irkutsk region in March 2002, there was a swastika drawn on a synagogue building. Leaders of the local Jewish community turned to the police. However, according to regional monitors, the police most likely did not even search for the perpetrators, and naturally failed to initiate a criminal prosecution. A branch of the St. Petersburg “Party of Freedom,” represented by a group of skinheads, operates in the region. They write graffiti with the following contents: “Russia for Russians;” “Logheads (2) — Go away;” and “Tel-a-vision is your enemy.” They always sign their work, “Party of Freedom,” often accompanied by a Celtic cross. In the slogan “Russia for Russians,” a double “s” is included in the form of “SS Bolts” (similar to the symbol of Hitler’s SS). On April 21, 2002, the nationalist-patriotic society “Loyalty” (Vernost) held a picket directed against the Catholic Church. One of slogans read, “Jesuits are servants of Satan.” The newspaper Russky Vostok published materials directed against the expansion of Catholicism in Russia. The materials contained demands to the administrative authorities to abolish the Catholic diocese in Irkutsk and other cities in the country and to close the Polish consulate in Irkutsk. This issue of Russky Vostok had a circulation of 15 000 copies as opposed to its usual circulation of 5 000 copies. In the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, according to information from regional monitors, a secret list of “Kabardinian,” “Russian,” and “Balkarian” posts exists for every department in the government. Ethnic parity is preserved even at the highest levels: the President of Kabardino-Balkaria is a Kabardinian, the Vice-President is a Russian, and the Chair of the government is a Balkarian. The position of Vice-President was even preserved exclusively in order to guarantee that the republic’s three largest nationalities were represented at the highest levels of government. In the Kalmykia Republic in 2001, when inter-ethnic relations were rather calm, a campaign against “untraditional” religions developed in the mass media. The mouthpiece of the administration of the President of Kalmykia and the Kalmykian legislature, the newspaper Izvestiya Kalmykii, played the most active role in the campaign. In the newspaper, one could read, for example, the following: Protestantism is hostile to Orthodoxy. Historically, this is true. Therefore, citizens embracing the Protestant view of Christianity inevitably break with our history, our culture, our literature, the family as we understand it, and the motherland and its defense — concepts that nurture Orthodoxy. In light of this, the present problem is not simply a church problem; it becomes a problem for all of Russia. Having closed our eyes to Russia, we can lose our collective home. In an appeal to the President of Kalmykia, the local hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church leveled a variety of accusations against the representatives of “untraditional” religions in the following statement: I will not draw your attention to the espionage conducted by the sects, at time unconcealed (about which information is available not only in the Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, but also in Federal Security Service), to the economic crimes that they show so often on television these days and write about in the mass media, to the crimes against personal rights, and to many other crimes. In an article under the headline “Soul Catchers: An Invasion,” it was written that the Jehovah’s Witnesses “are a totalitarian sect, sustaining a destructive cult” and that the Jehovah’s Witnesses “consider the struggle against Orthodoxy” one of their main activities. Also, in the same article, there are the following statements about the Salvation Army: Saving its citizens from the influence of this sect and the government from a spy network, the Soviets prohibited the activities of the Salvation Army in 1923. Today during the regeneration of Russia, [the Salvation Army’s] soldiers, having founded their headquarters in an apartment in Rostov-on-the-Don, set out with unprecedented enthusiasm to save the souls of the Russian public. Similarly, its ‘commanders’ intended to occupy not only all of the south, but also all of Russia. Here, they have already set up shop, using the most refined weapons — green dollars. The Karelia Republic is numbered among the regions where the authorities are inclined to disrupt the activities of nationalist radicals. In August 2000, on initiative of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Karelia, the activities of RNE, which had operated relatively energetically for two years, were suspended for three months by court order. It is true that the basis for this decision was formal — the organization lacked a legal address and publishing information on its leaflets and press releases. In January 2001, the Supreme Court of Karelia ordered the local RNE to cease its activities. Subsequently, in the city of Petrozavodsk, leaflets from this organization appeared sporadically. For example, they appeared the day before regional and local elections took place on April 28, 2002. During