Throats slashed and bodies dumped, three slain Uzbek immigrants werediscovered in the Moscow region, police announced today as racialviolence continued to climb starkly in Russia’s streets.
This year has unleashed a dramatic increase in skinhead and neo-Naziattacks, many of them aimed at Caucasian and Central Asian immigrantsfrom hardscrabble former Soviet republics who flock to Russia to ekeout a living. The bodies turn up beaten, bruised and stabbed, sometimestortured or mutilated.
The first body discovered this week belonged to a 32-year-old Uzbekkilled Tuesday night. Later that night, the bodies of two Uzbekbrothers, ages 23 and 30, were found in a house under construction,according to the Russian Interfax news agency.
Human rights groups complain that the government has failed tostaunch, and has even implicitly fostered, the ethnic violence.Racially motivated attacks have killed more than 50 people this year,compared with fewer than 20 such deaths in the same period last year.Critics accuse authorities of encouraging nationalistic, xenophobicgroups and failing to thoroughly investigate or prosecute hate crimes.
In one case that was prosecuted,six Russian men were found guiltytoday of bombing a multiethnic market in Moscow in 2006. The blast,which killed 14 people and wounded 61, still stands as an emblematicattack in a continuing white supremacist campaign to drive immigrantsout of Russia with violence.
The unsolved killings this week of the Uzbeks came to light on theeve of a planned demonstration in Moscow by the Movement AgainstIllegal Immigration, a group whose rallies have traditionally beengatherings for white supremacists and neo-Nazis, arms held high insalute to Adolf Hitler.
This group and other nationalistic organizations are permitted tohold regular rallies and marches in Russia and draw thousands ofparticipants who shout racist slogans and demonstrate unmolested. Bycontrast, police often crack down on anti-government protests bypro-Western and human rights groups, and gay pride demonstrations arebanned outright.
“Xenophobes feel comfortable in Russia.They feel protected,” said Lev Ponomaryov, head of the Moscow-based ForHuman Rights organization. “It’s very difficult to get the authoritiesto pay serious and adequate attention to these crimes.”
At least one leader of a neo-Nazi organization has bragged publiclyabout participating in attacks on ethnic minorities, Ponomaryov said.His organization lobbied the government to investigate the man’sboasts, he said, but the requests were ignored.
The governments of several Central Asian countries also haveimplored Russian authorities to better protect the millions ofimmigrants who seek work in the shadow of a global oil and gas boomthat has greatly benefited Russia.
Earlier this year, the government of Kyrgyzstan complained to Moscowabout the rise in crime against its citizens. The protest came after astring of particularly gory slayings. In one case, a 22-year-old Kyrgyzman turned up dead, his stomach cut open, his throat slashed and a starcarved into his torso.
“These [nationalistic] groups portraythemselves as the protectors of the Russian people against internalthreats,” said Oleg Panfilov, head of the Moscow-based Center forJournalism in Extreme Situations.
“They are becoming more popular and morecommunicative,” Panfilov said. “They have a huge number of websites andblogs on the Internet, and the authorities aren’t doing anything tostop them or to curb the spread of nationalism.”