Attacks 

During the period since January 1 till May 15, 2009 86 attacks and attempted attacks motivated by xenophobia were committed, and 26 people perished and 80 people at least were wounded as a result of them. These data are incomplete: the head of Department of Ministry of home affairs of RF on counteraction to extremism Yuri Kokov informed that during first quarter of this year 164 crimes based upon ethnicity and religion were recorded in Russia.

According to the data of the Office of general public prosecutor, more than 200 extremist associations number in the country, and about 10 thousand people are their members.

The attacks were recorded in Moscow and Moscow region (18 dead, 53 wounded), Nizhniy Novgorod (1 dead, 7 wounded), St. Petersburg and Leningrad region (1 dead, 8 wounded), Kaliningrad (1 dead, 2 wounded), Ingushetia, Ryazan, Novosibirsk region, Ulyanovsk, Kemerovo (1 dead each), Kabardino-Balkaria (4 wounded), Yaroslavl (2 wounded), Blagoveshchensk, Tambov, Syktyvkar, Yekaterinburg, Volgograd, Kostroma, Izhevsk (1 wounded each). The victims of attacks include Uzbeks (10 dead, 5 wounded), the Kirghiz (4 dead, 10 wounded), Tajiks (2 dead, 7 wounded), the Vietnamese (2 dead), natives of Africa (1 dead, 15 wounded), Azerbaijanis (1 dead, 7 wounded), the Chinese (1 dead, 2 wounded), Armenians (1 dead, 1 wounded), the Ingush, Chechens (1 dead each), Russians (4 wounded), Daghestanis (4 wounded), Jews (3 wounded), Indians, Kalmyks, Bangladeshis, Buryats, Kurds, Latin Americans (1 wounded each). 

During first two weeks of May five attacks motivated by xenophobia were recorded on the territory of RF, and 1 dead and 4 wounded at least were their results.

The attacks took place in Moscow (1 dead and 3 wounded), Blagoveshchensk (1 wounded). The dead and the wounded include Jews, Indians, Africans. 

On May 4 the cook of an Indian restaurant, citizen of India Sakhan Okh Singh was beaten.

On May 5 the skinheads killed a militiaman in Moscow. According to some data, one militiaman else was wounded in Moscow on the evening of the same day.

On May 9 in Blagoveshchensk the Africans-cadets of Far-Eastern higher military-command college were beaten. According to the evidence of some eye-witnesses, one of the African students got a serious wound of his head from a broken bottle.

On May 11 unknown persons had beaten the Israeli journalist D. Yaron on the territory of the sports complex “Olympic” where the song contest “Eurovision-2009” started. 
 

Vandalism 

During two weeks of May 10 attempts of vandalism and terrorism at least on the part of the ultra-right were recorded. Such a flash can be caused to a great extent by announcement of May 5 “The revenge day” in memory of the skinhead leader M. Bazylev who was killed (or committed suicide).

Early in May the facts of putting the drawings of swastika on the walls of several buildings in Stavropol and Kaliningrad were recorded.

On May 2 a video-reel appeared on the Internet with arson of a motorcar that belonged to militia employee as the accompanying inscription told.

On the night of May 5 unknown persons poured the black paint over the monument to Lenin installed in Kaliningard. They also drew the shapes of bodies and wrote “Remember victims of the red terror” near the pedestal.

On May 5 in Nizhniy Novgorod three unknown persons bombarded the building of Directorate of home affairs of Leninsky district with the bottles with fire-mixture. The fire was extinguished quickly.

On May 5 a skinhead group tried to set fire to a district militia point in Novoyuzhny district of Cheboksary.

On May 5 in Norilsk the monument “To the Jews – prisoners of Norillag” included into the memorial complex “Norilsk Golgotha” was desecrated. The malefactors covered the monument to prisoners of Norilsk correctional-labor camp with paint, broke the memorial nameboard and also damaged the pedestal and the stele.

On the night of May 5-6 an attempt of arson of the military comissariat was committed in Perovo district (Moscow).

On May 8 the swastika was discovered on the wall of one of the houses at Petrogradskaya side in front of underground station in St. Petersburg.

On May 12 a package with a note of extremist contents was found on the territory of the synagogue in Nizhniy Novgorod. 
 

Xenophobic moods in the society 

On April 4-5, 2009 VTsIOM conducted the interrogation devoted to attitude towards the Gypsies. According to interrogation results, 35% of the population treat the Gypsies “mostly badly” and 17% else – “very badly”. Just 25% of interrogated treated the Gypsies good. Most often the idea of Russians concerning the Gypsies is formed basing upon the personal experience of contacts (49%). 37% judge about them basing upon the discriptions of relatives, friends, acquaintances, 26% - basing upon the movies and belle-lettres and 21% - basing upon the mass media reports. At the same time the negative idea was formed basing upon either personal experience or discriptions of relatives and friends, 55% stated they had exclusively negative experience of contacts with Gypsies. 
 

Law-enforcement practice 

During the period since January till May 15, 2009 95 persons were convicted for crimes motivated by xenophobia. 8 persons were sentenced to 10-20-year imprisonment, 5 – to 5-10-year imprisonment, 22 – to 1-5-year imprisonment, 5 – to imprisonment in colony-settlement, 28 got suspended sentences, 9 – were sentenced to correctional and public work, 4 – got educational effect measures, 1 – was sentenced to two days of arrest, 7 – to penalties, 2 – were released from liability due to exceeding of the statute of limitation, and the case was terminated against 1 person due to his repentance. One else of the accused was found not guilty completely.