| Russian security forces fear the April riots. On Sunday, April 20, as well as on Monday night, police officers were on duty in an intensive manner. According to Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Alexander Chekalin, the authorities wanted to protect society from “possible actions of nationalist groups dedicated to Hitler’s birthday,” as well as to prove that the state is able to protect its citizens. As you know, the same date in previous years was marked by a pogrom at the market in Yasenevo in Moscow, murders in Volgograd, Nefteyugansk, and St. Petersburg.
In Moscow, law enforcement officers began monitoring skinhead gathering places, as well as metro stations and train stations. The markets were also closed: those that remained after the restructuring of retail outlets by Yuri Luzhkov. The police promised to take special care to protect diplomatic missions of foreign countries, as well as educational institutions where foreigners study.
As Andrei Chekalin assures, the personnel undergo special instructions taking into account the new federal law “On Combating Extremist Activities.” “The police are ready to resist the actions of skinheads,” says the deputy minister, “let none of them count on impunity in case of committing illegal actions.”
It seems that on this day the security forces managed to maintain order in Moscow and St. Petersburg. At least the first half of the day in these cities passed quite calmly. But the April emergency at the Ministry of Internal Affairs in any case does not solve the problem of youth extremism in Russia. Skinheads are not always tied to historical dates in their actions. An attack could happen any day. Just like any day, a former young skinny can turn into a professional adult far-right politician.
So-so pogromnik
Courts prefer to classify murderers as hooligans
Over the past three or four years, the investigation of cases of mass protests and pogroms of neo-fascist youth groups has ceased to be something “sensational” for the Russian special services. With raids, murders, beatings or simply demonstrative acts of intimidation, skinheads in different parts of the country regularly make themselves known, but law enforcement agencies have not yet been able to develop any clear system for assessing such crimes. Most often, justice reduces pro-fascist attacks to banal hooliganism or mass riots without any political or national background.
Only two weeks ago, the Supreme Court (SC) of the Russian Federation put an end to the case of the most scandalous attack of Russian skinheads - the pogrom in the capital's Tsaritsyno district on October 30, 2001. Then an armed crowd of about 150 militants carried out a massacre, as a result of which three foreigners - citizens of Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and India - were killed and another 32 people were maimed. The prosecutor's office found only five participants in the “action.” Among them was the organizer of the pogrom, student Mikhail Volkov, who was initially found guilty of organizing murders and causing intentional harm to health. However, the Supreme Court dropped these charges against him, leaving only organizing mass riots as a charge, and almost halved his sentence. As a result, the pogromist is expected to be released this year. Also, four ordinary pogromists escaped with almost fright and received three years in prison.
In another famous “skinhead” case - the pogrom at the market in Yasenevo in April 2001, the trial is still ongoing. Then about 150 people also took part in the action, armed with fittings and pipe cuttings, who did not hide the fact that they were celebrating Hitler’s birthday (April 20) in this way. Immediately after the massacre, the police detained 76 people, of whom only five remained “in the cage” - the oldest of the entire company, and who had nationalist propaganda materials with them. Among them was the editor-in-chief of the Russian Host magazine, 30-year-old Andrei Semiletnikov, whom the special services suspect of organizing the pogrom.
The harshest sentences for skinhead activists were handed down not in the capital, but in the provinces. In Volgograd, on August 5, 2001, seven thugs beat two gypsies to death. At the trial, they explained their actions as “the fight against the spread of drugs,” but the investigation initially considered the version of murder motivated by national and racial hatred. As a result, the defendants received from 7 to 9 years in a maximum security colony. And just the other day, the Nefteyugansk City Court found ten skinheads guilty of hooliganism, causing bodily harm and inciting ethnic hatred, who a year ago mutilated nine traders from Uzbekistan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The leader of the group received 7 years in a maximum security colony, the rest received 3-4 years in prison. In addition, the court ordered the defendants to pay material damages to the victims.
In general, the initiative of an unidentified “Russian skinhead group”, which in April 2001 sent emails to a number of embassies in Moscow threatening to kill one African or Asian within a week (on the eve of Hitler’s birthday), remained without consequences. Then the scandal reached the presidential level, and the embassies bombarded the Russian Foreign Ministry with a series of angry statements. Yaroslav ZORIN
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