Russia bans neo-nationalist group after violence

Russia banned a neo-nationalist group on Monday linked to a 7,000-strong demonstration near Red Square that erupted in the worst racial violence the country has seen since the fall of the Soviet Union. A Moscow city court outlawed as "extremist" the ultra-nationalist group The Movement Against Illegal Migration, which has lobbied for tougher immigration laws and controls on Russia's southern border with Central Asia and the ex-Soviet republics in the Caucasus.
"An investigation turned up evidence that the goals and activities of the movement are aimed at carrying out extremist activity," Russian prosecutors said in a statement. Neo-nationalist groups have been gaining ground and boosting their membership numbers, shocking authorities and many Russians.
With its combustible mix of disenchanted ethnic Russian youth and labour migrants from the mostly Muslim North Caucasus and ex-Soviet Central Asia, Moscow has become a focal point of racial tensions. Racial violence exploded on December 11 when some 7,000 nationalists rallied on the Manezh square near the Kremlin, chanting racist slogans and attacking passers-by of non-Slavic appearance in what President Dmitry Medvedev called "pogroms".
SOVA, a non-government group that tracks ethnic violence, said at least at least two people were killed and 68 injured in hate crimes last December, compared to three killed and 22 wounded for the same month in 2009. At least 37 people were killed in hate crimes in Russia last year, it said.
SOVA says grassroots xenophobia is on the rise, encouraged by anti-Muslim and anti-Caucasus sentiment. The nationalist group's head Alexander Belov said he would appeal the ban and warned it would only further incite radical youths to don "masks" and take to the streets, unchecked by an organised leadership.
"Instead of an organised structure with which you can negotiate, they (the Kremlin) will get many people in masks, who will be very radical and won't negotiate with anyone," Belov told Reuters. "What happened on Manezh square will be repeated on a larger scale. An Egyptian scenario awaits Russia," he said, referring to the recent unrest that toppled Egypt's former leader.
The racial violence in December was sparked by the December 6 killing of a Spartak Moscow soccer fan during a fight between a group of ethnic Russians and migrants from the mainly Muslim North Caucasus. The violence and the frequency of racist incidents involving Russian soccer fans have raised concerns about security during the 2018 World Cup, which Russia will host. With high unemployment and an insurgency raging across the North Caucasus, which includes Chechnya, many migrants from the region travel to Moscow in search of jobs. Many say they are treated with suspicion by ethnic Russians and often face racism.