Volsk: fight or pogroms?

Law enforcement agencies of the Saratov region are transferred to an enhanced mode of operation. The reason for this was a fight that took place on the night of Sunday, September 10, 2006, in one of the cafes in the city of Volsk, between two campaigns of visitors, one of which was "Armenian". What caused the fight is unknown. As a result, one person, a former paratrooper, a veteran of the Chechen war, was killed, four more were injured.

On Monday morning, a "group of local youth" broke into the college of bridge construction and hydraulic structures and one of them attacked an Armenian student. Initially, this information was spread at the level of rumors, but later it was confirmed and clarified by the college administration: first-year student Samvel Simonyan was attacked not not in the college building, but near it (the attackers were detained). In turn, the administration interrupted classes in the middle of the school day and sent the students home. The “release” of students from classes almost provoked a new fight: a correspondent of one of the city newspapers claims that he personally witnessed how on September 14, about 60-80 students of a construction college and about 20 Armenians gathered near the Yunost stadium for a “strelka” . However, the fight was avoided due to the fact that the police promptly arrived in the same area. In addition, it is alleged that on the evening of September 12, a group of short-haired and black-jacketed young people (possibly non-natives) wrecked a car belonging to Caucasians.

In addition, there is information that on one of the days (between September 11 and 15) Roma were beaten at the bus station.

On September 15, the clashes continued: according to unverified reports, a stall belonging to people from the Caucasus and several tents in the market were destroyed. The city police denied this information.

A criminal case on the fact of a fight was initiated under Part 4 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("deliberate infliction of grievous bodily harm, negligently resulting in the death of the victim"). At present, Garnik Hunanyan, born in 1967 and Artur Mkhoyan, born in 1981, suspected of committing the crime, have been put on the federal wanted list.

Note that there is no clearer information about the events, not only in official sources, but also on the city's forums. Whether this is a manifestation of censorship or evidence that the event is nevertheless of a local nature (Volsk is a very small city, and it is unlikely that a significant event would have passed unnoticed), it is not clear.

But it is known that DPNI activists have already joined the situation. On September 14, information was published that the "DPNI squad" was patrolling the city for the fourth day, and complained that they could not arrange the printing of leaflets. It is also known that on September 14, the leader of the local branch of the movement and, concurrently, the local Cossack ataman Andrey Fetisov , who works closely with Saratov skinheads, and local, Volsky DPNIshniki, according to the characteristics of the right-wing radicals themselves, "young, very recent skins are more accustomed to working with their hands than with their brains . "

The city authorities, fearing a repetition of the Kondopoga events , transferred law enforcement agencies to an enhanced mode of operation, pulled up riot police from Saratov. At the same time, "in order to avoid provocations," by order of the city administration, all immigrants from the Caucasus were "removed from the markets."

**According to materials from right-wing radical sites and Internet blogs

Vartanov D. Massacre at the "Galaxy" // Volskaya Nedelya. September 19, 2006.**

Sources

• The Kondopoga events were repeated in another Russian region // Echo of Moscow. 2006. 15 September.
• The police of the city of Volsk, Saratov region, was transferred to an enhanced mode of operation // There.
• "Caucasian pogroms" took place in Volsk, Saratov region // Newsru.com. 2006. 15 September.
• There are no grounds to believe that the conflict in the city of Volsk, Saratov Region, took place on ethnic grounds. // Official website of the Prosecutor General's Office. 2006. September 18.
• Andreeva Hope. National project. Why nationalists began to appear too often "at the right time in the right place" // New Newspaper. 2006. September 18. *