Racism and Xenophobia in July 2016

The following is our review of racism and xenophobia in Russia during July 2016. The data we report are collected in the course of Sova Center’s daily monitoring activities.

In July 2016, we know of two victims of xenophobic attacks in Moscow. Since the beginning of the year, one person has been killed by racially motivated violence, 32 have been beaten or injured, and two have received death threats. These incidents were reported in 8 regions of Russia.

In July, only one act of xenophobic vandalism was recorded in Tatarstan. Since the beginning of the year, 19 acts of xenophobic vandalism have been recorded in 16 regions of the country.

Public activities of the far-right were extremely low in July. An opposition rally was cancelled against the Yarovaya's package of laws, which some of the ultra-right groups were planning to visit. Later, nationalists held several small demonstrations on July 26, and in some cases, they were dedicated to the “day of the right political prisoner.” In Moscow, activists of the Nation and Freedom Committee for held a series of pickets outside the Federation Council, State Duma, and in Manege Square. Several supporters of the RONA movement also held a small rally in Yauzskie Vorota Square. A few activists of the “Black Bloc” came to Chistye Prudy, lit flares and unfurled a banner which read “repression is fear of the people” signed by the Autonomous National-Socialists of Moscow.

Aside from Moscow, events with nationalist participation occurred in Volgograd, Kaliningrad, Saratov, and Protvino.

On July 7, in Moscow’s Suvorov Square, a rally was held by the National-Conservative Movement (led by Mikhail Ochkin and Valentina Bobrova), and the Union of Orthodox Banner Bearers in memory of the executed Russian royal family. The campaign attracted no more than 20 people from Orthodox and monarchist groups.

Raids by the far-right continued. On July 22 in Saint Petersburg, six or seven Cossacks (Stanitsa (Cossack village) of the North-Slavic) wore camouflage uniforms, and armed themselves with tire irons. The Cossacks entered a construction area that was home to migrant workers from Central Asia, broke down the doors and dragged 40 people outside handing them over to police officers. In Moscow, Vladimir Ratnikov’s “Citadel” project conducted raids in order to find places selling alcohol to minors and posted a video online.

Regarding racist violence in July 2016, we know of at least two court sentences in which hate was recognized as a motive by the court – in Moscow and Orsk, Orenburg Region. In total, 15 people were convicted. It is worth noting that twelve members of the Moscow neo-Nazi group “14/88” were sentenced for racially motivated murder, attempted murder, and several other ultra-episodes. Each of them received between 4 to 10 years in prison.

In total, at least 16 sentences have been issued from the beginning of the year for violent crimes in which the Court recognized hate as a motive. As a result of these processes, 40 people were convicted in 15 regions of the country.

In July, there were at least 17 convictions for xenophobic propaganda in 13 regions of the country. 20 persons were convicted.

Since the beginning of 2016, xenophobic propaganda has been issued 119 court sentences against 135 people in 54 regions of the country.

In July, entries 3647-3720 were added to the Federal List of Extremist Materials, among them various nationalist and jihadist materials, including video and audio clips from neo-Nazi social networks and new links Konstantin Dushenov's film “Russia with a Knife in the Back.”

At least, one material will be eliminated from the list. In July, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city court issued a revision of a ban regarding an anti-fascist cartoon of Donald Duck deemed extremist. Of course, the decision of the Kamchatka Regional Court must be applauded, but regardless, such isolated solutions do not change the quality of the list as a whole, and the best solution would be to reject the list.