2005

The end of 2005 was marked by two convictions in high-profile skinhead gang cases in St. Petersburg. Following the murder, in 2004, of Nikolai Girenko - an academic known for his opposition to neo-Nazi - and threats against Governor Valentina Matviyenko, the city's law enforcement voiced their commitment to investigate crimes by neo-Nazi skinhead gangs.

Elections to the Moscow City Duma and additional elections to the RF State Duma which took place in Moscow on 4 December 2005 were accompanied by active and extremely aggressive ethno-nationalist, and at times explicitly racist, campaigning. As a consequence, in early December, Moscow saw an outburst of racist violence. Within three days, on 3-5 December, two massive fights and three individual attacks involving neo-Nazi youth gangs were reported, in which two people were killed, two more were hospitalized, and the overall number of victims may be more than ten.

On 21 November 2005, a "restorative" congress of the Union of Russian People was held in Moscow. The Union declared itself the successor of an organization which existed in the early 20th century under the same name, but was widely known as The Black Hundred. The new organization elected the Chairman, sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov, a man of openly ethno-nationalistic views.

We publish statistics of violent attacks motivated by racial and ethnic hatred, by regions, year 2005.