Racism and Xenophobia in October 2014

The following is our monthly review of instances of xenophobia and radical nationalism, along with any government countermeasures, for the month of October 2014. The review is based on material gathered by Sova Center in the course of our daily monitoring.

This month, eleven people fell victim to racist and neo-Nazi violence, with four of them killed. Since the beginning of the year, our monitoring shows that no fewer than 19 people have been killed in such incidents across Russia, with 93 more injured, while one person has received a serious threat against their life. Racist violence has been recorded in 24 regions of Russia so far this year.

Nationalist public activity was relatively low this month. Probably the most notable event was the October 18 meeting in Moscow under the banner “Battle for the Donbass,” organized by Evgeny Valyaev and Aleksei Zhivov (the Right-Conservative Alliance). About 500 people showed up for the demonstration. Participants flew banners showing membership in the Eurasian Union of Youth, the National Liberation Movement (of Evgeny Fedorov), as well as flags of the Russian Empire, the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, and Novorossiya. Egor Kholmogorov and Duma deputy Evgeny Fedorov also came out to the demonstration.

A so-called Procession Against Corruption, held on October 8 in Sergiev Posad, is also worth noting. The event was organized by Cossacks under the leadership of Pavel Turukhin, the ataman of Sergiev Posad. Participants carried banners with slogans like “Orthodoxy or Death” and “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Russian Nation” and threw the fascist salute.

Nationalist raids on migrant-run businesses continued in October. On October 19 in Saint Petersburg, members of the National-Socialist Initiative conducted a “Russian Cleaning.” Eight people are reported to have participated, harassing street vendors and calling police to report what they saw as unauthorized commerce being conducted.

October saw no fewer than two acts of neo-Nazi vandalism, in Chita and the Leningrad region city of Svetlogorsk. As such, since the beginning of the year, we have recorded no fewer than 36 acts of ideologically motivated vandalism, in 28 regions of Russia.

Sova Center is unaware of any racist violence convictions in October that accounted for a hate motive. We have recorded 13 such rulings so far this year, against 31 individuals in 11 regions of the country.

Two individuals were convicted on xenophobic vandalism charges this month, in the Tula region. Since the beginning of the year, we have recorded two such rulings, against three people – in the Tula region, and in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region.

This month ten people were convicted, in as many rulings, on xenophobic propaganda charges in ten regions of Russia. This year has seen a total of 113 such rulings, against 115 people in 49 regions.

Russian nationalists were tried on additional criminal charges this month.

Aleksandr Belov (Potkin), one of the better-known nationalist figures in the country, was detained on October 15 in Moscow as part of an investigation into the theft of some $5 billion from Russian and Ukrainian depositors of the Kazakh bank BTA. He was later placed under arrest.

We should also mention the criminal case opened in Moscow against well-known Russian nationalist Roman (Zuhel) Zheleznov on part 3 of Article 359 of the Criminal Code: mercenary participation in armed conflict or military activities. The charges arise in connection with his service in the Azov Battalion, a Ukrainian paramilitary group.

The Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated seven times – on October 3, 6, 10, 20, 24, 27, 29 and 30. Entries 2451-2487 were added. Materials added include Islamist militant videos and a blog of the same kind, articles on the website UmmaNews, and a video lecture for Muslims; Jehovah’s Witnesses texts; materials supporting Buryat nationalist Batozhargal Norboev; Nazi skinhead-related video and audio materials, including songs by the bands Kolovrat, Bandy Moskvy, Shmeli, Cyborg and videos including quotations from the anti-Semitic book Red Kabbalah; and the nationalist video “Chita in Support of the Maidan.”