November 4th is a national holiday in Russia, Unity Day, which commemorates the occasion in 1612 when Russians from every class united to push the Polish-Lithuanian occupation force out of the country. This year, however, both a nationalist group (anti-immigrant) and a pro-migrant group have sought to hold rallies on that day. At this moment, […]
There’s a word – liberal – and there’s some kind of problem with it lately. Either the liberals want to destroy the country, or they and their Bolotnaya [demonstrations] are causing Biryulyovo [ethnic riots]. The word bubbles up, embeds itself into curly narratives, passions rage, but one thing is not clear: who is all the […]
The following is an editorial that appeared in Colta, an independent media website. It is a revealing look inside the xenophobic and racist culture that pervades Russia today. – Ed. It turns out that no single idea in modern Russia has such a mobilizing effect as the nationalist idea. Xenophobia is a spiritual clamp which […]
Following weeks of alarming inter-racial violence, including anti-minority riots in Moscow, the Interior Minister and the head of the Federal Migration Service spoke with legislators in the State Duma about possible immigration reforms. Some of the suggestions were practical, and not dissimilar from other countries’ systems. Some of the talk, however, was more focused on […]
Police are searching for vandals who threw bottles with flammable liquid into a prayer house, using a videotape from a security camera at the scene. Investigators are studying frames of the video which clearly show how vandals threw Molotov cocktails through the window of the building. It is possible that this videotape will help detain […]
Russia has seen a significant spike in racial incidents and inter-ethnic rioting in the last two weeks. In Moscow, in the Buryulyovo district, an anti-immigrant pogrom began on October 13th after an ethnic minority reportedly killed a native Russian. In Moscow and in St. Petersburg, there were more riots over the weekend. However, police are […]
Yesterday, a suicide bomber targeted a bus in Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, killing 6 people. This was the first article that The Interpreter encountered, published on the pro-Kremlin Izvestia within hours of the explosions, not long after authorities began to release additional information about the identity of the bomber. Officials now say that the bomber, Nadia […]
On Friday night, there were more anti-immigrant riots in southern Moscow, this time in the southwest suburb of Lyubertsy (map). This follows last week’s riots in Biryulyovo (map), which have heightened ethnic tensions across the country. Nationalists also led riots in St. Petersburg on Sunday. – Ed. In Lyubertsy, just outside Moscow, police prevented a […]
There were several anti-immigrant riots across Russia this weekend, including in St. Petersburg. This follows a week of intense inter-racial tension, following last weekend’s anti-minority riots in Moscow – Ed. NTV.Ru got the first footage of the events in St. Petersburg, where nationalists rioted after an authorized rally In the footage, taken after a meeting […]
We’ve been writing about not only the events concerning the race riots in Moscow, but also the reaction of the government and the various politicians and media outlets. One concern cited by several voices is that the Russian government was only pushed into action by the rioters in the streets. Earlier we posted a translation […]
