OSKANIAN SAYS ARMENIA CONCERNED WITH RACIALLY MOTIVATED KILLINGS OF ARMENIANS IN RUSSIA

Armenpress
Jun 08 2006

YEREVAN, JUNE 8, ARMENPRESS; Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian
said today authorities in Yerevan were seriously concerned over a
splash of killings of ethnic Armenians in Russia. Oskanian said to
a news conference that this issue was on the agenda and was being
raised on every opportune occasion.

He said Armenia offers its assistance to Russia to fight together
against xenophobia. “We would like to believe that the hate killings
are not aimed specifically at Armenians and these (the murders of
Armenians) were not part of a plan against Armenians,” he said,
adding that it is the Russian authorities who must take swift action
to prevent racially-motivated attacks and killings in their country.

Human rights activists accuse Russian law-enforcement agencies
and judiciary of covering up the racially motivated crimes or
even justifying the criminals, thus encouraging the recurrence of
aggressive xenophobia and extremism. According to a number of experts’
evaluations, today more than a half of the neo-Nazi organizations of
the world are in Russia.

They also say a considerable part of the contemporary Russian society
is contaminated by racist and xenophobic pathologies. Moreover,
there are grounds to assume that the neo-Nazi organizations are
backed by a whole system, including the Russian mass media, business
structures, law enforcement agencies and courts, as well as other
state institutions of Russia.