this time, administrative measures were taken to punish those responsible for the distribution of these leaflets. Thus, in April 2002 in Petrozavodsk, three people were detained by the police for pasting RNE leaflets. The detainees were subject to administrative sanctions. However, in church-state and inter-religious relations in the Republic of Karelia, there are complications and difficulties. There are problems related to the return of religious buildings and other property to religious organizations (in particular, the building of a Catholic church) and the grant of parcels of land for the construction of a mosque in Petrozavodsk and for the construction of churches of other religions in other cities in the republic (3). Xenophobia in the region was most acute in connection with an attempt by local Muslims to build a mosque in Petrozavodsk. According to the Chairman of the Muslim Spiritual Administration, Mufti V. Bardvil, in 2001, an anti-Islamic campaign against the construction of a mosque, aiming to discredit the Muslim community, was carried out in Karelia. In the beginning of 2001, in a whole series of publications in the republic (the newspapers Gorod, Nabludatel, Gubernia, and Vesti Karely), materials appeared in which a negative attitude towards the construction of a mosque was expressed. This sentiment was officially authorized by the administration of Petrozavodsk. Journalists and deputies of the Legislative Assembly in the Republic of Karelia and of the Petrozavodsk City Council spoke out about disallowing the construction of the mosque. In particular, they indicated the following reasons: the mosque would be located at the entrance to an Orthodox city; there is a school, student dormitories and a psycho-neurological center in this district — Muslim worshippers can negatively influence school children, college students, and patients at the center; and the mosque will convert this district into a Muslim district. In February 2001, a public opinion poll of the residents in the Oktyabrsky administrative subdivision was carried out. The poll surveyed people regarding the construction of the mosque. Of the 521 respondents polled, 25 people (4.8%) approved the construction and 496 people (95.2%) did not approve the construction. Then, based upon an initiative of a deputy in the legislative assembly of Karelia, Dmitry Sheremet, a general meeting of the residents in the administrative subdivision took place. The participants came out sharply against the construction of the mosque. As a result, the Muslim Spiritual Administration in the Republic of Karelia was forced to cancel the construction of the mosque in this district. The Muslim Spiritual Administration proposed locating the mosque in another district in the city with a less developed infrastructure. A series of publications in the local mass media provide evidence of the negative attitude towards Muslims. The military commissar for the city of Petrozavodsk, A. Ionov, on the pages of the newspaper Stolitsa stated his opinion that the arrival of immigrants from Muslim countries to Karelia is not an accidental phenomenon; it is a planned action. A. Ionov declared, “Why is it necessary to create a religious Muslim community in Petrozavodsk? Evidently, in order to propagate Islam among the people, possibly even militants… Even though Karelia is a calm region, far from Muslim centers. Indeed, even we have to be careful.” The Krasnoyarsk territory has a radical nationalist periodical Krasonyarskaya Gazeta, edited by a member of the regional legislative assembly, O. Pashchenko, a reputed Stalinist who has allegedly fallen out with the local Communist chapter. The most odious and nationalistic part of the newspaper is the so-called political page handled by the union of radical, leftist and nationalist patriotic forces of the territory, “Barricada” (Barricade). Local Catholics have reported instances of xenophobia aimed against them. The authorities approved a deal under which local Catholics would open a summer school and for that purpose lease the former house of the local Catholic priest, currently occupied by an arts school. As a counter move, the local Orthodox bishop and representatives of the Cossacks unleashed a campaign of protest and started sending telegrams to the Moscow Patriarchate demanding that it protect them from Catholics. In the city of Krasnoyarsk, someone has smeared the buildings and fences with graffiti offensive to Catholics. Regional monitoring has taken notice of the spectacular job being done by the Territorial Administration’s Committee on Ethnic Affairs, Religions and Civic Associations. The said committee has drafted and has gotten through the legislative assembly a special program titled “Ethnic Policies in the Krasnoyarsk Territory for 2003–2005.” In addition, a number of training seminars have been organized, bringing together both officials in charge of ethnic policies from various corners of the territory and representatives of civic organizations, including human rights organizations. On March 7, 2002 Governor Alexander Lebed signed Order ¹38 establishing a special body to consult the administration on regional