RIA Novosti - Opinion & analysis - Nationalism threatens Russia

Two ethnic hate crimes have caused uproar in Moscow in the last few days. Chanting nationalist slogans, a group of youngsters assaulted Minister of Culture of the North Caucasian Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria and People's Artist of Russia Zaur Tutov, and NTV journalist Elkhan Mirzoyev was beaten up in the Moscow Metro. A teenager with closely cropped hair was overheard saying why a man born in the Caucasus should not live in Moscow while a gang attacked him. In Russia, 44 people were killed in ethnic hate crimes in 2004. Central Moscow bookstores sell publications by nationalistic authors. Experts from the Public Opinion Fund assert that 12% of those polled sympathize with fascism. The recently established Public Chamber's commission on tolerance and freedom found that 53% of the population in multi-ethnic and multi-religious areas support the Russia-for-Russians slogan. Chechens, Gypsies and Azeris are the "most intolerable" of all.