Racism and Xenophobia in October 2017

In October 2017, at least four people were injured as a result of attacks motivated by racism and neo-Nazism in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In total since the start of the year, four were killed and 51 injured in racially motivated violence in 15 Russian regions.

In October, there were at least two acts of neo-Nazi vandalism in the Leningrad and Chelyabinsk regions. In total in 2017 to date, we registered no fewer than 37 acts ideologically motivated vandalism in 23 Russian regions.

The public activity of nationalists in October was more pronounced than usual. On October 1, there was the usual demonstration for the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Ethnic Crimes. In Moscow, the demonstration, which was held by Vladimir Basmanov’s Nation and Freedom Committee, was attended by no more than 20 people. The participants gathered near the Zhulebino metro station and walked toward the place where Nikolai Ivanov (athlete, who was killed by an individual from Chechnya) died. Activists held portraits of people who were killed by the hands of visitors, placed flowers and lit candles. The following participated in the demonstration: the leader of the Moscow Division of the Nation and Freedom Committee, Vladimir Burmistrov, one of the leaders of the Committee’s Moscow League, Georgy Shishkov, the head of the Black Bloc, Vladimir Ratnikov, and a former member of the “Russians” banned movement, Vladimir Yermolayev. In St. Petersburg, ten participated in a demonstration at the Tekhnologichesky Institut metro station, at which a terrorist attack took place on April 3. At the demonstration, supporters of Vyacheslav Maltsev’s Artpodgotovka movement were present. Besides this, demonstrations took place in Astrakhan, the Stavropol territory, and the Komi Republic.

Another notable action was held in remembrance of the defenders of the White House who died in 1993, this demonstration took place on October 4 in the Summer Garden in Pskov. No more than ten people attended the event. The organizer was Grigory Pavlov’s (Gosha Ariets, i.e “the Aryan”) “Pskov People’s Republic”; Pavlov spoke to the attendees.

On October 27, activists from the Party of Nationalists movement met at Moscow’s Department of Regional Security (Novy Arbat 36/9) for a “people’s gathering”, protesting against the fact that the authorities did not grant them the permission to hold the Russian March on November 4. At the demonstration nine were detained, all were later released without further proceedings.

We only learned about one conviction for racially motivated violence in October 2017: for an ideologically motivated attack against two Georgian natives, one of whom was a minor. In total since the beginning of the year, there were at least ten guilty verdicts against 24 people in nine Russian regions.

At least 19 convictions were made against 19 people in 15 regions for xenophobic statements in October 2017. In total for 2017 to date, 169 convictions were made against 185 people in 63 regions for inciting hatred and calls to extremist activity.

The Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated twice in October (October 6 and 19), points 4227-4274 were added. Ultra-right-wing materials, a book by Tatar writer Aydar Khalim, and the film “Armenian Fascism” were added to the list. Many of the additional materials were simply duplicates placed on different websites.

In September, the Federal List of Extremist Organizations was not updated. However, it inevitably will be updated soon, because on October 26, 2017 the Krasnoyarsk territorial court satisfied the prosecutor’s suit and recognized Vyacheslav Maltsev’s Artpodgotovka movement as an extremist organization. At present, nothing is known about the claims that served as the basis for filing the suit, nor is the motivation behind the court decision clear.