COMPLEX MEASURES AGAINST XENOPHOBIA MUST BE TAKEN: URA PRESIDENT

Arka News Agency, Armenia
June 1 2006

YEREVAN, May 31. /ARKA/. Complex measures against xenophobia and
nationalism related crimes must be taken in Russia, President of the
Union of Russian Armenians (URA) Ara Abramyan reported during a press
conference in Moscow.

According to him, the second murder of a Russian citizen of Armenian
descent has been committed over this month. However, he believes that
“this is not the problem of the Armenian society, but Russia”. “This
is not the Armenian people’s problem. It is our country’s problem,
a common problem, and we can get out of such situation only with
joint efforts,” he said.

RIA Novosty reports that Abramyan believes that atmosphere of
dislike toward participants of radical nationalistic groups should
be established. “They should know that they have no place in the
society,” the URA president said. He also suggested that the problem
of xenophobia be solved by means of “round tables” participated by
public figures, police mass media representatives.

Besides this, according to Abramyan, to combat xenophobia in Russa
much attention should be paid to upbringing of the youth and a dialogue
with school and university students.

Abramyan reported that 390 attacks on people out of nationalism
related reasons and 30 murders have been committed in Russia in 2005.

During this year seven Russian citizens of Armenian descent have been
killed in Russia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress