In September 2017, no fewer than three people were victims of attacks by ultra-right-wing groups in Moscow and Novosibirsk. Since the beginning of 2017, four have died and 42 have been wounded or assaulted. Racially motivated attacks took place in 14 Russian regions.
In September, four objects in Moscow, the Irkutsk and Kemerovo regions were damaged by xenophobic vandals. In total since the start of this year, there were no fewer than 35 objects vandalized in 22 regions.
Public activity by ultra-right-wing groups was not particularly high in September. The Party of Nationalists, Artpodgotovka activists, and New Opposition supporters continued to hold rallies in Moscow, including the “Walk of Free People” and “Occupy Manezh”. On September 10 (the day of municipal elections), the walk ended in arrests: it was reported that at the Museum of Revolution, police detained and put into in police vans 19 people of the approximately 40 rally participants. They were released without being charged. On September 23 and 24, rallies proceeded without incident: no more than 30 participated, and fewer than 20 gathered on Manezhnaya Square.
On September 10, municipal elections took place in Moscow, in which nationalists participated. Many applications were filed, however, many of the candidates who had previously declared their intentions to run were eliminated during registration. Candidates, who were running with the support of the Party of Nationalists, could not register, with the exception of Alexander Gruzinov, who was already the municipal deputy of the Khoroshyovo-Mnevniki district. In any case, he lost the election. The candidates from the Honor and Freedom Movement, Alexander Samokhin and Pavel Folomkin, were not registered, though it is possible that they declined to run. Mikhail Butrimov, one of the leaders of the Rodina Party, who since 2012 has held the post of municipal deputy of the Veshnyaki district, was registered, but was later removed by court decision from the pre-election process.
Of the nationalist candidates who were permitted to reach the actual elections, none could accumulate the necessary number of votes, including the leader of the Moscow division of the Nation and Freedom Committee, Mikhail Burmistrov (self-nominated), the leader of the Black Bloc, Vladimir Ratnikov (Komarnitsky) (nominated by the Parnas Party), the leader of the Russian United National Alliance (RONA), Oleg Filatchev (self-nominated), and one of the leaders of the National Democratic Party, Nadezhda Shalimova (nominated by the Moscow and Moscovites Coalition).
As a result, the nationalists said that with their support, such activists as Konstantin Yankauskas (December 5th Party) and Vladimir Zalishchak (New Opposition) won. Both candidates cooperated with the ultra-right movement, but they are not nationalists.
In September, we did not learn about any convictions for xenophobically motivated violence and vandalism. For xenophobic statements, there were at least 20 convictions in September in 17 regions against 20 people. Among those convicted was the leader of the banned People’s Social Initiative, Dmitry Bobrov, who received two years imprisonment under Article 282 of the Criminal Code for the publication on March 21, 2016 of the article, “The Race Doctrine,” on his VKontakte page. Bobrov did not attend the hearing and has been put on the wanted list.
In total in 2017, in cases for racist or xenophobic statements, there were 151 convictions against 167 people in 60 regions.
During September, the Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated four times (on September 8, 11, 15, and 25), points 4203-4225 were added. Racist leaflets, xenophobic videos, and videos with calls for jihad, all of which were published on VKontakte pages, were added to the list.
