'We Are Waging a Racial Holy War'

Semyon Tokmakov stretches out his hand and points to a thick scar he got from assaulting a black U.S. Marine six years ago. The attack cost him 1 1/2 years in jail, but Tokmakov says he has no regrets. 'We are waging a racial holy war,' said Tokmakov, 28, an informal leader among Moscow's skinheads, whose violence appears to be rising. Over the last several years, Russia has become a strikingly hostile place for all those with African, Asian or so-called Caucasian features -- the dark skin and dark hair typical for the peoples of the mountainous Caucasus region. The U.S. Marine was badly beaten in 1998 in a Moscow market, one of several foreigners targeted in recent years. The last few months have seen an especially shocking series of brutal racial attacks, such as the stabbing to death of a Guinea-Bissau student in Voronezh, the killing of an Afghan asylum seeker in Moscow, and the slaying of a 9-year-old Tajik girl in St. Petersburg.