From Russia With Hate
By Nessuna
When a friend of mine who has been studying in Moscow for the last few years visited Yerevan last summer, she didn’t remove her hat so as to prevent her skin from getting darker under the sun. Many times she personally witnessed racial intolerance, and at times brutal violence, aimed at at anyone with dark skin person in Moscow. At Yerevan’s Zvartnots aiport, coffins “arriving” from Moscow has been a usual sight for some time already.
Even so, the last month has seen an unprecedented increase in the number of racially motivated violence crimes on the streets of Russia. Apparently, there’s a reason for this, as Andrew Osborn writes in an article published by The Independent:
April 20, Hitler’s birthday, is always a time of increased tension in Russia since skinheads have promised to mark the occasion “by killing African or Asian people”. The human rights group Sova said that last year alone, citizens from at least 24 different countries were attacked [on different dates] and that the method rarely varied.
As Osborne states, if Russia “was the country to make “the most appalling sacrifices to defeat Nazi Germany 60 years ago” nowadays it is the country where “skinhead culture has taken hold like nowhere else”.
Forty-four people were killed in racially motivated murders last year, more than double the previous year, human rights activists say, and in many cases the perpetrators were young, white, bomber jacket-clad skinheads shouting neo-Nazi or nationalist slogans. They rarely shoot their victims, preferring to stab them repeatedly or beat them to death with chains or knuckle-dusters. And the odds are always stacked in their favour because they hunt in packs of at least three and pick the most vulnerable targets. Their ranks seem only to swell, from about a dozen in the early 1990s to up to 60,000 today.
Racially motivated violence is happening on a daily basis in Russia which is why news of a 17-year old Armenian being stabbed to death at the Pushkinskaya subway station in the center of Moscow on April 23 was nothing new to me. Armtown.com has more:
“The Fuehrer’s successors conquer Russian cities swifter than the Nazi troops in the autumn of 1941,” one of Moscow’s newspapers gives alarm on occasion of the murder of 17 years old Armenian student Vahan Abrahamiants.
What strikes one in this heinous crime is its unspeakable impudence that is certainly the result of assurance of staying unpunished. The headlines of Russian papers are evidence of that — “Student Slain In Front of A Dozen of People”, “Killing and Leaving by Train”, “Hitler Conquers Moscow” etc.
However, the 17-old Armenian’s murder apparently triggered a massive protest in Moscow, as well as discussion on one of the Armenian blogs as well as a local forum. Unfortunately, the general consensus seems to be that “the bastards will go unpunished and it all starts to resemble state policy.” In fact, many blame the Russian government for negligence:
“It is clear even to a kid that without the connivance of the authorities, there will be no skinhead disease,” “the authorities have to react from the very beginning on such displays [of xenophobia] and kill it in the first stages so the others will learn the lesson.”
According to Andrew Osborn, the Russian authorities say that the skinhead problem is exaggerated, and all countries face similar problems, but I wonder how exactly Russian officials explain the sentencing of the killers of a nine-year old Tajik girl brutally knifed 11 times in front of her father to 5 years in prison. When asked if they felt sorry for the girl, her killers replied cynically, “When you kill cockroaches you don’t feel sorry for them, do you?”
BRANDED: A member of the neo-Nazi group Schultz88 shows off his fascist tattoos © SERGEY MAXIMISHIN for TIME
While reflecting on the murder of the 17 year-old Armenian in Moscow, David at Lawyer’s Notes is puzzled by something else:
What is surprising is that in Armenia, and even in Russia, Armenians think of Russia as their friend and strategic ally, while considering Americans and Europeans, if not their enemies, then potential adversaries.
Suddenly increasing its prices of gas, Russian government, forced Armenia to sell the 5th unit of the biggest Hrazdan power plant to Russia, therefore losing control over Iranian gas pipe line, the only hope for power independence from Russian energy sharks. At the same time the USA gives out 200 mln. dollars for developing infrastructure, and lots more for humanitarian aid and other projects for technical assistance. The attitude does not change – Americans and Europeans, living in Armenia, are spies, while Russians are friends and defenders.
Where is the logic? Maybe then it is just an ideology propagated by the authorities? Then the question is why do the authorities need it? I think there is an answer to that, an obvious one… for those who are able to think.
To show these new facists in their “glory,” an Armenian forum has posted some photographs.
Nessuna, thanks for the post and taking the time to translate from Russian in some places. Incidently, some of what the Armenian press said about the attack and the reaction of the Russian as well as Armenian authorities to more violence against Armenians and other CIS migrants was posted here.
Comment by Onnik — May 3, 2006 @ 1:07 am
Global Voices Online also has more on ethnically motivated violence in Russia here.
And RFE/RL’s Armenia Service carries a report from Reuters on a demonstration organized to protest Abramyants’ death.
Comment by Onnik — May 3, 2006 @ 8:28 am
PanArmenian.net has the following related story:
Comment by Onnik — May 3, 2006 @ 9:17 am
It might be time for Armenians to start thinking about returning home. These racially-motivated beatings and killings have been going on for years not only in Moscow but also in Krasnodar and other Armenian-populated areas of Russia. It’s not going to stop, it will only escalate. And waiting for the judicial system in Russia to crack down on neo-naziism is not going to prevent further beatings. Just my opinion, but the best thing for Armenians who migrated to Moscow and other Russian cities for one reason or another to do is to start making plans to return home. Their country needs them.
Comment by Christian — May 4, 2006 @ 12:09 am
From what I know, many of the migrants are in Russia to make a living and to support their families. They are not happy with working hard long hours and getting miserable salaries, but it is better than nothing. Go to any village in Armenia, there are hardly any men left.
Comment by Nessuna — May 4, 2006 @ 9:54 am
I just have to say one thing…
the TRUTH is called HATE
by those who HATE the TRUTH
glory to the White Race
Comment by Skin88 — April 18, 2007 @ 12:15 pm
I recently watched a documentary on Current TV (Al Gore’s cable network) abo ut neo nazi skinheads in Russia. Everything in this article and in the documentary scare me. They also appear to have the same now. You can watch it on the Current site here:
From Russia With Hate
http://current.com/items/84906361_from_russia_with_hate
Comment by UnderScore — November 3, 2007 @ 9:09 am