ethnic polices, governmental-religious and inter-religious relations. The territory also has a working Interethnic Cultural Center. There are two organizations in the Kurgan region that have been openly involved in the propaganda of nationalistic ideology, i.e., the Kurgan regional chapter of the Russian-wide Patriotic Movement Russian National Unity (RNE) and the Russian Ethno-Cultural Autonomy of the Kurgan region (RECA). Leaflets with RNE symbols and slogans like “Russia Awaits Your Will!” “Everything for Your Nation!” “Nation Above All!” “Russian Law and Order for Russian Land!” and “Russian Law and Order for Russia!” are regularly being posted in the city of Kurgan. According to the regional monitors, it looks as if there is not a single street, not a single house that has not been marked with a fascist swastika with an RNE inscription. The Kurgan RNE chapter maintains its own Internet site with the texts of leaflets and information about the organization’s activities and ideals. The Russian Ethno-Cultural Autonomy has been active in the region since 1998. The organization publishes a newspaper called Natsionalnaya Mysl (National Thought). The editor-in-chief of the newspaper is V. Popov (“academician of the Russian Orthodox Academy,” “chieftain of the Kurgan Cossack community,” and “chairman of the Federal Russian Ethno-Cultural Autonomy”). A thesis of V. Popov’s titled “Russian Ethno-Cultural Autonomy, its Purposes and Goals in the XXI Century” has been published in recent issues of the newspaper. The essay discusses the “Golden Billion” program that has been allegedly developed by the world Zionist government. Here are some of the examples of its rhetoric: “Many peoples must vanish from the historical map of the world in order to ensure the prosperity of the chosen Zionist-Anglo-Saxon peoples…”; “the West is waging a secret war… a war on a new level, that has entered a new phase, i.e., genetic and informational”; “China will jettison its excessive population to Russia and Kazakhstan, resulting in the displacement or annihilation of indigenous peoples”; “Americans as a people and the United States of America as a state have crystallized proving their lack of viability,” “the strength of the Russian civilization will save the planet…” V. Popov also claimed that 82% of ethnic Russians make up the core of the nation, while the remaining 18% of the population “are like leeches sucking the lifeblood from the country in the form of money to ensure the ethnic revival of Tatar, Jewish, or whatever other peoples.” Naturally, “the 18% comprised of ethnic minorities have been allowed by international rulers to set up their ethnic territories on Russian soil.” Representatives of regional authorities have spoken publicly in favor of adopting statutes recognizing the special role of Russians in Russia (see above the statement of D. Ufimtsev, ethnic policy advisor to the Kurgan Governor) and endorse the idea of introducing “special protectionist measures favoring the Russian people.” At the same time, officials have also stated their concern regarding the issue of nationalism. First Deputy Governor, A. Bukhtoyarov, stated the following in this regard: We share the concerns of the Kurgan region’s people regarding the incidents of extremism and even fascism in our region. We believe that this danger has not yet grown out of control and can be eliminated through timely preventive measures conducted jointly by administrative bodies, public organizations and the mass media. However, real life experience proves that the authorities have different priorities. While the police do not pay any serious attention to regular meetings organized by RNE, a picket of ecologists attracted as many police officers as picketers. The police copied all the slogans from the picketers’ posters and were standing by throughout the picket taking special care that the participants not get on the steps of the monument because the picketers were “allowed to be on the territory of the square only and not on the territory of the monument.” Anti-Western rhetoric is also characteristic of the major regional newspaper Novy Mir, among the founders of which are both the local legislators and administration officials. The following passage speaks for itself: “Terrorist attacks were an act of revenge for the aggressive global policies pursued by the USA. What induced these people, at the cost of their own lives, to deliver a strike at the citadel of capitalism?” A new magazine called Sibirsky Krai has been published in the region since 2001. One of the poems published on its pages reads as follows: With the most Russian of surnames, But with the look of a Jew, The ardor of the great power’s passions He quells with ease. However, it is known in the Council of Europe, That neither he nor Russia have a place there. The Novy Mir magazine, commenting on the appearance of that new publication, wrote that “the public has met the birth of a new public-political and literary publication in the Kurgan region with keen interest.” In spite of the anti-Semitic scandal that took place immediately after the election of A. Mikhailov as Governor of the Kursk region, he