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The Associated Press
September 15, 2006 Friday 7:55 PM GMT
Deadly fight raises fears of ethnic violence in Russia
By STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer
Fighting involving ethnic Armenians and others in a Volga River town
left one person dead and at least three injured this week, officials
and news reports said Friday, fueling fears of a rise of ethnic
violence across Russia.
The violence came about a week after clashes and rioting targeting
Chechens in the northern town of Kondopoga left two people dead and
underlined the potentially explosive tension between ethnic Russians
and often darker-skinned people from the Caucasus and Central Asia,
in some cases migrants.
One ethnic Russian man was killed and three were injured in a brawl
with ethnic Armenians at a cafe in the town of Volsk early Sunday,
said Alexei Yegorov, police spokesman in the Saratov region, where
the town is located.
Yegorov said the fight was not motivated by ethnic bias, but Ekho
Moskvy radio reported that it was followed Monday by an attack on
ethnic Armenian students at a technical college in the town that left
one student with a knife wound.
Yegorov denied the attack took place and also denied what Ekho Moskvy
reported was further ethnic tension early Friday in the town some 700
kilometers (450 miles) southeast of Moscow. He said two ethnic
Armenians had fled the town following Sunday's fight and were being
sought by police.
Ekho Moskvy said that in addition to the three Russians injured in
the cafe fight, one ethnic Armenian was also injured. It said the man
who was killed was a 25-year-old former paratrooper who had served in
the conflict in Chechnya.
While authorities sought to downplay the ethnic element in the
violence, it has raised fears that similar rampages could spread to
other Russian cities where increasingly aggressive nationalist groups
bristle at people from Russia's Caucasus provinces and neighboring
ex-Soviet nations.
Russia has seen a marked rise in xenophobia and racist attacks in
recent years and rights groups say authorities do little or nothing
to combat xenophobia, often treating hate crimes as hooliganism.
Asked about the violence in Volsk, Deputy Prosecutor General
Alexander Buksman said his office is gathering information about such
incidents around the country to try to determine whether there is a
common cause, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.
Dozens of nationalists demonstrated Thursday in Moscow, demanding
tighter controls over migrants from the Caucasus living in university
dormitories and the cancellation of provisions encouraging students
from other ex-Soviet nations to study in Russia.
About 150 were detained and some were fined for minor infractions,
the Interfax news agency quoted Moscow police spokesman Yevgeny
Gildyev as saying, but several dozen were allowed to hold a rally a
soft approach by the Russian authorities who usually move quickly to
disperse unsanctioned demonstrations.
The pro-tolerance group SOVA said 11 young people were sentenced in
the western city of Belgorod this week to prison terms ranging from 1
1/2 to 5 years for attacking a Roma family with knives and metal
rods, seriously injuring two people.
SOVA said it was just the fourth time that a Russian court has ruled
that defendants organized and participated in an extremist
organization. Court officials in Belgorod could not immediately be
reached for comment.
September 15, 2006 Friday 7:55 PM GMT
Deadly fight raises fears of ethnic violence in Russia
By STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer
Fighting involving ethnic Armenians and others in a Volga River town
left one person dead and at least three injured this week, officials
and news reports said Friday, fueling fears of a rise of ethnic
violence across Russia.
The violence came about a week after clashes and rioting targeting
Chechens in the northern town of Kondopoga left two people dead and
underlined the potentially explosive tension between ethnic Russians
and often darker-skinned people from the Caucasus and Central Asia,
in some cases migrants.
One ethnic Russian man was killed and three were injured in a brawl
with ethnic Armenians at a cafe in the town of Volsk early Sunday,
said Alexei Yegorov, police spokesman in the Saratov region, where
the town is located.
Yegorov said the fight was not motivated by ethnic bias, but Ekho
Moskvy radio reported that it was followed Monday by an attack on
ethnic Armenian students at a technical college in the town that left
one student with a knife wound.
Yegorov denied the attack took place and also denied what Ekho Moskvy
reported was further ethnic tension early Friday in the town some 700
kilometers (450 miles) southeast of Moscow. He said two ethnic
Armenians had fled the town following Sunday's fight and were being
sought by police.
Ekho Moskvy said that in addition to the three Russians injured in
the cafe fight, one ethnic Armenian was also injured. It said the man
who was killed was a 25-year-old former paratrooper who had served in
the conflict in Chechnya.
While authorities sought to downplay the ethnic element in the
violence, it has raised fears that similar rampages could spread to
other Russian cities where increasingly aggressive nationalist groups
bristle at people from Russia's Caucasus provinces and neighboring
ex-Soviet nations.
Russia has seen a marked rise in xenophobia and racist attacks in
recent years and rights groups say authorities do little or nothing
to combat xenophobia, often treating hate crimes as hooliganism.
Asked about the violence in Volsk, Deputy Prosecutor General
Alexander Buksman said his office is gathering information about such
incidents around the country to try to determine whether there is a
common cause, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.
Dozens of nationalists demonstrated Thursday in Moscow, demanding
tighter controls over migrants from the Caucasus living in university
dormitories and the cancellation of provisions encouraging students
from other ex-Soviet nations to study in Russia.
About 150 were detained and some were fined for minor infractions,
the Interfax news agency quoted Moscow police spokesman Yevgeny
Gildyev as saying, but several dozen were allowed to hold a rally a
soft approach by the Russian authorities who usually move quickly to
disperse unsanctioned demonstrations.
The pro-tolerance group SOVA said 11 young people were sentenced in
the western city of Belgorod this week to prison terms ranging from 1
1/2 to 5 years for attacking a Roma family with knives and metal
rods, seriously injuring two people.
SOVA said it was just the fourth time that a Russian court has ruled
that defendants organized and participated in an extremist
organization. Court officials in Belgorod could not immediately be
reached for comment.