MINORITIES STABBED OVER WEEKEND

The Moscow Times, Russia
July 3 2006

Assailants stabbed two ethnic Armenian students, a Kazakh student
and two Uzbeks in three separate incidents in Moscow over the weekend.

It was unclear whether any of the attacks would be classified as hate
crimes or were at all connected. But they all occurred amid growing
fears of racism and xenophobia and a sharp uptick in skinhead activity
in Russia.

Two Armenian teenagers were stabbed during a fight on the platform
of the Kuznetsky Most metro station around 5 p.m. Saturday, Interfax
reported. The two were hospitalized with various stab wounds; the
attackers fled the scene.

The attack was being investigated as hooliganism, city prosecutors’
spokesman Sergei Marchenko said.

Meanwhile, a Kazakh man studying at Moscow’s Military Engineering
Academy was attacked by a group of 10 teenagers, including four women,
Interfax said. He was also hospitalized and was reportedly in stable
condition.

Also Saturday, two Uzbek citizens were hospitalized with multiple stab
wounds after being attacked in southwestern Moscow, Interfax said. The
two were hospitalized in serious condition, police officials said.