continues to make similar statements to the local mass media. There have been several other manifestations of anti-Semitism documented in the region. For example, on December 9, 2001, a swastika and a slogan “Beat the Jews, Save Russia!” were inscribed on the doors of the Kursk Jewish community’s charitable center “Khasad Barukh.” The local chapter of RNE has been dully registered, but it’s strength is insignificant — about 15–20 members in the city of Kursk. RNE activities largely go unnoticed, but its leader recently stated in an interview that his organization had carried out “mopping up raids against the blacks” (i.e., Caucasians) in the street markets of the Oboyan, Shigra and Cheremisinovo villages. There are some neo-nazis among the fans of the local football club “Vanguard,” who frequently assault foreign students. Despite numerous attempts, RNE failed to obtain official registration in the Lipetsk region. As a result, RNE members joined the “Russian Nationalist Party” organization, which, though duly registered, had not been very active. There is also an active chapter of the “Pamyat” (Memory) organization that once in a while issues the newsletter Russkiye Idut (Russians are Coming) and distributes leaflets. The most outrageous materials are being published in such newspapers as Leninskoye Znamya (Lenin’s Banner) of the regional Communist Party organization, the Elets Gazeta and Russkiye Idut newsletters. For example, a campaign had been waged in these publications against V. Lisin, chairman of board at the Novo-Lipetsk Steel Works. The newspapers specifically reported that he is Jewish and has Israeli citizenship (which is, by the way, not true). The editor of the Elets Gazetta, N. Sokolov, writes the following in his commentaries, “The second force, representing the interests of Jew-Masons, has won power, plundered and destroyed the country and proclaimed as its final goal the eradication of the Russian people” or “Lisin is an agent of Israel and the United States, where key positions are held by Jew-Masons.” In an article titled “There is a Way Out,” published in the same issue, he stated, “The country is being ruled by Jew-Masons,” “the mass media is under the control of the Masons, who are playing us for fools,” “the State Duma is now dominated by Jews and Masons represented by the ‘Edinstvo’ [Unity] SPS [Union of the Right-Wing Forces], ‘Yabloko’ and LDPR factions.” Instances of xenophobia are also found in publications, which are characterized by regional observers as “non-nationalist.” Thus, for example, the Lipetsk Gazetta carried an article favoring “healthy and sensible nationalism” and recommending that non-ethnic Russians should not be given top positions in the country’s leadership, leaving them the opportunity to occupy positions in local government, though only in those areas where they have a significant majority. In the Marii El Republic, local Marii leaders believe that since Leonid Markelov, a member of LDPR, assumed the position of President of the republic, the government has adopted a policy against the interests of the indigenous population. On February 5, 2002, the plenary meeting of the All-Marii Council passed a resolution calling on the President of the republic to “dismiss the chief editor of the republican newspaper Mariskaya Pravda, Vasili Panchenko, for inciting inter-ethnic enmity and making offensive verbal attacks against the Marii people and their recognized leaders in the official legislative and executive government publication of the Marii El Republic.” At the same time, the leaders of the Marii ethnic organizations “Marii Ushem” and “U Vii,” whose ideology, on the whole, does not provide for discrimination against other peoples, make comments of a nationalistic character. For example, they claim that the President of the Marii El Republic should be an ethnic Marii, that everybody without exception study the Marii language, etc. After the schism in the national organization, the local RNE chapter transformed into a regional branch of the “Vozrozhdenye” (Revival) party and rarely acts independently. Although the sports and military-patriotic clubs created by RNE continue to operate. Former RNE leaders are currently employed in the Committee on Youth Affairs of the Marii El Republic and in the corresponding body of the city administration of Ioshkar-Ola. It is noteworthy that for the last two years the Committee on Youth Affairs of the Marii El Republic has been spending large sums of money on the “patriotic education” of youth. There is also an organization of skinheads in Marii El. In one district of the republic alone it has about 40 members. The ideology of Marii skinheads amounts to “mass terror against Caucasians and their total expulsion from the territory of the Marii El Republic.” This ideology is even endorsed sometimes by leading regional publications. Marii Pravda for example, in material on skinheads emphasizes the negative role played by Caucasians in the region and does not directly condemn nazi ideas. The article simply quotes the statements made by skinheads at their Moscow meetings without any accompanying editorial commentary. Attacks against