Telegraph | News | Neo-Nazis tap into Russian patriotism

Except for the huge white flag emblazoned with a black swastika that almost covered the far wall, the one-room flat in a grim northern suburb of St Petersburg was typically Russian: bare and dingy. Beneath the symbol of their creed four young men drank beer, the only legitimate alcohol of the Aryan race, they said, and began to boast. "I have beaten Jews and Negroes," said Mikhail, at 22 the oldest present, before fixing his eyes on Lev, a pimply 17-year-old and the cell's youngest member. "I have made sure an old Chechen man will never see again. I have even killed a gipsy girl.