Interfax, Russia
Sept 19 2009

Over 50 hurt in hate crimes in Russia this year – rights groups

MOSCOW Sept 19

Human rights groups have expressed concerns about the attacks based on
xenophobia and ethnic intolerance, which continue in Russia.

"In the period between January and mid September, 169 attacks
occurred, in which 53 people were killed and at least 218 were
injured," Alexander Brod, director of the Moscow Bureau for Human
Rights, told Interfax, citing the results of a monitoring.

In the same period in 2008, at least 92 people died at the hands of
nationalists and at least 300 were injured, and in 2007 at least forty
were killed and some 230 were injured, Brod said.

According to Brod, Moscow and the Moscow region, St. Petersburg and
the Leningrad region, Nizhny Novgorod, and Stavropol lead in attacks
based on ethnic intolerance this year.

Victims of racist attacks this year were mostly Uzbeks (13 killed and
nine injured), Russians (five killed and nine injured), Kyrgyzis (four
killed and ten injured), Tajiks (five killed and 13 injured),
Armenians (two killed and nine injured), Dagestanis (two killed and
four injured), Vietnamese (three killed), and Azerbaijanis (two killed
and 12 injured), Brod said.

Rights groups believe that most hate crimes are committed by skinheads
and members of various radical nationalist organizations. Most victims
of such attacks are people with origins in the Caucasus and Central
Asia, and also sexual minorities and members of young people’s
subcultures.