Caucasians have become regular occurrences staged every year in the street markets of the city of Ioshkar-Ola to mark Air-Borne Troops Day or Navy Day. In the most recent of such incidents a mob consisting of young people gathered in the central market of Ioshkar-Ola chanting the slogan “Beat the Blacks” and beat up not only the merchants of Caucasian descent, but also to those who bought goods from them. As in all previous cases, no investigation was conducted by the police despite the fact that many people were injured. In an article titled “Aliens-2,” published in the Molodezhny Courier newspaper, the author reports the following: “In the village of Morki the district administration closed the kiosk of an Armenian. There is no place for Caucasians on Marii soil. This is the prevailing opinion in Morki, Medvedevsk and other districts.” There have also been cases of religious intolerance in the republic. Local Baptists complain that they are being repeatedly robbed, the windows of their house of worship are smashed and the house itself is regularly set ablaze, which leads them to conclude that it is all part of a planned and organized effort. Law-enforcement authorities stand idle throughout. In the winter of 2000, when the Baptists gave a concert of evangelical music, a picket was staged outside the participants of which chanted slogans, like “sectarians poison and befuddle us,” and also carried similar placards. When the Baptists decided to build a house of worship in one of the city’s districts, some unidentified individuals blocked the street chanting the slogan, “we do not want sectarians.” The authorities did not take any measures to protect the Baptists and construction had to be moved to a different location. A campaign against Baptists was carried out in the Mariiskaya Pravda and Ioshkar-Ola newspapers. At the end of 2001, the regional Ministry of Justice initiated a legal action as a result of which a court ruled to liquidate the Ioshkar-Ola community of the “Marii El Church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists.” In February of 2002, in the town of Kosmodemyansk someone had broken the windows, destroyed the furniture and the cathedra in a house of worship used by the Adventists. No one had been arrested for this crime. In 2002, several dozen monuments were destroyed in the Jewish sector of the cemetery “Krasnaya Etna” in the Nizhnii Novgorod region. The perpetrators (primarily high school students) were found. By way of punishment, they were assigned to do some cleaning in the cemetery for a period of one month. Since then, no similar incidents have occurred there. A conflict flared up in the town of Dzerzhinsk between local residents and a group of visiting Roma. The authorities initially chose not to interfere but when the conflict seemed to be getting out of control, they decided to expel the Roma. A court ruled that the Roma built their houses without obtaining the necessary permits. As a result of the negotiations, the Roma agreed to return to the Saratov region, while the administration provided them with a means of transportation. The resettlement took place in the summer months of 2001. At the end of April of 2002, the Evangelical Christian Baptists, Christians of the Evangelical Creed “Voice of Hope” and the mission “New Life” attempted to organize a public show of the movie “Jesus.” At the last moment they were denied permission to use any of the available movie theatres. The next day, new “dummy” posters appeared next to the posters announcing the movie. The new posters looked very much like the initial ones, but the headline “Historical Feature Film ‘Jesus’ Based on the Gospel according to Luke” was replaced by a new line saying, “Danger! Sect!” The data at the bottom of the new posters said that they were ordered by the Church of Resurrection of Christ of the Russian Orthodox Church in the town of Dzerzhinsk, Order ¹2072, 200 copies. In a press-conference given on April 25, 2002, the rector of the Annunciation Monastery, Archimandrite Kirill, stated that the “organization ‘New Life’ which was trying to show the movie ‘Jesus’ in the town of Dzerzhinsk had no relationship with the Church and was engaged in the recruitment of new sect members.” Archimandrite Kirill also added that the movie showing was to be accompanied by preaching, which could convert some of the spectators into adherents of religious sects. According to the information available to him, the sects pay the “New Life” money for the recruitment of new members. There have been reported cases of beatings of Jews on the ground of their ethnicity in the Novgorod region and in one particular instance, a youth had his skull fractured by a metal rod. Moreover, in March of 2002, four people of Jewish appearance had been found dead in the village of Derevyanitsa. A note left beside one of the bodies said that another 100 Jews would be killed soon. On April 21, 2002, on Hitler’s birthday, a group of skinheads staged a pogrom of street kiosks in the underpass at the junction of Bolshaya Moskovskaya and Fedorovsky Ruchey streets in the city of Velikii Novgorod. During the election campaign in September-October of 