According to the November study, Russian attitudes towards immigrants became more negative on the whole. 61 percent of Russians feel that the government “should try to limit the stream of migrants,” a 9 percent increase from a year ago. Another 30 percent feel that the authorities “do not need to put administrative barriers in the way of the influx of migrants and try to use them for the good of Russia,” down from 35 percent in 2008 and 44 percent in 2002.

Attitudes towards labor immigration also followed a negative trend. Only 19 percent of Russians held a “definitely” or “probably” positive attitude towards the idea that “one meets workers from Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and other nearby foreign countries on construction sites in Russia more often.” This figure was at 30 percent in 2002. Those who held neutral attitudes towards labor immigration fell to 44 percent, down 5 percent from a year ago, and those with a negative attitude rose to 35 percent, up 4 percent from a year ago.

The percentage of Russians who felt negatively towards labor immigrants has fluctuated back and forth over the past decade. In 2000 and 2004, 38 percent of Russians held negative attitudes in this regard, but only 27 percent did so in 2002. Aleksei Grazhdankin, vice director of the Levada Center, told Gazeta.ru that the fluctuations “are connected with the economic crisis and an intensification of competition in the labor market.” Therefore, Grazhdankin continued, “attitudes towards migrants remain in a completely civilized framework, and the level of xenophobia and nationalist enmity is not increasing. People are simply striving to protect their interests in the labor market.”

Attitudes toward the idea of a Russia in which only ethnic Russians resided did not change significantly in the past year.

The number of Russians, however, who support the infamous slogan “Russia for the Russians” and feel that it “has long been time to implement” such an idea has risen to 18 percent from 15 percent a year ago.

At the same time, 36 percent believe that “it would not be bad to implement this idea, but within reasonable limits,” down from 42 percent last year. Additionally, a growing number of Russians believe that “Russia for the Russians” is “genuine fascism,” up to 32 percent from 25 percent last year.

“Such growth is very good,” said Pavel Chikov, representative of the human rights organization Agora. “In the first years of the Putin administration, there was a surge of patriotism that brought with it a growth in neo-Nazi groups.” Chikov explained the change in poll numbers as the result of more frequent public debate on immigration issues in Russia, causing more people to form opinions on the matter. “However,” he continued, “the ratio of the positions remains approximately the same for now.”

“The country is beginning to wake up and develop individual attitudes to various social phenomena, and on the whole this is, unconditionally, positive,” the human rights representative said. At the same time, he noted that the polarization of society indicates increasing degrees of opposition. “It’s good to start public debates, but I fear that it’s also starting knife fights and violence, and the government likewise answers with violence,” Chikov concluded.

The most recent victims, two men of Kyrgyz and Azeri background, were stabbed to death in separate instances on Tuesday night. The crimes are considered ethnically motivated, as nothing was stolen from the victims’ bodies.

According to the Itar-Tass news agency, many community leaders feel that authorities are turning a blind eye to the wave of killings and assaults. At a meeting with Moscow police, ethnic leaders complained that most attacks against dark-skinned people were simply considered hooliganism, and that the police had failed in their promises of helping ethnic minorities. They added that the judicial system dealt with hate crimes too lightly.

Citizens of the former Soviet Republics living in Russia, as well as Russian nationals from the North Caucasus region have noted a rising incidence of assaults from ultra-nationalists and skinheads.

According to the Moscow Times, twenty-three people have been killed and more than fifty injured in ethnically-motivated attacks around the country since the start of the year. Fourteen of those murders took place in Moscow.

Vladimir Pronin, Moscow’s police chief, spoke with the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper on what he felt were the reasons for the rising crime rate:

“You may also add the collapse of the system of vocational training. We’ve lost our working class youth. There you have it. Teenagers have nothing to busy themselves with. No positive ideology has been offered. There is no way for them to let off aggression, and there are newcomers and guest workers all around. The result is clear. Mandatory high-school education has been canceled in fact. Few parents care if their teenage son finishes high school or not…”

Itar-Tass noted that other people of color, including immigrants and expats from East Asia and Africa, were also being threatened by skinheads. Anonymous sources within major international corporations have revealed to the Izvestiya newspaper that their firms have unofficial policies wherein Asian and African specialists are not hired for the Russia office. Simply put, their safety cannot be guaranteed.