Chris Doss The Russia Journal ------------------
Russian Communist leader says skinheads threat engineered to target opposition Interfax
Moscow, 19 April: Communist leader Gennadiy Zyuganov believes that the idea that neo-Nazi tendencies are intensifying in Russia is being imposed on Russian society.
In a statement released by the Communist Party press service, Zyuganov said that the Russian mass media have recently been talking a great deal about possible actions by the forces known as skinheads. However, "the intensity of this propaganda campaign and the level of its coordination directly point to
the fact that is done on instruction".
"In Russia, which has suffered from fascism more than any country in the world, there is no place for Nazism," Zyuganov said. "The neo-Nazi ideology is actually being imposed on young people through the current hysteria," he said. The Communist leader believes that the true goal of this campaign is to create conditions which would make it possible to force the State Duma to adopt a bill on prevention of extremism.
Zyuganov believes this bill will be aimed "first of all against organized forces of opposition".
Russian Police Tackle Skinheads April 19, 2002 By ANGELA CHARLTON
MOSCOW (AP) - After skinheads declared ``war on foreigners'' and killed an Afghan interpreter, Russian police launched a nationwide operation Friday to thwart attacks by extremist youth groups ahead of Adolf Hitler's birthday.
Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov ordered increased police patrols starting Friday at places where violence is expected, including foreign embassies, soccer stadiums and outdoor markets where people from Central Asia and the Caucasus Mountains region often work as vendors.
The 113th anniversary of Hitler's birth is Saturday.
The increased security was not enough, however, to prevent a small, homemade bomb from exploding Friday outside a synagogue in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. No injuries and no damages were reported, officials said.
Debate in the Russian media has speculated on whether the increase in violent attacks by Russia's small ultranationalist minority stems from unrest in the Middle East or police indifference.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke out forcefully against racially motivated crime in an address to the nation Thursday.
That followed Monday's assault of Abdul Hakim Hakrid, a 35-year-old interpreter for the Russian Interior Ministry's migration service, near a subway station in central Moscow. He died Tuesday.
Last week, a group claiming to represent Russian skinheads sent threatening e-mail messages to foreign embassies in Moscow, warning that foreigners should leave the country or face attacks.
Embassies for the United States, Japan, India, the Philippines, Italy and Sweden confirmed receiving the English-language messages. The U.S. Embassy warned American citizens to ``exercise caution and to avoid large gatherings and areas frequented by 'skinhead' groups.''
The U.N. refugee agency's Russian office also said it received reports of up to 10 racist attacks a month recently.
The liberal Union of Right Forces party on Friday accused Russia's top prosecutor, main intelligence agency and the Interior Ministry of indirectly encouraging racist activity by failing to stem earlier attacks.
``The assaults have become systematic,'' a party statement said. ``The lack of visible results in the battle with fascism testifies to the lack of a unified approach to the problem in law enforcement structures.''
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, meanwhile, said the concern about neo-Nazi activity in Russia was exaggerated.
``In Russia, which suffered from fascism more than any country in the world, there is no place for Nazism,'' he told the Interfax news agency, referring to the Soviet Union's estimated losses of 27 million people in fighting Nazis during World War II.