Russian Far-Right Groups Rally Around Sviridov

We invite you to review the events that transpired in Moscow and other cities in Russia following the death of soccer fan Egor Sviridov in December 2010.

In December 2010, groups in many regions of Russia organized demonstrations in memory of Egor Sviridov, the soccer fan who was killed on December 6 during a massive row on Kronstadtsky Boulevard in Moscow.

In cities where the demonstrations were put together by nonpolitical organizations – often soccer fan clubs – they passed without incident. Examples include the cities of Kursk, Ufa, Yaroslavl, Novosibirsk, and Chelyabinsk, among others. However, demonstrations where ultra-right groups joined soccer fans were characterized by racist chants and clashes with police, and often ended in violent acts against non-Slavs.

On December 7, despite authorities' statements that demonstrations could lead to rioting, several hundred people in Moscow staged a nationalist parade, blocking off the Leningrad Highway. They smashed windows and raided stores in the area, though police deny that these attacks took place. Witnesses confirm an attack on one store, called "Kebab," and at least two others.

December 11 saw demonstrations all over Russia in response to Sviridov’s killing. Two took place in Moscow: one in the place of his death, and another on Manezh Square. The demonstration on Kronstadtsky Boulevard was organized by Fratriya, an official fan organization of the Moscow football club Spartak, while the demonstration on Manezh was organized by ultra-right activists.

Fratriya dissociated itself from the ultra-right demonstration, calling on its members to obey the law.

Only one incident at the demonstration on Kronstadtsky was officially reported: two men of Central Asian appearance were pushed around as they exited a Metro car.

More serious events took place on Manezh Square, where by some reports up to five thousand people gathered. Participants included members of the Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI), the Slavic Force (formerly the Slavic Union, led by Dmitri Demushkin), and the Battle Brotherhood (an organization of Russian veterans affiliated with The Russian Way). Participants chanted racist and anti-police slogans. In photographs of the demonstration, participants can be seen with hands raised in the fascist salute.

According to one leader of the DPNI, Vladimir Tor, the demonstration included both football fans and members of ultra-right organizations. The former head of DPNI, Aleksandr Belov, gave a call to violence against so-called "foreigners," stating, "with animals talk is useless - the beast understands only force."

Violence began when participants attacked five young men from the Caucasus as riot police were trying to protect them. Aside from those five, demonstrators on Manezh Square attacked no fewer than five additional people of non-Slavic appearance.

Attacks on non-Slavs continued as demonstrators made their way into the Metro; the crowd destroyed at least one subway car in the process. Non-Slavic people were dragged from subway cars, and journalists present at the row reported several beatings.

A Kyrgyz man was also stabbed to death in the southwestern region of Moscow.

Sixty-five people were detained at Manezh after resisting arrest, but were subsequently released, while at least 40 were injured in racist attacks both at the demonstration and at various Metro stations around Moscow. The FSB also arrested eight suspects in the stabbing death of the Kyrgyz man. Of those detained, two were minors, the youngest being fourteen years old.

The prosecutor's office responsible for reviewing the events in Manezh Square has accused the active participants with inciting a riot. The official accusations, made public on December 21, include the violations of the Russian Criminal Code "calling for insubordination of the authorities,' "calls to violence against citizens," and incitement of ethnic hatred.

Some nationalist groups have announced that they hope to recreate the experience of the Manezh Square riot on a regular basis.

Also on December 11, over two thousand people attended a large demonstration beginning at the Young Peoples’ Theater in Saint Petersburg. Soccer fans were joined by members of the DPNI; the night before the rally, posts on the far-right segment of Runet - the Russian-language region of the Internet - had called for supporters to join.

The rally began peacefully as people laid flowers by a portrait of Sviridov and collected money for his family, but degenerated into a march down Zagorodny Prospect with demonstrators lighting flares and chanting racist slogans.

Demonstrators at the Petersburg rally smashed car windows and headlights, and attacked at least two drivers of non-Slavic appearance. In one case, a non-Slav motorist was dragged from his car, though riot police managed to save him from being beaten.

Roughly eighty were detained in Petersburg as demonstrators clashed with riot police.

In Kaliningrad, between fifty and a hundred people gathered around the Mother Russia monument in the city center, setting up a small memorial featuring Russians “killed by natives of the Caucasus.” Speeches were given about the “ethno-delinquency” that “threatens Russia,” and the rally ended in xenophobic chants.

In Syktyvkar, ultra-right activists held a rally to protest so-called “ethno-banditry” in Russia. About two hundred people attended, and participants distributed xenophobic pamphlets. They claimed that Sviridov was a “victim of Russophobia.”

In Voronezh, about three hundred people staged a march down Tchaikovsky Street. Participants in the front end carried a banner stating, “Caucasians Killed Egor Sviridov,” but the march ended without incident.

In the Siberian city Tomsk, about sixty people gathered in memory of their “white brother,” and chanted racist slogans. Speakers called for a national rally.

Two hundred attended a demonstration in memory of Sviridov in the southern city of Samara. They lit flares and carried a banner stating, “Crime Has a Nationality.”

The city of Kaluga, southwest of Moscow, was plastered with fliers that read “The Caucasus Will Answer for Sviridov.”

