Racism and Xenophobia in February 2013

The following is our monthly review of incidents of xenophobia and radical nationalism, along with any government countermeasures, for February 2013. The review is based on material gathered by Sova Center in the course of our daily monitoring.

At least four people were injured this month in racist-and neo-Nazi attacks, in St. Petersburg and the Moscow region.

Since the beginning of the year, 23 people have fallen victim to xenophobic violence in Russia, with three of those being killed as a result. Attacks have been recorded in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as the Vologda, Voronezh and Moscow regions and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area – Yugra.

An Ulyanovsk Jewish community center and a Moscow Orthodox church were both vandalized this month. Since the beginning of 2013, we have recorded no fewer than eight acts of xenophobic vandalism in Moscow, the Altai Territory and the Kirov, Vladimir, Ulyanovsk and Chelyabinsk regions.

Ultra-right public actions and activities were negligible in February. We note however the creation of a campaign "for the introduction of a visa regime with the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus," initiated by the New Power party. Right-wing activists held pickets under the slogan in several Russian cities. An analogous campaign was formed by Konstantin Krylov's National Democratic Party (NDP) as well.

A statement in the same vein was made on February 11 in the form of a vote by members of the Coordination Council of the Opposition (KSO), "On the need to abolish the visa-free regime with the countries of Central Asia." However, nearly none of the liberal or left-wing members of the council participated in the vote. It is Sova's position that the statement was simply populist posturing in a play to xenophobic sentiment in society.

Nationalists continued their Kondopoga Technology campaign, propagandizing crimes in order to mobilize supporters. The most notable this month was the February 2 murder of eight-year-old Vasilisa Galitzyna of Naberezhnye Chelny; Uzbek native Farukh Tashbaev is the suspected killer. Far-right websites ran detailed descriptions of the murder, which the NDP capitalized on for its visa regime project.

In February 2013 Russian courts issued two sentences (in the Kirov and Kostroma regions), against as many people, for violent crimes qualified by the hate motive.

As such, at least three such convictions have been issued against as many people since the beginning of this year.

February saw at least six sentences for xenophobic propaganda. Six individuals were convicted – in the Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Novosibirsk and Tomsk regions, as well as the Komi and Chuvash republics.

A February ruling convicted leaders of the People's Militia in the Name of Minin and Pozharsky (NOMP) in Moscow and Yekaterinburg for several acts. A February ruling convicted leaders of the People's Militia in the Name of Minin and Pozharsky (NOMP) in Moscow and Yekaterinburg for several acts. On February 8, 2013, the Moscow City Court sentenced NOMP leader Vladimir Kvachkov, a retired colonel in the GRU (Russia's foreign military intelligence service), for collaboration in terrorist acts (Part 1 of Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code) and attempted armed rebellion (under Part 3 of Article 30 and Article 279 of the Criminal Code). Kvachkov is to serve thirteen years in a penal colony. On February 26, the Sverdlovsk regional court sentenced paratrooper Reserve Colonel Leonid Khabarov to four and a half years in a penal colony under Part 1 of Article 205.1 and Part 1 of Criminal Code Article 222 – the illegal purchase, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or bearing of weapons, their main parts, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices. Other NOMP members were also convicted in these cases.

Nationalists organized a series of demonstrations in support of Kvachkov. The majority of them were held on February 23.

The Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated twice, on February 8 and February 19, with the addition of entries 1663–1677. The additions include xenophobic videos posted to VKontakte, a leaflet calling for attacks on antifascist activists, books by veteran Russian nationalist A. Sevastyanov, a reprint of an article by liberal historian Y. Afanasiev, the previously listed website www.vnrf.org, an article from the magazine By Their Names, the website Jihad in the Caucasus, a brochure published by Armenian organization HAY RADICAL and articles from issue 2 of Radical Politics magazine.