CRIME AGAINST FOREIGNERS ON RISE IN RUSSIA: OFFICIALS

Agence France Presse — English
June 14, 2006 Wednesday 10:37 PM GMT

The number of crimes committed against foreigners in Russia this year
soared by 33 percent compared to last year’s figures, the interior
ministry said Wednesday.

Almost 6,000 crimes against foreigners and people without citizenship
were registered this year, officials quoted by the Interfax news
agency said, adding however that these crimes were only 0.4 percent
of all registered in Russia.

Also, ethnic hatred motivated 18 murders and 129 attacks this year,
rights activist Galina Kozhevnikova of the Sova Center said, adding
that 10 of those murders were committed in Moscow and four more in
Russia’s second largest city, Saint Petersburg.

Recognisable Russian ethnic minorities — especially Chechens and
other Caucasians — as well as Armenians, Roma gypsies and Jews,
and foreign nationals such as Africans and Asians have increasingly
been targeted in racist attacks.

Although a string of murders by skinheads has grabbed headlines,
human rights campaigners also accuse Russian security forces and
semi-official law enforcement militias of routine abuses and point
to a climate of near-impunity.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress