In February 2008, police near Moscow detained a 17-year-old participant in an attack on a Muslim prayer house in Sergiev Posad in December 2007. The young man was detained for a minor offense, after which it turned out that he had already been convicted for "inciting ethnic hatred." Then the detainee confessed that it was he who set fire to the Muslim house of worship. "The young man confessed that he committed the crime on order for money," the police said.

On February 18, 2008, it became known that in Pskov a criminal case was initiated under part 1 of article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (incitement of national hatred) against an Internet user (nickname: "Russian Pskov"), whose statements on the forum of one of the Pskov sites , registered as mass media, were recognized as "extremist". Linguistic examination showed that the forum contained "expressions inciting ethnic hatred" in relation to people from the Caucasus.

On February 19, the Independent Press Center prepared by the SOVA Center hosted a presentation of the report "Problems of Realizing Freedom of Conscience in Russia in 2007" . Director of SOVA Center Alexander Verkhovsky took part in the press conference.

In mid-February 2008, the Smolninsky District Court of St. Petersburg recognized as extremist the statements of Alexander Vtulkin, who was convicted in 2006 under Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for threatening Governor V. Matvienko on the Internet. The decision was made at the suit of the prosecutor of St. Petersburg, sent to court in December 2007, and is based not only on the verdict of the court against A.

On February 18, 2008, the Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee for the Tver Region announced the completion of the preliminary investigation into the criminal case of vandalism at cemeteries. 11 productions were combined into one case. 19 people were brought to justice, including 4 minors and 2 women. Some of the accused are in custody. They are accused of vandalism, ethnically motivated murders, robbery and causing grievous bodily harm.

February 18, 2008 at about 21:30 in the south-west of Moscow on the street. Miklouho-Maclay, a group of teenagers killed a citizen of Uzbekistan, Khurishid Khudaykulov (b. 1982), who worked as a janitor. The attackers inflicted multiple stab wounds on a citizen of Uzbekistan and fled the scene. Kh. Khudaykulov died at the scene of the crime.

On February 18, 2008, Viktor Milkov, a student from Maykop, who had posted on the Internet a video recording of the execution of citizens of Tajikistan and Dagestan, appealed against the sentence passed on February 1, 2008 in the Supreme Court of Adygea. "Lawyer Milkov filed a cassation appeal against the verdict of the city court to the Supreme Court of Adygea.

On the night of February 19, 2008, in the area of ​​the Yaroslavl highway, neo-Nazis attacked a student of the Moscow Construction Institute, 21-year-old Maxim Kostikov. The reason for the attack was the "non-Slavic appearance" of the victim. The attackers stabbed the young man several times and fled the scene. The victim caught a ride and drove to the nearest traffic police post. Traffic police officers called an ambulance, Kostikov was hospitalized.

In February, police near Moscow detained a 17-year-old participant in the December attack on a Muslim prayer house in Sergiev Posad. The young man was detained for a minor offense, after which it turned out that he had already been tried for inciting ethnic hatred. Then the detainee confessed that it was he who set fire to the Muslim house of worship. "The young man admitted that he committed the crime on order for money," told Komsomolskaya Pravda .

On February 18, 2008, in Moscow, Maxim Martsinkevich (alias Tesak) was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment in a standard regime penal colony, for public incitement of hatred committed in a group (paragraph "c", part 2, article 282 of the Criminal Code). He was arrested in summer 2007 for an intervention at a political debate in one of the Moscow clubs. The prosecution had asked for a less severe punishment (3 years of settled colony, a penal colony with a more liberal regime).

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FEOR) announced its intention to pay families, members of Jewish communities, monthly allowances after the birth of their third child. This was announced at the FEOR congress taking place in Moscow on February 18-19. Thus the Federation is going to deal with the demographic crisis.

In the Tver region, a preliminary investigation into the case of desecration of cemeteries has been completed. On August 5, 2005, a pogrom was committed in the Jewish part of the cemetery with. Dmitrovo-Cherkasy. About 50 tombstones were then desecrated with nationalist inscriptions. In October 2006, 2 more pogroms took place - at the same cemetery and at Pervomaisky.

February 17, 2008 in Kaliningrad on Turukhanskaya street, a group of 5-6 skinheaded young people armed with knives attacked from behind 7 migrant workers, residents of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, a native of Bashkiria, who came to Kaliningrad to work. The beating continued for several minutes, then the attackers fled. The guest workers were not robbed. The victims claim that "the attackers were skinheads, as they were dressed appropriately" .

On February 18, 2008, the Basmanny Court of Moscow sentenced the leader of the neo-Nazi group "Format 18 " to 3 years in prison under paragraph "c" of Part 2 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public incitement of national hatred committed by an organized group). " 23-year-old Maxim Martsinkevich (Tesak). Let us recall that Tesak was accused of organizing a nationalist provocation at the Bilingua club in February 2007 during a public political debate.