Russian Information Agency Novosti: RUSSIAN SKINHEADS 60 YEARS AFTER HITLER'S DEFEAT

Skinheads are part of Russia's youth subculture, as sociologists believe about 55,000 young people in the country see themselves as neo-Nazis. Crime reports after skinhead attacks are filled with references to foreigners. An Indian woman miscarried after being assaulted by skinheads on the central Moscow street of Arbat, while a nationalistic gang, Russkaya Tsel (Russian Goal), left William Jefferson, a black US embassy guard and former marine, in hospital. Something similar happened to Peter Taaffe, the general secretary of the British Socialist Party. Russian sociologists are positive that this is Nazism and not banal youth crime. The far-right press engages in the ideological brainwashing of Russia's young people. Magazines include the likes of "Pod Nol" (Shaved Head), "Beloye Soprotivleniye" (White Resistance), "Ya - Bely" (I Am White), "Stop" and the Streetfighter, a notorious international racist publication accurately translated into Russian. They promote xenophobia with elegant flexibility, disguising it as patriotism so that the law-enforcers do not shut them down. A number of right-wing radical political parties exploit the ranks of the neo-Nazi movement. The Russian National Union, the National Power Party, the Party of Freedom and other nationalist organizations see the army of skinheads as their reserves. The latter, in their turn, stand up for their independence, uniting into larger groups like St. Petersburg's Russky Kulak (Russian Fist) with about 400 fighters or Nizhni Novgorod's Sever (North) with over 300. Veterans of foreign neo-Nazi groups take persistent care of their Russian brothers. Instructors from the Ku Klux Klan and from banned organizations in Germany, such as Viking Youth and Steel Helmet, regularly come to Russia. According to the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, Western tutors have managed to establish a channel to deliver neo-Nazi literature, audiotapes and outfits to Russia via ultra-right organizations in Latvia and Estonia. This powerful outburst of Russian skinhead activities has resulted in a gloomy paradox. In the run up to the 60th anniversary of Victory in World War II, Russia, which played a major part in securing this victory, has realized it has also caught the Nazi germ. Alongside a war veteran ornate with medals and orders, there is now a skinhead with a stripe on his jacket reading "WP" - "White Power".