Transitions Online: Hate Unleashed

In the weeks since the horrific massacre in Beslan, both Russian and international media have warned that the passing of the traditional 40-day mourning period in the predominantly Christian republic of North Ossetia, the site of the attack, could lead to reprisals against Muslim neighbors. Thankfully, this scenario has not yet come to pass. However, a wave of assaults and murders elsewhere in the country would seem to indicate that Russia’s myriad nationalist hate groups around the country are taking their own form of “revenge” on any visible minority they can find, Muslim or not. While hate groups and racist violence long ago became regular features of Russian life, the post-Beslan climate seems to have emboldened neo-Nazis to commit even deadlier crimes than usual. St. Petersburg’s 15,000-strong foreign-student community is bearing the brunt of the violence. On the night of 13 October, more than a dozen skinheads stabbed a Vietnamese student to death in the downtown area. Suspects detained in relation to the murder were later released for lack of evidence.