Racism and Xenophobia in February 2015

The following is our review of racism and xenophobia in Russia during February 2015. The data we report are collected in the course of Sova Center’s daily monitoring activities.

In February we became aware of only one act of ideologically-motivated vandalism. The target was a statue of Lenin in Tolyatti. Since the beginning of 2015, Sova Center has recorded no fewer that seven acts of xenophobic vandalism in four regions of Russia.

Public ultra-right activities were low in February. A few ultranationalist organizations took part in the February 21 “Anti-Maidan” demonstration in Moscow. Among the normal ultranationalist organizations, Sova Center observers noted the following participants: the Rodina (Motherland) Party, the Eurasian Youth Union, the Trezvaya Rossiya (Sober Russia) Party, the Georgievtsy movement, as well as nationalists from the Association of Parents’ Committees and Societies and the Rodnaya (Native) Party (supporters of the “Ringing Cedars of Russia” movement). During the night following the demonstration, a protester carrying a flag of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic was attacked on Moscow’s Petrovka Street.

Additionally, the “Russians” association and V. Basmanov personally were involved in the organization of a demonstration in Moscow in connection with the February 6 murder of student Sergey Kostyuchenko, ostensibly at the hands of Caucasians. Despite the organizers’ best efforts, the demonstration passed quietly and without incident.

Nationalists continued their participation in various social events and raids. The Northern Frontier movement of Syktyvkar was especially active in this connection.

February 2015 saw no fewer than two convictions on racist violence, against four people in the Rostov and Chelyabinsk regions. Among those convicted were members of the neo-Nazi group Piranha-74. As such, since the beginning of the year, there have been no fewer than four such convictions, against six individuals in four regions of the country.

In terms of xenophobic propaganda, there were at least six convictions in February. These processes sentenced seven individuals in the Moscow, Orlov, Tambov, Tver, Tyumen and Chelyabinsk regions. Since the beginning of the year, there have been at least 19 xenophobic propaganda convictions against 20 people, in 19 regions of the country.

The Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated three times this month (on February 13, 20, and 27); entries 2596-2620 were added. The additions include materials from Tatar nationalists, Hizb ut-Tahrir, various Islamic books, posts by neo-Nazis on social media, a new edition of the book “Strike of the Russian Gods” (now entered to the List four times), the anti-Semitic book “The Religious Studies of the Soviet Epoch: the Most Humane Religious Studies in the World”, a poem by A. Byvshev entitled “Ukrainian Patriots,” and texts about the repression of Belorussian anarchists.