​ Racism and Xenophobia in January 2017

In January 2017, at least five people in Saint Petersburg and the Rostov region suffered from attacks motivated by xenophobia.

Last month we learned about two acts of xenophobic vandalism in the Chelyabinsk and Amur regions.

By the end of January, videos of racially motivated attacks started to circulate on right-wing radical web pages once again. Links for two YouTube videos depicting attacks on “non-Slavic” people appeared on right-wing radical websites and blogs (the attacks allegedly took place in Saint Petersburg in December 2016 and January 2017). It is probable that Roman (Zukhel) Zheleznov (who has been in Ukraine since 2014) had something to do with the video. One of the websites also published threats against a journalist working for Novaya Gazeta at the same time as it posted the videos. A week later, videos appeared depicting attacks on immigrants from Central Asia, which was published on behalf of the ultra-right wing group, Sparrows Crew.

Nationalist demonstration activity was very low in January. The “Nation and Freedom” Committee picketed against the Yarovaya pack of laws and demanded the release of Ildar Dadin, Dmitry Dyomushkin and Alexander Belov. The demonstration was announced as a country-wide event, but took place only in Saratov with six people.

It is worth noting the one-man demonstration held by LDPR in defense of Dmitry Dyomushkin near the Moscow City Court building. State Duma deputy Vasily Vlasov was at the trial of the leader of the “Russians” movement. LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky personally spoke out in defense of Dyomushkin: a video recording of his presence at the State Duma was actively shared on right-wing webpages.

In January 2017, there were at least 11 convictions for xenophobic propaganda in 11 Russian regions. During the proceedings 11 people were convicted. Among them was the well-known Saint Petersburg nationalist, Nikolay Bondarik, who received a five-year suspended sentence for his xenophobic post on a social network.

In January, judicial decisions and those according to the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation were made. In Moscow, according to Article 20.29 of the Administrative Offenses Code (the dissemination of extremist materials), ultra-right wing neopagan Dmitry Melash was fined for posting a video recording of a Skype conversation during which he wore a t-shirt with the symbol of the Azov battalion.

The federal list of extremist materials was updated once in January. On January 25, 2017, points 4016-4022 were added, including various xenophobic materials from the VKontakte social network.

On January 19, 2017, the annual, all-Russian demonstration in memory of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova took place in nine cities. They were relatively unremarkable and attendance was low. In Moscow, according to Sova Center observers, 380 people attended the demonstration. Arrests of demonstrators and their opponents took place in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Murmansk.