During the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary elections, the nationalistic party “Svoboda” (Freedom) organized a rally. It was announced to be a protest against illegal immigrants, and it was banned by the court. However, despite the injunction, it still took place. Moreover, policemen were walking at the head of the march along with the neo-Nazis.

At least one hundred people marched through the streets of Kharkov under the banner of the “Svoboda” party. Many of the demonstrators hid their faces behind masks and gauze bandages. During the march, neo-Nazis threw their hands in a Nazi salute and shouted “Kikes on knives!” They also mentioned being burdened by “piles of blacks and Asians” who “congested Ukraine.”

Many ordinary people rushed to the other side of the street upon seeing the column of neo-Nazis. During the demonstration, no violent incidences occurred, but the fact that such a rally was supported by a party in Parliament, and guarded by policeman, testifies to the blossoming of neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism in Ukraine.

As a result of Svoboda’s gains in Ukrainian parliament, the European Jewish Association now is calling for protection of Ukrainian Jews.  In a statement, Rabbi Menachem Margolin said, ”We are not presuming of course, to interfere in internal Ukraine affairs and its voters’ decisions, however we are very concerned about the safety of Ukrainian Jews and are seeking to prevent expansion of anti-Semitism in Europe.”

To obtain this new European legal status, it is required to fulfill certain criteria and respect the values on which the EU is founded, namely ‘respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.’ The part regarding minorities is a new addition that will leave far right parties struggling to receive this status.”

Source: United E-News

Public authorities have once again shown interest in the problems of nationalism. President Dmitry Medvedev said that the fight against extremism and in particular the opposition to attempts to “play the ethnic card” must be one of the main areas of work for the recently renamed police. In response to the publication of an article by Vladimir Putin, “Russia: the National Question,” the Ministry of Regional Development has prepared a draft concept of the federal program called “Strengthening the unity of the Russian nation and the ethnic and cultural development of the peoples of Russia”.

Also, the Federal Migration Service (FMS) sent the Government a draft of the “Concept of State Migration Policy through 2025″, on the development of which experts have worked for over 10 years. The Concept is based on the necessity of foreign migrants for economic development in Russia. Accordingly, the main objective of migration policy is in the words of Konstantin Romodanovsky, director of the Federal Migration Service, “make sure profit from migration exceeds the costs.”

Questions of migration also came up in the presidential election, despite the lack of pre-election debates and discussions. On February 7, the Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin said that he does not support introducing a visa regime with the republics of the former USSR. Meanwhile, presidential candidate and businessman Mikhail Prokhorov has called for the closure of the borders between Russia and Central Asian countries and the introduction of a visa system.

One reason for the lack of more disagreement among the candidates is that the energies of the opposition were not directed toward candidates but the movement “For Fair Elections” in which the nationalists also took part in meetings on February 4 in at least in 20 cities.

Nationalists also help rallies particular to their interests. A notable event was the public right-wing campaign “Mirzayev must be in prison!” held in four cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, on February 18. The reason for organizing these events was the decision of a court to free athlete Rasul Mirzaev, accused of the murder of 19-year-old Ivan Agafonov.

In Moscow, according to various estimates, from 150 to 600 people gathered at the rally, and after its completion, some participants formed a convoy and headed to Manejnaya Square, chanting anti-Caucasian and other slogans and attacking those they passed who were not of Slavic appearance.

Nationalists were further angered by the dismissal of the Supreme Court of the appeal against the life sentencing of Alexei Vojvodin, the leader of the neo-Nazi group that carried out assassinations and attacks on foreigners in St. Petersburg. Specifically, he is charged with organizing the murder of anti-fascist anthropologist Nikolai Girenko in 2004.

In worse news for human rights organizations and LGBT groups, on February 29, deputies of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly adopted a bill to ban “the propaganda of homosexuality and pedophilia among minors.” Those who are found promoting homosexual activities among youth will be fined $16,000.

Unfortunately, the governor did not direct his efforts toward preventing violent crime. In February, according to the SOVA Center, as a result of racist and neo-Nazi attacks,  at least 12 people were injured, two of which (a native of Central Asia from St.Peterburg and anti-fascist Nikita Kalinin from Samara) have died. Violent incidents were reported in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vladimir, Volgograd, Moscow and the Samara regions.

Such extreme actions may be supported by a sizable portion of the Russian people. On the eve of presidential elections the Public Opinion Foundation conducted a study which showed that the slogan “Russia – for Russians” is supported by a minority of respondents (11%). The same number supports the actions of Nazi skinheads (10%).

Still, the Federal list of extremist materials was updated four times. Its number increased from 1074 to 1081 and includes materials from the radical Islamist sites hunafa.com and djamaattakbir.com, leaflets by “Hizb ut-Tahrir”, and the book ”Russian World Order” by science fiction writer Yuri Petuhov.

By Daniil Meshcheryakov, Executive Director of the Moscow Helsinki Group

Politically active groups continued to advocate for a nationalist agenda within the broader protest movement. In recent discussions organized by the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation called “The Nationalist threat in Russia: Trends, Prospects and Countermeasures” the results of 2011 were discussed, including the rise of xenophobia and a decrease in the number of hate crimes due to better law enforcement.

January marked the beginning of the electoral campaign in Russia, and the most important political event was the publication of an article by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called “Russia: the National Question” in the state newspaper. The caused a strong reaction from the public. The fact that the Prime Minister published an article on this subject shows its importance. Some of the articles provisions may be included in his presidential platform. However, experts doubt their feasibility. There are human rights concerns as well. It includes a proposal to tighten the registration standards for migrants in order to counter the flow of “illegal migrants” and social conflict. Also, despite the recognition of the importance of education in developing adequate attitudes to cultural, ethnic and religious diversity, Putin chose to focus on efforts such as introducing compulsory examination of migrants in the Russian language, Russian history, and Russian culture.

The wave of social activism caused by the falsification of election results in December 2011 has resulted in a number of internal discussions within the civic movement on whether or not to cooperate with the nationalists. They have decided not to. The anti-fascist activists were united in honoring the memory of murdered human rights journalists Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova in 22 Russian cities. This caused a violent reaction from the neo-Nazis who attacked participants in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh.

On January 21, a rally of several hundred Moscow football fans was organized to demand the investigation of the attack on the fan of the Spartak football team member Alexey Ershov, who was wounded by Andronick Simonyan, an ethnic Armenian, in September, 2010. The protesters made sure that the case had been sent to court, echoing a similar incident last year. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Putin met with football fans regarding the upcoming World Cup to be held in Russia in 2018 and promised to pay proper attention to the “national question” in Russia.

According to the Sova Center, in January 2012, at least 11 people suffered from racist or neo-Nazi attacks. One native of Azerbaijan was killed and 10 people were assaulted. The federal list of extremist materials, was updated in January four times and seven new items were added to it, including several related to Islamic fundamentalism and a brochure titled “Expansion from the South. Stop it?!”.