Following incidents in Cherkizovo market in Moscow and Kondopoga in the Russian republic of Karelia, the Georgian media has focused on alarming signs of increasing racial hatred in Russia.
For ethnic Georgians residing in the Russian Federation, race-hate attacks on members of Caucasian nationalities may add to the insecurity many already feel because of tense relations between Russia and Georgia.
According to Georgian newspaper Rezonansi, a poll held in Russia shows that 57 percent of Russian residents are sure that more ethnic confrontations are inevitable, 26 percent of the respondents are uncertain and just five percent think them unlikely.
The majority of people questioned think this ethnic violence is caused by the inactivity of the administration. 30 percent of respondents say that the measures taken by the authorities to avoid conflicts are insufficient; and 31 percent think the government does nothing at all on this issue.
The bomb planted in Moscow's Cherkizovo market on August 21 this year killed at least ten people and injured 55. It is believed that the attack was racially motivated, as the market was dominated by Chinese, Vietnamese and Caucasian traders. It was reported that among the injured were two Russians, three Tajiks, two Uzbeks, as well as Azeris, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Vietnamese, Chinese and gypsies.
Some believe that the still simmering conflict in Chechnya has fostered suspicion among ethnic Russians towards Caucasian looking immigrants.
The Kondopoga incident, which has been called a pogrom, occurred after two ethnic Russians were killed in a brawl with Caucasian immigrants. Shops, homes and businesses owned by Caucasians were targeted in reprise attacks, the local market, in which Caucasian tradesmen have a strong presence, was burned. By September 2 almost all Caucasian inhabitants had fled the town.
Officials from both sides of the Great Caucasian Ridge greeted this news with alarm. Ramzan Kadyrov, President of Chechnya, said he was ready to send a force of 500 people to re-establish order in Kondopoga, leading to outcry in the Russian Duma, where, according to Georgian newspaper Sakartvelos Respublika some MPs demanded he be removed from office.
According to Azerbaijan Embassy Press Attaché in Georgia, Elkhan Pulukhov, the Kondoponga incident, which resulted in several ethnic Azeri's receiving serious injuries, should be thoroughly investigated by Russian law enforcers and the guilty should be found and punished.
Leader of the Chechen Diaspora in Georgia, Khizri Aldamov, said it is not the first time these things have taken place in Russia. He labels Russian aggression towards Caucasians as "traditional." He states that these events illustrate Russia's Caucasus policy.
The situation is also deteriorating at Russian schools and universities. Last winter Georgian student Temur Kacharava, who was a participant in St. Petersburg's anti fascist youth activities, was stabbed to death by a neo-Nazi gang in a street in St Petersburg. Kacharava was accompanied by a Russian friend who was also wounded.
Such fascist groups have also killed Jewish, African, and Central Asian students, earlier this year a nine year old Tajik girl was murdered outside her home in St Petersburg.
According to Reuters, the Moscow-based Sova Center, which tracks race attacks across Russia, says attacks are on the rise year on year, and that racists had killed 33 people and injured 280 already in 2006.
This worrying trend could affect Georgia, as hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgians live in Russia, also such acts could further aggravate the situation in the already volatile North Caucasus, which might well spill over in Georgia too. Indeed, the world at large should be worried by the growing popularity of racism in Russia, which can only create instability. But Russia, which is a vast multi-ethnic federation, is most at threat from the rise of far-right groups. If Moscow hopes to have put the days of brutal terrorism and irredentist separatism in the past it must address this problem head on as soon as possible.
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