2001, leaflets of the following content were distributed there: “Russian residents of Novgorod! You have something to think about! Are you going to die voluntarily, like dogs, for the sake of the Zionist-Jewish powers?” Regional monitors draw attention to the growing complaints that Jewish children are being abused by their peers, while Jewish teachers suffer from the anti-Semitism of their colleagues. The Primorski territory has a 200 member strong local chapter of the National Bolshevik Party (NBP). The National Bolsheviks spread leaflets with calls to expel Caucasians, Chinese and Koreans from the Primorski territory on a regular basis. Following the establishment of four Catholic dioceses in Russia, in February of 2002, with one of them being set up in the city of Novosibirsk, local Orthodox adherents in the Novosibirsk region led by the archpriest of St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Alexander Novopashin, organized a protest at the walls of the Catholic church calling for a fight against the “Vatican’s expansion.” A two-hour “praying picket,” which was attended by approximately 2 000 people, was accompanied by public speeches. In the aftermath of this action, the head of the diocese, Archbishop I. Verta, filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office of the Novosibirsk City Central District, asking for a legal assessment of the event. The prosecutor’s office established that the actions undertaken by the picket organizers constituted an administrative offence. There are several groups of skinheads in the Oryol region, about 200 people in total. In particular, there is a well-organized group, rigidly disciplined, called “White Wolves.” According to various estimates, it has 25–30 members. The most populous public “event” orchestrated by the skinheads was a concert given in March of 2000 by the infamous rock-group “Metal Corrosion,” during the presidential campaign. The group endorsed the leader of the Spiritual Heritage movement Alexei Podberyozkin, who participated in the presidential race. Before the group appeared on stage, campaign materials were passed around in the audience. The leaflets featured photos of A. Podberyozkin and statements like, “The enemies headed by London’s pawnbrokers and the Roman Pope will get a Russian ax to their shitty heads. Beat the devils, save Russia!” During the concert, calls were made to give beat “niggers” and “kikes” and to vote for Alexei Podberyozkin. According to the estimates of regional observers, the number of beatings of foreign students is doubling from one year to the next. In 1999, one criminal case was opened following a beating of a Chinese student. In 2000, there were two such cases, while in 2001 — six. In some instances, the police tried to cover up the fact that the offence occurred at all. For example, a police inspector of the Zavodsky police station, S. Koptsov, decided against opening a criminal investigation on the ground that “the citizens of the People’s Republic of China were playing football and the subsequent beating could be related to a conflict that resulted from the game.” The skinheads who were involved in that beating have been apprehended by now, but they are being charged only with hooliganism. In 2001, a group of military servicemen of Caucasian origin from a military unit stationed in the region were charged and convicted of hazing young recruits. The local chapters of RNE, Veneds and skinheads have been active in the city of Pskov and the Pskov region. Representatives of these organizations prefer to keep low profile and confine their activities to smearing fascist symbols on the walls of buildings, leaflet distribution, beatings of ethnic minorities and acts of vandalism. There have been numerous documented attempts by representatives of these organizations to penetrate local schools and sports clubs for youth. Instances of xenophobia can also be found in the regional mass media. Note the following graphic example: It is well known that many of the so-called Mormon preachers, who have been paying increased attention to closed military facilities of the Russian Army, are either students or graduates of the West Point military academy. Although the sectarian expansion presents a serious threat to national security, it seems that only the Russian Orthodox Church is really concerned with this problem. Provincial indigenously Russian cities constitute the soul of our Motherland and that is why they have become a lucrative target for spiritual occupation. Are we willing to surrender our Motherland into their blood-smeared hands? The editorial board of the Volzhskaya Communa newspaper, the official media outlet of the Administration of the Samara region, characterizes the activities of radical nationalists in the region in the following way: The Samara district court acquitted Oleg Kitter, who was charged with calling for the destruction of synagogues and the expulsion of Jews and Rabbis from Russia. The cities of Samara and Tolyati have seen a growing number of skinheads, displaying aggressiveness towards foreigners and threatening to stage pogroms. Meetings with the participation of representatives