The Other Russia » ethnic conflict

Russia in the News: August 31, 2009

Danila — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:50:20 +0000

Theotherrussia.org provides a glimpse into the topical news stories emerging from Russia:

Georgian Coast Guard Intercepts Trade Vessels between Turkey and Abkhazia

The Georgian Coast Guard recently intercepted an Abkhazian cargo ship filled with scrap metal bound for Turkey and a Turkish cargo ship filled with fuel as part of Georgia’s economic blockade of the breakaway region. The incident raised already high anti-Georgian sentiment in Abkhazia, a de facto independent region backed by Russia. Abkhazia and South Ossetia remain in a strange state of international and legal quagmire one year on from Russia’s land war with Georgia.

Read more from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Russia Arrests Eight for Hijacking Ship with Dubious Cargo

Russia has charged eight men from Estonia, Latvia, and Russia with hijacking a Russian ship named the Arctic Sea last month. Media reports have said that the ship may have been carrying arms or nuclear material to the Middle East.

Read more from Reuters and the Canadian CBC News.

Kyrgyz Teenager Assaulted in Petersburg: Despite Evidence Contrary, Investigators Claim Violence Was Not Ethnic Hatred

Kyrgyz ninth-grader Tagir Kerimov and a friend were assaulted in Petersburg in February by a group of 25-30 who shouted, “Beat the khuch” and “Russia for Russians” along with other racist and nationalistic slogans. On Friday investigators said that the assault was not incited by ethnicity or nationalistic intent, stunning human rights activists.

Racial Attacks Spike in Russian City of Penza

Danila — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 06:36:56 +0000

International students in the Russian city of Penza, some 600 kilometers south of Moscow, are concerned for their safety as a series of racially-motivated attacks escalates around a local university. As the Sobkor®ru news agency reports on November 11th, five foreign students have been assaulted around the city’s Pedagogical University in the past month alone.

The victims, students who are not ethnically Slavic, hail from the Middle East, India, and Turkmenistan. One student remains hospitalized, and will have permanent scarring to his face. He told investigators that three young people jumped him in a local park in broad daylight.

The assailants have been described by other victims as young Slavic men, dressed in all black with covered faces. It was unclear whether the attacks were connected, although the victims described their attackers similarly. Separate assaults on Russian nationals from the Caucasus mountain regions have also been reported.

Law enforcement officials are conducting an investigation, but have not yet apprehended any suspects.

Ethnic Brawls Leave 2 Dead in Russia’s Perm Krai

Danila — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:03:22 +0000

A small town in one of Russia’s central regions has become a new focal point for ethnic tensions in the country, and already has some analysts recalling the 2006 Kondopoga race riots. The Novy Region Information Agency reports (Rus) that Karagai, in the Perm Krai, has seen escalating levels of violence and bubbling aggression that has raised nationwide attention.

Over the past two weeks, two massive street brawls between ethnic Russians, Chechens and Azeris in the town have left two people dead, and eleven people seriously injured. The new head of the local militsiya, sent from the city of Perm to replace the old police chief, was also attacked and beaten by unknown assailants.

Law enforcement officials have meanwhile denied that the fights were ethnically motivated, and have blamed alcohol and individual enmity.

The first brawl took place in the final days of July, and was apparently started by a construction accident. A construction crane, operated by a Russian worker intoxicated on the job, fell onto a company building, killing an Azeri manager. The Russian was later violently assaulted, which set off sparks of anger in local workers and residents. The tension escalated further when the Azeri leadership of the company withheld back wages from some workers.

Combatants brought edged weapons to the ensuing street battle between Russian and Azeris. As result, seven people received knife wounds and two later perished in the hospital. Regional authorities then sent Perm police chief Yury Gorlov to investigate, and replaced a number of officers among the Karagai militsiya’s administration.

A second ethnic fight took place on the night of August 6th, when around 20 Russians and Chechens attacked one another at a local cafe. Law enforcement authorities later described it as a trivial drunken brawl, and did not file any charges. According to a police press-conference, the fight started over a woman.