WORRIES GROW ABOUT THE NEXT KONDOPOGA
by Nabi Abdullaev, Staff Writer
The Moscow Times
September 18, 2006 Monday
Stoking fears of escalating xenophobia, a man died in a brawl involving
ethnic Armenians in the Saratov region last week and three people
were hospitalized after an attack on an anti-migration rally in
St. Petersburg on Sunday.
State Duma deputies sounded the alarm about a surge in violence. But
they also approved legislation that would increase penalties for
those who employ illegal migrants — a populist vote, critics said,
that tapped into widespread xenophobia.
The country is on edge after clashes and riots targeting Chechens in
the Karelian town of Kondopoga killed two people earlier this month.
Local residents clashed with four ethnic Armenians in a cafe in the
town of Volsk on Sept. 10, Saratov regional police said Friday. Three
ethnic Russians suffered knife wounds, and one later died in the
hospital.
Police and the local Armenian diaspora downplayed suggestions that
the fight was racially motivated. But Ekho Moskvy radio reported the
fight was followed the next day by an attack on ethnic Armenians at a
Volsk technical college that injured one student. Police denied the
report and said two ethnic Armenians involved in the cafe fight had
been placed on a national wanted list.
On Sunday, masked people attacked a rally by the radical Movement
Against Illegal Immigration in St. Petersburg, sparking a fight that
led to three people being hospitalized, Interfax reported.
About 30 activists were attending the rally to demand the expulsion
of Caucasus natives from Kondopoga, where people raided and destroyed
small businesses run by Caucasus natives after two locals were stabbed
to death in a fight with Chechen migrants.
St. Petersburg police said 21 attackers, who identified themselves
as members of an anti-Nazi movement, were detained, Interfax reported.
One of the victims was stabbed with a knife, while the other two
suffered head injuries. It was unclear whether the victims were
protesters or attackers.
The Movement Against Illegal Immigration also organized a
rally Thursday in Moscow to protest Caucasus natives in Russian
universities. Police tried to prevent the rally by detaining about
200 young men near the Dobryninskaya metro station.
Also Thursday, several dozen young men, some of them described by
witnesses as skinheads, participated in a fight inside the Oktyabrskaya
metro station. No one was detained.
In the Duma on Friday, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party Deputy
Sergei Ivanov likened the situation around the Moscow rally and metro
fight to that in Kondopoga. He said many of those detained at the
rally were carrying knives. As for the metro fight, Ivanov said,
"This was not a routine clash, and it happened in the capital,"
Interfax reported.
United Russia Deputy Alexander Khinshtein deplored a clash between
Chechen youths and police in the city of Saratov on Aug. 29 that
killed one officer and injured three others.
"Police are afraid to bring these people to justice," he said,
accusing the youths of being "closely related to the Chechen
authorities." The fight occurred after the officers quarreled with
three Chechen youths in a cafe, Saratov press reported. The three
left the cafe and later returned with a dozen friends, armed with
knives and baseball bats. Three suspects have been detained.
Several nationalist web sites reported Friday that revenge attacks were
being carried out in Volsk after the Sept. 10 fight. A spokesman for
the Saratov regional police, Alexei Yegorov, said police were worried
and had dispatched more street patrols in Volsk. But he denied any
escalation in ethnic tensions. "There have not been any pogroms in
Volsk after that drunken brawl, no friction whatsoever between the
locals and members of the Caucasus diaspora," he said.
Araik Kosyan, vice president of KRUNK, the biggest Armenian diaspora
organization in the region, said he was not aware of any revenge
attacks. "I’ve talked to representatives of other diasporas, the
Azeris and the Chechens, and they also do not confirm any attacks
against their people," he said.
Politicians might be overreacting to incidents involving Caucasus
natives after Kondopoga, said Boris Makarenko, an analyst with the
Center for Political Technologies. "Now the voices of the ‘hawks’
will be much better received by the public than those of sober-minded
politicians and media," he said.
The public seems to be ready for ethnic violence: Over 57 percent of
Russians believe violence could break out in their towns, according
to a survey this month by the state-controlled VTsIOM pollster.
Russians’ belief that their town could be affected grew in proportion
with the size of the town, reaching 89 percent in Moscow and
St. Petersburg.
Human rights activists said the authorities needed to intervene
to prevent routine clashes from escalating into Kondopoga-style
violence. "Authorities need to state clearly that any calls to expel
natives of the Caucasus will never be met because they are against the
law," said Galina Kozhevnikova of Sova, which tracks ethnic violence.
Alexei Mukhin, an analyst with the Center of Political Information,
suggested that the flare-up in xenophobia might be used by the
government to push through stricter anti-migrant laws.
Indeed, the Duma on Friday voted 398-1 to pass in a first reading a
bill that would fine anyone employing migrants who had not registered
with the Federal Migration Service. Employers now face a flat fine of
2,000 rubles ($74.66), no matter how many illegal migrants are hired.
The new bill says a private individual would face a fine of up to
2,000 rubles per migrant, while an official could be fined 5,000
rubles per migrant and a company could be fined 30,000 rubles per
migrant. Migrants themselves would be fined up to 1,500 rubles and
face expulsion from Russia.
Deputy Interior Minister Nikolai Ovchinnikov, who presented the
bill Friday, said only one in every 10 migrants was registered. Duma
Deputy Speaker Vladimir Katrenko said 702,000 foreign citizens were
registered as of last year.