Moscow markets closed, stadium ringed by police amid fears of ethnic violence

The Associated Press

MOSCOW - Outdoor markets and kiosks across Russia´s capital run by ethnic minorities were closed and thousands of police ringed a Moscow soccer stadium Sunday to thwart possible racially motivated violence. Police nationwide were on alert all weekend amid fears of skinhead attacks around Hitler´s birthday Saturday, and amid heightened activity by Russia´s small ultranationalist minority.

The U.N. refugee agency has reported increased numbers of racist attacks in Russia in recent months, and appealed for police action.

No neo-Nazi violence was reported over the weekend evening, though three attackers beat a British diplomat on Moscow´s central Arbat street overnight.

Police said it was unclear whether David Arkley, a third secretary at the British Embassy, was targeted because he was a foreigner. The British Embassy would not comment on the attack.

Several outdoor produce and consumer-goods markets and kiosks in Moscow that normally do brisk business on weekends were closed Sunday.

Dark-skinned people from ex-Soviet republics in the Caucasus Mountains region and Central Asia often work as vendors or managers at the capital´s markets, and a year ago Sunday skinheads caused heavy damage by rampaging through one of them.

About 3,500 police surrounded the Luzhniki stadium on Sunday evening to brace for violence connected to a Premier League soccer match between Moscow´s Spartak and CSKA. Soccer hooliganism in Russia often translates into racist violence.

CSKA won 3-0 and the match appeared to end peacefully.

Also Sunday, Russian officials opened an international media conference by urging journalists to help fight terrorism by helping to turn people against extremism and violence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke out forcefully against racially motivated crime in his state of the nation address on Thursday.

Russia´s top prosecutor admits police not doing enough to stop racist attacks

By Angela Charlton, Associated Press

MOSCOW - While police fanned out across Russian cities Saturday to prevent racist violence on Hitler´s birthday, Russia´s top prosecutor admitted that law enforcers haven´t done enough to stem ethnic strife.

An Afghan interpreter was brutally slain by extremist youths last week, Russian skinheads recently announced a "war on foreigners," and several embassies in have received threats of violence.

The heightened activity by the country´s small ultranationalist minority has prompted accusations of police indifference by liberal lawmakers and Russian media.

Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, answering calls from readers of the Izvestia daily, conceded that not enough is being done to prevent racially motivated attacks.

"The police ... are clearly not doing their job properly," he said, in comments published in Saturday´s edition. "And the prosecutor general´s office is not overseeing this question carefully enough."

He insisted that cases of racist violence are routinely investigated, but added: "It´s another matter how thoroughly they are being investigated, how quickly measures are taken, how objectively the sentences are handed down."

As fears mounted of violence related to Hitler´s birthday, the Interior Ministry boosted police patrols around the country starting Friday.

No violence was reported Saturday, but Izvestia reported that 15 people were injured in a fight before a soccer match Friday started by skinheads in the city of Tula south of Moscow.

Across the Russian capital Saturday, teams of police stood guard at embassies, soccer stadiums and outdoor markets where dark-skinned people from ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia and the Caucasus Mountains often work as vendors.

But in addition to looking out for extremist youths, the police continued their regular practice of stopping people who look obviously foreign to check for their registration documents.

Such document checks have prompted criticism by ethnic minorities, who say they are often harassed by police while lighter-skinned people - including skinheads - are ignored.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke out forcefully against racially motivated crime in his state of the nation address on Thursday.

Zyuganov blames racial extremism on Putin

By Ron Popeski, Reuters

Russia´s Communist Party chief blamed President Vladimir Putin´s administration on Thursday for policies that he said had spurred the growth of violent extremism.

Speaking in an interview just hours after Putin delivered a "state of the nation" speech, Gennady Zyuganov said the Kremlin leader had failed to come up with anything positive for Russians and had ignored the poverty and lawlessness afflicting society.

"It is the authorities´ extremism which pushes people towards extremism. People have nothing to eat. Young people graduate from fine institutes and cannot find work. Entire generations are growing up knowing nothing other than drugs, vodka and life on the street," Zyuganov told Reuters.

"It is extremism which begets extremism and this is inevitable. Our people are calm and reasonable. But if they are pushed, it will be hard to stop."

Nationalist groups periodically stage organized attacks on ethnic groups, particularly traders, from southern Russia and adjacent ex-Soviet republics.

Putin has called for a crackdown on nationalist gangs ahead of Saturday´s anniversary of Adolf Hitler´s birth.

Zyuganov, 57, said Putin had ignored his party´s suggestions for improving the economy.

Communists, he said, wanted reforms and had drawn on the experience of other countries, particularly China, in forming plans to develop Russia´s economy that took into account Russia´s "very specific nature".

He said it was the "oligarchs" - industrialists who made money in the post-Soviet period - who had put Russia in its current state, with "nearly 70 million people either going hungry or reduced to begging".

The Communist Party chief singled out for criticism Anatoly Chubais, long a hate figure among Russian communists for his role in mass privatization´s in the mid-1990s.

Zyuganov accused Chubais of causing widespread misery in his current job as head of the country´s electricity utility, RAO UES.

"He cuts off power to maternity hospitals, to rocket bases… in any other country he would be pushed to the wall," Zyuganov said of Chubais.

"This is extremism. Whole districts without power, patients lying on the operating table and power cut off. Fascist Germany did not even cut off power to its people."

Zyuganov is credited with rebuilding the Communist Party after a ban on its activity was lifted. He was defeated by Boris Yeltsin in the 1996 presidential election and lost to Putin four years later.

Latest polls give the party a 34 percent rating - far ahead of pro-Putin centrists who control the State Duma lower house.

The Communists are the Duma´s largest single group, but lost much of their power base when deputies removed them from top positions on key committees, prompting Zyuganov to declare the party in "all-out opposition."

In his interview, the barrel-chested Zyuganov said the party remained united despite its recent setback in parliament. He was confident recent good results in local elections would lead to mass support in next year´s parliamentary polls.

"What is sad is that the party in power has no ideology. Its base is made up of officials looking after their own interests. Once Putin is gone, everyone will simply run off," he said."We ... have an idea, an organization, in even the most remote village."

He said enduring hardship for millions of Russians would mean a big turnout for street rallies he has called for May 1, international workers´ day, and May 9, when ex-Soviet states mark the anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany.

"I think there will be many more people turning out this year," he said. "In the past year, because of Putin´s policies, no one has seen improved living standards except the oligarchs."