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Ethnic violence in Russia: A scourge flares anew

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-russia-intolerance_rodriguezmar10,0,2773711.story

Rights activists fear economic downturn will fan flames against migrant workers

By Alex Rodriguez | Tribune correspondent

9:04 PM CDT, March 9, 2009

MOSCOW — As soon as Dzhomi Kukanshoyev stepped into the Moscow subway car, three young Russian toughs in tracksuits stopped talking and swung their gazes toward him.

"You're not a Russian—why are you here?" one of the men shouted at Kukanshoyev, one of legions of migrants who have left impoverished Tajikistan to make a living at Moscow construction sites. "There's no place for you here."

In seconds, the three pounced on Kukanshoyev with a barrage of punches and kicks. The 25-year-old Tajik was lucky, escaping the October attack with a broken nose and finger. His first encounter with angry Russians in 2004 also could have turned out much worse; a group of men threw him off a Moscow bridge into a stream.

"They thought I was dead," Kukanshoyev said, "so they left me."

As the Kremlin copes with a financial crisis steadily eroding the Russian economy, a second crisis threatens to make a difficult 2009 even more challenging.

Ethnic violence, particularly crimes directed at migrant workers from poverty-stricken former Soviet republics in Central Asia, has reached new heights. In 2008, Russia logged 97 murders and 428 assaults categorized as hate crimes, nearly double the number recorded in 2004. Already in 2009, ethnic violence has claimed 14 lives and left 33 people injured as of mid-February.

Xenophobia has been a scourge in Russia for years, but human-rights activists worry that the ongoing economic crisis will fan the flames. As times get tougher, nationalist-minded Russians look for scapegoats—and the millions of migrant workers pouring into Russia in search of a better life are an obvious target.

"The kinds of attacks that will go up because of the crisis will be committed by average Russians who harbor the same anti-migrant feelings nationalists do," said Galina Kozhevnikova, an analyst with Sova Center, a Moscow think tank that studies ethnic violence. "There will be people angry at being laid off, who will attack those that they believe are responsible for their misfortune."

Experts say the Kremlin needs to act fast to crack down on ethnic violence before it seeds widespread unrest. Riots in the northern city of Kondopoga in 2006 showed how destabilizing ethnic attacks can be. A bar fight between Russians and Chechens ignited violence that included the firebombing of restaurants and businesses owned by Chechens and Caucasian migrants.

Just as worrisome, experts say, is the degree to which Russia's nationalist movement is getting larger and wealthier. Once relegated to the fringes of society, ultranationalist and skinhead groups today have among their ranks members with day jobs as bankers and stockbrokers.

"They have huge resources at their disposal," Kozhevnikova said. "They have their own lawyers and maintain good connections in the business and banking worlds."

The attacks have grown more brazen. In December a group of skinheads stabbed to death Salokhiddin Azizov, a 20-year-old Tajik produce-warehouse worker, decapitated him and left his head in a plastic bag outside a Moscow government building.

An e-mail authored by a group called the Militant Organization of Russian Nationalists and sent to human-rights organizations in Moscow stated that Azizov's murder was a message to Moscow authorities "carried out by Russians who no longer can endure the invasion of foreigners into their native city. ... If our bureaucrats continue to populate Russia with foreigners, we will have to start killing bureaucrats!"

Faced with a yearly population plunge that threatens Russia's future workforce, federal authorities two years ago loosened their Immigration policies, eliminating red tape for migrant workers. At the same time, however, the government introduced migrant worker quotas, a move that kept alive the country's long struggle with an illegal labor market.

Nationalist groups also have threatened to turn their attention toward human-rights organizations that protect migrant workers. Kozhevnikova received an e-mail Feb. 8 that stated, "Murdering journalists, scientists and experts is more efficient from the standpoint of nationalist propaganda than killing people with non-Slavic appearance."

Kozhevnikova took the e-mail as a death threat.

"Yes, I'm worried for my safety," she said. "When I get home late at night, I check the door for bombs. My colleagues say I should leave the country, but I'm not planning to do this."

Russian authorities, including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, have spoken out against the growing tide of ethnic violence and have vowed a crackdown.

At the same time, however, Russian authorities actively support pro-Kremlin youth groups that human-rights organizations say push a nationalist agenda and openly speak out against the influx of migrant workers from former Soviet republics in Central Asia and the Caucasus region.

Human-rights groups also are getting reports of bands of ultranationalists in provincial capitals who have been stopping Central Asian migrants in the street and demanding to see whether their documents are in order.

"And there's no reaction from police," Kozhevnikova said. "What these groups are doing is illegal, but no one does anything about it."

National Economic Trends

Gov't to consider budget code amendments

http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20090310093952.shtml

      RBC, 10.03.2009, Moscow 09:39:52.The Russian government will consider amendments to the Budget Code today regarding federal budget restrictions. On March 3, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told a cabinet meeting on economic issues that it was high time to think of ways to cut budget deficit for 2010 and after.

      The amendments should allow for the need to finance budget deficit from the Reserve Fund, as well as set forth the procedure for using the money for the purposes. The current Budget Code was worked out in a different economic situation in 2003-2007, when Russia was facing a task of piling up excess oil profits. Back then, Russia managed to stash away RUB 8 trillion (approx. USD 223.84bn), which put it in a position to carry out anti-crisis measures. Meanwhile, the situation has changed, and the Budget Code has to be adjusted. However, the measures will be temporary aimed at sustaining macroeconomic stability and confidence in the government's financial policy.