Racism and Xenophobia in January 2012

January 2012 saw at least 11 people killed and 10 more injured in racist and neo-Nazi attacks in Moscow and St. Petersburg and the Kaliningrad, Voronezh and Tver regions. The victims were non-Slavic individuals and anti-fascist activists, primarily those participating in a January 19 rally in memory of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, the lawyer and journalist who were murdered in broad daylight in Central Moscow by a neo-Nazi in 2009.

We classified at least four acts of vandalism as motivated by hatred or neo-Nazi ideology. Targets included the “Russia” House of Culture in Serpukhov, the Saratov United Russia party headquarters, the obelisk of St. Petersburg’s Smolensk Cemetery, and a cathedral in Petropavlosvk-Kamchatsky that was set on fire.

There were no convictions in January for racist violence or vandalism that accounted for the hate motive.

There were, however, at least two convictions against seven people for xenophobic propaganda, in the Arkhangelsk and Ulyanovsk regions. Six individuals were sentenced to compulsory labor under Article 282 of the Criminal Code, while the other was put on probation under both articles 280 and 282. In another case, a graffiti charge in Chita was dropped due to an expired statute of limitations.

The Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated three times, on January 18, 21 and 23; paragraphs 1067-1072 were added. The updates include xenophobic leaflets of the Pamyat Novosibirsk newspaper, and Muslim materials whose content Sova has not yet had the chance to review.

The month’s most notable event was a pan-Russian series of rallies in memory of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, held on January 19 in at least 23 cities across the country. Moscow’s meeting was branded an anti-fascist rally, and between 500-600 people attended.

The meeting’s speakers made a point of addressing the participation of far-right factions in the civil protest movement that has formed following December’s fraudulent parliamentary elections. Indeed, though far-right groups have not been present in great numbers at rallies, they have been well represented in the demonstrations’ coordination efforts, namely as part of the Initiative Group and its “political faction,” the Russian Political Committee.

In January the Initiative Group assembled a civic movement, and came close to assembling a Civic Council that would be made up of both nationalists and leftist and liberal groups. The movement’s Quota group is composed of dedicated nationalists, and includes representatives from the Russian Platform and The Russians movements. It is co-chaired by well-known far-right leaders Konstantin Krylov, Vladimir Tor, Alexander Belov and Dmitry Demushkin.

Following a statement by President Medvedev on possible reforms to the laws regulating the establishment of political parties, far-right groups got to work building theirs up. The most significant of these is the New Force party project, led by Moscow State University of International Relations professor Valery Solovey.

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