of the People’s Nationalist Party, spreading hatred towards Jews, have become a common occurrence in the city of Samara. Fascist symbols are displayed during such meetings. Young people stretch out their hands in the fascist salutation, crying out “Hail Hitler!” There is hardly an issue of such newspapers as Volzhskaya Zarya, Samara Nedeli, Trudavaya Samara, or .Alex-Inform that does not carry an article inciting hatred towards Jews. To comment, the case of the aforementioned Oleg Kitter was opened following the publication of anti-Semitic articles in his Alex-Inform newspaper and his own public remarks to that effect. On February 7, 2002, judge A. Morgunkov acquitted O. Kitter of all charges, stressing that the latter “expressed his own opinion, without calling for any forcible action.” In the period between 2001–2002, there have been over 400 documented appearances of anti-Semitic and anti-Caucasian graffiti in Samara, which as a rule, are regularly replaced when removed but in general, are not removed by appropriate city services. According to the estimates of regional monitors, there are up to a thousand teenagers and youths in Samara and Tolyati who associate themselves with skinheads. On April 13, 2001 the radical nationalists staged a meeting in the city of Samara on the occasion of the Independence Day of Israel. About two hundred young men, most of them with shaven skulls and wearing camouflage uniforms, gathered in from of the local Officers’ Club carrying banners and posters. The Officers’ Club on that day was the venue for a festival of modern Israeli songs. The meeting went smoothly but that was primarily because the number of police officers in front of the Officers’ Club matched that of the nationalists. One of the speakers in the meeting accused the Jews of wanting to turn the city of Samara into a “small Israel.” The slogans on the posters read as follows: “This is their hallmark: Kikes are shit, Jews are scum, Israel is filth,” “They have crucified Jesus and shot the Mother of God .” The local mass media frequently quotes the former member of the State Duma, Albert Makashov, whose anti-Semitic pronouncements have already caused many a scandal. For example, General Makashov stated that “the healthy Russian instinct for survival turn comes out against the power of the Rabinoviches.” Media monitoring conducted in the Saratov region revealed 50 cases related to ethnic intolerance. In particular, in 2001–2002, Americans have become targets of ethnic intolerance 29 times, Jews — 14, and Caucasians (including Chechens) — 6 times. The last couple of years have seen an increase in skinhead activities. In the spring of 2002, during a football match, a small group of skinheads unfurled a huge banner with swastika in the stands of the stadium. Foreign students are a frequent target of skinhead attacks. In 2001, skinheads broke windows in a dormitory and terrorized students with threats. The perpetrators were caught, their parents were summoned to the police station, but eventually they were released. For the last several years, every April, some unidentified teenagers stage pogroms in the Jewish cemetery of the city of Saratov. On April 20, 2001, an arson attempt on the synagogue was prevented by in synagogue security. Unidentified individuals hurled a petrol bomb onto the roof of the synagogue. The fire was extinguished but the perpetrators were not found. A local branch of RNE is legally registered in the town of Vyazma in the Every year on the Day of Boarder Guards and the Day of Air-Borne Troops, regardless of preventive measures taken by the police, former servicemen organize unlawful actions against Caucasian traders in local street markets. In June of 2001, unidentified individuals desecrated a gravestone, erected on the site of the mass murder of Jewish residents of the Smolensk ghetto during the war. The administration of the city condemned this incident as an act of vandalism and ordered law-enforcement authorities to speed up investigation of the crime. Jewish cemeteries are not the only targets of attacks. In 2001, in the town of Asbest in the Sverdlovsk region, some unidentified persons destroyed a Muslim cemetery. Trying to quell aroused public sentiment, the town authorities insisted that there were no ideological underpinnings behind this act and that the crime was committed by ordinary hooligans. The fans of the “Uralmash” football team regularly welcome their favorite players by raising their hands in the equivalent of a fascist salutation. During games, they frequently chant slogans, like “Russia for Russians! Sverdlovsk for its indigenous residents!” as well as anti-Semitic chants. According to the regional newspaper Podrobnosti there are at least three groups of skinheads in the city of Ekateriburg alone, with the total number being over 100 individuals. Similar skinhead groups also exist in the city of Nizhnii Tagil, the villages of Koltsovo and Verkhnyaya Pyshma, the town of Asbest and other locations. All in all, law-enforcement authorities estimate that there are approximately 800–900 skinheads on the territory of the region. In early autumn of 2001, the Sverdlovsk branch of