Kremlin Urged To Curb Racist Violence

Police at Moscow's Hasid Synagogue, which was attacked in January (file photo) (ITAR-TASS) April 27, 2006 -- Leaders of a number of ethnic minorities living in Russia have called on the Kremlin to take action against the rising number of racist murders in the country.

The ethnic Armenian and Tajik communities say urgent action is needed to prevent the spread of xenophobia.


Russia has seen a number of deadly attacks on minorities, dark-skinned foreigners, and Russian Jews in recent months. In the most recent, a Tajik man and an Armenian were killed in two separate incidents earlier this week.


In another incident late on April 26, youths in the southwestern Siberian city of Orenburg vandalized a Jewish synagogue, leaving anti-Semitic graffiti on its walls. A 15-year-old was detained.


(AFP)

Epidemic Of Hate

Epidemic Of Hate

Yusuf Sultonov, whose 9-year-old daughter was beaten and stabbed to death in St. Petersburg on February 9, 2004 (TASS)

EXTREMISM ASCENDANT: More than half of Russians have xenophobic views, according to a report published in August 2005. In the report, rights groups say that -- despite progress in some areas -- racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism remain rife in Russia. But what worries watchdogs most are recent moves by nationalist-patriotic movements to form paramilitary groups....(more)


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