Original Material
Racism and Xenophobia in October 2016
In October 2016, at least 4 people in the Moscow and Omsk regions were affected by racially motivated neo-Nazi attacks, one of whom – born in Armenia – died in Omsk as a result of injuries. According to our data, since the beginning of the year, racist violence has killed 5 people and injured 47, in addition, three people received serious death threats. Racist attacks have been recorded in 11 Russian regions.
In October, at least 4 neo-Nazi acts of vandalism occurred in the Kaliningrad and Rostov regions, as well as the Republic of Karelia. In 2016, we have recorded at least 30 acts of ideologically motivated vandalism in 17 regions of the country.
The public activity of nationalists in October was low.
The event "In Memory of the Victims of Ethnic Crime" carried out each year on the anniversary of the murder of Anna Beshnova, was attended in Moscow by a dozen activists from the Nation and Freedom Committee. The participants laid flowers at the site of Yuri Volkov's death at Chistye Prudy, then went to the site of the murder of Nemtsov, before driving to the place of the murder of Yegor Sviridov. In Saint Petersburg, Dina Garina announced a memorial action on the grave of Maria Fedorova, but the event was attended by only two activists from the Saint Petersburg branch of the “Russians” association.
In addition, on October 15 in Moscow, near the metro station “Ulitsa 1905 Goda,” the Russian National Front held a meeting dedicated to the protection of political prisoners. Present at the meeting were the leader of the party "Great Russia," Andrey Savelyev, the ex-deputy of the LDPR, Nikolay Kuryanovich, Vladimir Filin ("Movement for De-Privatization and Nationalization..." RNF), Nadezhda Kvachkova ("People's Militia of Russia"), Aleksey Sukhanov from Irkutsk, Alexander Kholin (Union of Cossacks of Russia). The participants were carrying banners and streamers reading "Freedom to the Russian people," "Freedom to Yuri Ekishev," "Freedom to Kvachkov," "Freedom to Kirill Barabash."
We know of only one sentence for racist violence in October 2016. The sentence occurred in Ramenskoe of the Moscow region, with one person being convicted for an assault on a native of Uzbekistan.
We should also mention a verdict issued in Saint Petersburg with three members of the neo-Nazi gang “Nevograd” sentenced for murdering a homeless person.
Since the beginning of the year, 15 convictions have been made against 39 people in 12 Russian regions for racist violence.
In October 2016, there were at least 11 convictions against 11 persons in 10 regions of the country issued for xenophobic propaganda. In 2016, 153 sentences have been made against 170 people in 60 regions for inciting racial hatred and calling for extremist activity.
The Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated 4 times in October (on October 4, 18, 24, and 27) with items 3878 – 3895 added, including a number of on-line videos by neo-Nazi skinheads and Muslim militants.