the Congress of Ethnic Communities addressed a statement to the Governor and law-enforcement authorities protesting against the open sale of the anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic book by Sergei Nielus, Close to the Doors that includes the notorious “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” The statement also brought up the publication of anti-Semitic articles in the Russkaya Obshchina and Pravoslavnaya Gazetta newspapers. The regional prosecutor’s office reacted to this statement by opening an official investigation but soon closed it due to “lack of evidence.” The press of the North Osetia-Alania Republic regularly publishes materials aimed at the Jehovah’s Witnesses. For example, the newspaper Fydybasta (“Fatherland”) published the following passage: “A well organized campaign of sectarian propaganda, conducted on a massive-scale, presents a real threat to the national security of our country.” Regional monitoring conducted in the Stavropol territory revealed that local conflicts arising from economic or other grounds often grow into ethnic conflicts. For example, in the autumn of 2001, a quarrel in the dormitory of the Stavropol Agricultural Academy transformed within minutes into a large-scale confrontation between ethnic groups. Bloodshed was prevented only because of timely intervention of law-enforcement authorities. In 2002, a conflict took place between Turkmen and Dargins because one of the sides failed to return some rented equipment on time. As in the previous incident, the participants in the conflict were readily supported by others of the same ethnic origin, ready to do battle till the last. According to a survey, about 50% of Russians and 23% of Nogais would not want to have Chechens either as their friends or relatives. Twenty-five per cent of Turkmen have the same attitude towards Russians and Ukrainians, while 25% of Russians dislike Turkmen. All in all, only 40% of respondents claimed that they do not care about the ethnic origin of their close relatives. Thirty-two per cent of Russians have a negative attitude towards Dagestanis and 41% of Russian respondents strongly dislike Muslims in general. The Stavropol territory had one of the strongest RNE organizations in the Southern part of Russia. After an internal split in the party, it became a regional branch of the Russia-wide civil and political movement “Vozrozhdenye.” The leaflet, “To the Peoples of Russia,” issued by the Russian party has been circulating in the Tambov region. It calls for the abandonment of the territorial division of Russia on the basis of ethnicity, the right to self-determination and ethnic quotas in the make-up of governmental institutions. Throughout 2001 and in early 2002 a brochure titled “Beware, Jehovah’s Witnesses!” was being distributed in the Chelyabinsk region. It was printed on a high quality paper but contrary to regulations did not give publication data and the number of copies printed. The brochure condemns the Jehovah’s Witnesses saying that they do not recognize Russian authorities and are in fact a totalitarian sect. The leading specialist on the regional committee on the affairs of ethnic, religious and public organizations, I. Anosov, has the following opinion on the matter: “The issue of the preservation of ethnic and religious identity is the prerogative of the authorities, a function of a balanced and well-founded religious policy, which reflects the interests of the Russian faithful and not those in the USA or Korea.” Therefore, I. Anosov’s viewpoint on the problem of religious xenophobia amounts to the following: This term is being used by the representatives of those religions, who try to impose on us their rules and Western stereotypes as if we were a backward country. The myth of our religious intolerance is a public relations trick used to exert pressure on Russia by international human rights organizations and the so-called civilized community. But isn’t neglecting the way in which Russians live and their cultural traditions xenophobia, but from the other side? We say — Don’t try to impose your rules on others. In September of 2000, in the city of Chelyabinsk, some unidentified individuals attempted to set fire to the local synagogue, then under reconstruction. At approximately the same time, graffiti was painted on the wall near the synagogue saying, “Kikes, get out!” On April 4, 2000, the coordination council for liaisons with religious organizations of the city of Chelyabinsk issued an appeal to the city’s faithful calling on them to put an end to anti-Semitism. The appeal does not seem to work. Recently, for instance, in early 2002, a sign was put on a wall downtown that reads “Death to Kikes!” (1) We have chosen to include only the most illustrative regions into this digest of regional data. Please note, that all quotes are cited from relevant regional reports (2) Derogatory term for individuals of Central Asian and Caucasian descent. (3) Materials presented by the Commission on Issues Concerning Religious Communities under the Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Karelia. |
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