In Volgograd, about one hundred and fifty people – both soccer fans and far-right activists – held a march to a monument of the Russian military and Christian hero Alexander Nevsky. They chanted anti-Caucasian slogans, and held a small rally at the monument.

In Kirov, ultra-right activists organized a march starting in the center of the city. They chanted racist slogans and gave the Nazi salute, and laid flowers in memory of Sviridov at the end of the rally. Four were detained, including the local head of the DPNI, Denis Tyukin.

In the eastern city Novosibirsk, about one hundred people attended an anti-Caucasian rally, where far-right activists gave speeches.

On Rostov-on-Don, about eight hundred people attended a rally in memory of Maxim Sychev, a local student who was killed by an Ingushetian classmate on November 27. Participants blocked traffic in the center of town, and chanted, “Rostov – a Russian City” and other racist slogans. Participants appealed to the authorities to make restrictions on admission to regional universities for applicants from the North Caucasus. They also warned the authorities not to interfere with “armed self-defense.”

On December 15, there were several clashes between ultra-right activists, migrant workers from the Caucasus, and police during a demonstration at the Evropeysky shopping center in Moscow. According to differing reports, between twelve and thirty people were injured.

The riot was a result of a provocative open letter on the Internet, supposedly written by a person from the Caucasus. Its author called for "fellow countrymen" to gather at the Evropeysky shopping center in response to the December 11 events at Manezh Square. The letter quickly spread through Runet but primarily through ultra-right websites and message boards. Representatives of national diasporas called the letter a provocation, but it still triggered the mobilization of ultra-right activists as well as people from the Caucasus.

On the morning of December 15, city authorities increased security measures, mostly in the form of enhanced police patrols on the streets. Riot police cordoned off the area surrounding Evropeysky beginning at 10 am.

By 4pm, the areas around Evropeysky and the Smolensky and Kievskaya Metro stations were overwhelmed with representatives of both the ultra-right movement and immigrant workers. Many who came to the demonstration brought weapons ranging from baseball bats, to knives, to handguns. Some would-be participants were immediately detained by police patrolling the entrances and exits of the Metro system.

Despite a crowd of over a thousand at Evropeysky, only one serious altercation - with baseball bats - was reported. Riot police detained the participants, but five people were seriously injured.

At about 6pm, ultra-right demonstrators fired on riot police from a stopped car on Bolshaya Dorogomilovskaya Street, but no one was injured. A group of about two hundred rioters then attempted to block traffic on Bolshaya Dorogomilovskaya, chanting racist slogans and lighting flares. Riot police were able to detain enough participants that movement on the street continued uninterrupted.

Large nationalist demonstrations formed on Tverskaya Boulevard, and in the Arbat district, among others as demonstrators started to leave Evropeysky for other parts of Moscow.

In addition to the events at Evropeysky, several other violent incidents were reported on December 15 in Moscow:

A group of migrant workers from Dagestan attacked three young men at the Park Kultury Metro station. Two of the victims attempted to escape as the third, a 25-year-old Russian man, was shot several times in his side. The attackers were all detained, and are charged with disorderly conduct and attempted murder.

Nearly all of a group of roughly two hundred people from the Caucasus were apprehended as they made their way to a mosque by the Tretyakovskaya Metro station. However, they were released when authorities learned that they were not party to the demonstrations, but rather on their way to evening prayer.

A group of North Caucasians clashed with police at the Yugo-Zapadnaya Metro station after officers asked them to produce identification. Twelve people - natives of Dagestan, Chechnya, Turkmenistan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan - were detained.

There were also numerous attacks on non-Slavic people at several different Metro stations around Moscow.

A total of about 1,300 people were arrested on December 15 in the fallout of the Evropeysky demonstration. In many cases, police seized knives, handguns, and bats from the detainees.

On December 16, a group held a march in Solnechnogorsk, a town about sixty-five kilometers north of Moscow. They attacked several people of Central Asian and Caucasian appearance, and held a nationalist rally in the town’s central square.

Meanwhile, Eugene Gildeev, a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Moscow region said that no illegal acts were recorded at the Solnechnogorsk rally.

In Moscow, about one hundred people gathered at the Chistie Prudi Park in order to stage a march on Chistoprudny Boulevard. Police detained several Nazi skinheads; two were carrying assault weapons.

According to Moscow authorities, the rally at Chistie Prudi was made up of two sanctioned demonstrations: one calling for an investigation into Sviridov’s murder, and another to protest “ethnic crime.”

On December 18, a rally was held at the Ostankino TV center in Moscow, with as many as four hundred people in attendance. The demonstration was ostensibly to protest against biased media in Russia, but was organized by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Leaders of the NDA are well-known for supporting far-right causes.

Participants of the rally chanted "Russia for the Russians," "One for all and all for one," "Patriotism is not Fascism," and "Forward, Russia!" and distributed xenophobic pamphlets. At the end of the demonstration the protesters lit flares, before breaking up into small groups and beginning to leave. In all, around five hundred people were detained at Ostankino.

On December 20, the Magistrate's Court for the Ostankino district reviewed 102 charges against demonstrators at the Ostankino TV center. All of the charges were for a violation of the Russian Civil Code regarding specific rules for sanctioned demonstrations. So far twenty-seven of the cases have been ruled upon, resulting in fines of 500 rubles (roughly sixteen U.S. dollars) per charge.