The SOVA Center presented reports on political Russian nationalism and hate crimes in 2019

On February 4, 2020, the SOVA Center presented reports on the public activity of far-right groups, hate crimes and counteraction to them in 2019.

On February 4, 2020, at the International Memorial, the SOVA information and analytical center held a presentation of two reports: “Have the nationalists pushed off from the bottom? Public activity of far-right groups. Summer-autumn 2019" and "Criminal activity of the ultra-right. Hate crimes and counteraction to them in Russia in 2019.”

The presentation was attended by:

• Alexander Verkhovsky , director of the SOVA center

• Natalia Yudina , head of the “Racism and Xenophobia” section, author of the report “Criminal Activity of the Far Right”

• Vera Alperovich , expert at the SOVA Center, author of the report “Have the Nationalists Pushed Off the Bottom?”

• Varvara Tretyak , coordinator of charity programs of the Civic Assistance Committee

• Ekaterina Svetashkova , monitoring coordinator of the Moscow LGBT initiative group “Stimul”

Vera Alperovich spoke first. She spoke about the return of the far right to an anti-immigrant discourse, as well as nationalists' attempts to overcome organizational fragmentation and decline.

Then Natalia Yudina spoke about the statistics of attacks on “ethnic outsiders,” LGBT people and the homeless. She also mentioned the problem of organized ethnic minority groups that came to the attention of “Sova” for the first time in many years: the Yakut “Us Tumsuu” and the Azerbaijani VBON.

Varvara Tretyak spoke about blogger Sasha-Masskva, Nadir, Zara - victims of xenophobic violence, with whom the Civic Assistance committee worked last year.

Ekaterina Svetashkova presented statistics on attacks on LGBT people and told how Stimul helps them.

The full texts of the reports can be found on our website:

• Have the nationalists pushed off the bottom? Public activity of far-right groups. Summer-autumn 2019

• Criminal activity of the far right. Hate crimes and counteraction to them in Russia in 2019

Watch the video from the presentation here .

Sources

• Reviews in the press:
• More violence against LGBT people, softer punishment. SOVA Center - about hate crimes in 2019 // TK Dozhd. 2020. February 4.
• The SOVA Center recorded 21 attacks based on ethnicity in Russia in 2019 // Fergana. 2020. February 4.
• Gudoshnikov Semyon. Research: the number of attacks on LGBT people in Russia has increased // Afisha Daily. 2020. February 4.
• Morozova Olga. The SOVA Center recorded an increase in the number of attacks against LGBT people in 2019 // Snob. 2020. February 4.
• “Sova” recorded an increase in the number of crimes against LGBT people // Novaya Gazeta. 2020. February 4.
• “Sova”: in 2019 there were more attacks on LGBT activists // Radio Liberty. 2020. February 4.
• Novorossia for elections // Radio Liberty. 2020. February 4.
• SOVA Center: in 2019 in Russia, 3 natives of Central Asia were killed and 11 were beaten due to xenophobia // Present time. 2020. February 4.
• Let life judge, let life punish // Present tense. 2020. February 5.
• Yakutia was included in the analytical report as a region with manifestations of hatred and violence towards “ethnic outsiders” // Yakutia.info. 2020. February 5.
• Criminal activity of the far right. Khakassia is also on the list // 19 RUS. 2020. February 5.
• Sakhmeev Vladimir. The suitcase activated the nationalists, the victims prefer to remain silent // Interlocutor. 2020. February 5.
• The SOVA Center spoke about the increase in the number of attacks motivated by hatred against LGBT people in Russia // Znak.com. 2020.5 February.
• Research: The number of crimes motivated by xenophobia has increased in Russia over the year // National accent. 2020. February 5.
• “Sova”: The number of attacks on LGBT people has increased in Russia // FreeNews-Volga. 2020. February 5.
• Ivashchenko Ekaterina. Million that you can’t get // Fergana. 2020. February 6.
• “Sova”: in 2019, there were more hate crimes, and the punishments for them were softer // Newsru.com. 2020. February 6.
• Hatred is growing in Russia. Especially to gays and gypsies // 66.ru. 2020. February 5.
• SOVA Center: the number of attacks on representatives of the LGBT community increased in 2019 // Such things. 2020. February 4.
• The SOVA Center noticed an increase in the number of attacks on LGBT people and the activation of “ethnic minority groups” // Meduza. 2020. February 4.
• “Sova”: In 2019, the Saratov far-right were not the most active in the country // FreeNews-Volga. 2020. February 7.