Racism and Xenophobia in June 2016

The following is our review of racism and xenophobia in Russia during June 2016. The data we report are collected in the course of Sova Center’s daily monitoring activities.In June 2016, no fewer than 4 people suffered from racially motivated attacks in Saint Petersburg and Sverdlovsk regions.

Football hooligans dealt with Russia’s European Championship loss to England in typical fashion. In the late hours of June 14-15, a group of nine young men in Yekaterinburg attacked visitors of the gay bar “Mono,” shouting “Russia are the Champions.” The attackers also shot air rifles.

All in all, since the start of the year, one person has been killed as the result of racist violence and 30 have been wounded, with two other individuals receiving serious threats on their lives. Sova Center recorded incidents in eight regions of the country.

Far-right public activism was unsubstantial in June. Likely the most significant episode occurred in relation to the renaming of a Saint Petersburg bridge to honor Akhmed Kadyrov. Nearly every right-wing organization categorically opposed this action, and later reposted photos of the bridge, with a banner citing Kadyrov’s quotes about killing Russians, as well as a graffiti image of Yury Budanov on the bridge’s support structure. The renaming compelled a public demonstration, especially on June 19, with the laying of flowers and application of graffiti. The demonstration’s organizer was Alexander Kalinin, one of the leaders of Saint Petersburg’s Sputnik Reading Club. Dmitry Bobrov and several “allies” also visited the demonstration.

Of note was a June 12 demonstration in Yekaterinburg carried out by members of Russian March (headed by Maxim Vakhromov) in honor of Yury Budanov. The demonstration drew small numbers, with some people laying flowers at the local memorial of the soldiers of the Afghan War.

Far-right “raiding” activities in June were also worthy of notice. In Moscow, the activist group “Lion Against,” which opposes the public consumption of alcohol, attacked several people. In one city park, fighters with a video camera seized alcoholic beverages from individuals, took them to the police patrolling the park’s grounds. The activists comported themselves roughly and ignored people’s requests to remove them from videos and to not shine night-vision equipment in their faces.

Sova Center is aware of only one act of xenophobic vandalism – a statue of Lenin was vandalized in Biysk (the Altai region), in June. In total, since the beginning of 2016, we have recorded a total of 18 acts of xenophobically-motivated vandalism in 15 regions of Russia. Sova is unaware of any June court cases regarding racially motivated violence, in which a court identified hatred as the motive. In total, there have been 11 convictions for violent crimes in which the court has identified hatred as the motive. In these proceedings, 18 people were sentenced in 11 regions.

Seventeen proceedings were carried out for xenophobic propaganda, in 14 regions, with 17 people sentenced.

Also worth noting was the detention of Yury Ekishev, an activist in the group People’s Militia of Russia, on charges relating to Article 282 (incitement of national hatred), in response to a 2014 online video publication. In connection to this case, a search was carried out at the home of another activist of the People’s Militia of Russia, Vladimir Kucherenko (aka Maxim Kalashnikov), who is also a member of the recently-created All-Russian National Movement (OND) under the leadership of Igor Strelkov.

In total, since the beginning of 2016, 101 sentences have been issued with 114 people convicted in 53 regions of Russia.

In June, the Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated five times (on June 2, 10, 14, 20, 29). Entries 3523-3646 were added. The new entries include: videos of skinheads and Islamist militants released onto the VKontakte social network; Right Sector announcements; and Jehovah’s Witnesses brochures.