Russian Skinhead Violence Stats

The Russian website SOVA which keeps track of these things has released figures for the past three months showing that so far this year ~ 40 people have been killed in nationalist/skinhead violence, the majority in Moscow:

"In March 2008, in Russia, there were not less than 31 racially motivated attacks on 40 people, including 10 fatalities. In total, in 2008, not less than 39 people died and 112 were injured in 14 regions of Russia.

Moscow stays the major center of violence with 24 people murdered and not less than 63 injured, including 5 murdered and 20 injured people in March.

Obviously, because of the big number of deadly crimes, the information about minor incidents remains underreported. In particular, in St. Petersburg, the second center of the neo-nazi violence, in 2008, there have been reports about 7 murdered and only 4 injured people. This proportion hardly reflects the real situation in the city."

Pravda, by the way, reports an incident in which the would-be victims apparently turned the tables:

"Another massive fight took place in the Moscow metro on Sunday night. A group of Russian skinheads attacked two young Caucasian men on the Belorusskaya metro station at about 11:10 p.m. Potential victims showed a surprisingly powerful resistance: they would have won the fight but the police put an end to the scuffle.....
Several young men of Slavic looks came up to two nationals of the Caucasus and attempted to beat them. It was not reported what kind of weapon the assaulters had, although the Caucasians pulled out knives and used them for their own defense. Four skinheads were wounded as a result of the fight. The men were hospitalized to Sklifosofsky Institute with stab wounds, the Moscow ER Center said. The police also detained all other members of the fight.

According to the information from law-enforcement agencies, there are about 15-20 thousand skinheads in Russia. About 5,000 of them conduct subversive activities in Moscow. The numbers are most likely underestimated: there are up to 50 thousand neonazis of various beliefs in Russia, which is equal to their quantity in the rest of the world.

Pseudo-patriots attack everyone of non-Russian nationalities – they do not have any mercy on either children or elderly people. A group of skinheads in the Russian city of Lipetsk attacked an elderly doctor several days ago. The man was lucky to survive in the fight: two Russian women rushed to help the man and managed to pull furious teenagers away from their victim.

It goes without saying that such defenders are highly rare: the majority of citizens prefer to stay away from infuriated bald-headed young men in military clothing. An encounter with skinheads usually ends either with severe injuries or a lethal outcome for a victim. Skinheads killed 44 people in Russia last year and injured about 200 – presumably Africans, Caucasians and Asians."