Xenophobia, Freedom of Conscience and Anti-Extremism in Russia in 2012

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Xenophobia, Freedom of Conscience and Anti-Extremism in Russia in 2012 SOVA Center fOr InfOrmAtion And AnAlySIS Xenophobia, Freedom of Conscience and Anti-Extremism in Russia in 2012 A collection of annual reports by the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis moscow 2013 UDC 323.1(470+571)(082.1)”2012” BBC 66.094я43+66.3(2Рос),54я43 Contents Vera Alperovich, Natalia Yudina X44 Xenophobia, freedom of Conscience and Anti-extremism in russia in 2012: A collection of annual reports by the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis; The Ultra-Right on the Streets with a Pro-Democracy [Alperovich Vera, Sibireva Olga, Kravchenko Maria, Yudina Natalia / Ed. by Poster in Their Hands or a Knife in Their Pocket: Xenophobia and Verkhovsky Alexander] – М.: SOVA Center, 2013. – 161 pp.: tables Radical Nationalism in Russia, and Efforts to Counteract Them in 2012 ..... 5 Summary ............................................................................................ 5 ISBN 978-5-98418-029-0 Criminal Manifestations of Racism and Xenophobia ............................ 7 Systematic Racist and Neo-Nazi Violence .................................... 7 This collection of reports summarizes all the major areas of work addressed by the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis in 2012, in a similar fashion to collections in previous years. Violence Motivated by Religion .................................................. 12 There are three reports on themes which have become traditional for the SOVA Center in this collection: Racism and Soccer ..................................................................... 13 The first report addresses radical nationalism and hate crime, and the efforts of Threats from the Ultra-Right ...................................................... 14 government and society to combat these phenomena. The second report addresses problems relating to freedom of conscience in contemporary Russia. The third report addresses the Grassroots Xenophobic Violence and Xenophobia in the Army ... 15 misuse and abuse of “anti-extremism” measures. Vandalism .................................................................................. 16 The reports are updated versions of original texts on the SOVA Center website. The appendix provides details about hate crimes and the prosecution of such crimes. Public Activity of Ultra-Right Radicals .............................................. 17 All data were compiled at the middle of February 2013. This translation of the published Russian text uses a modified Library of Congress Nationalists at General Protest Actions ...................................... 17 system of transliteration for names and publications, except where there is an established Independent Actions by Nationalists .......................................... 27 alternative spelling (e.g. Yeltsin, not El’tsin, Yabloko, not Iabloko). “Kondopoga Technology” .......................................................... 31 Party Building ............................................................................ 34 This collection was compiled and published with the support of the International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR). Other Areas of Nationalist Activity ............................................. 39 Counter-action to Radical Nationalism and Xenophobia ................... 41 We are also grateful for support from the Open Society Foundation (OSF), Norwegian Helsinki Committee and “State Club” Foundation. Public Initiatives ........................................................................ 41 Criminal Prosecution for Violence .............................................. 43 The SOVA Center website, which includes publications and news, Criminal Prosecution for Vandalism ........................................... 48 can be found at http: //sova-center.ru Criminal Prosecution for Propaganda ......................................... 49 Design, cover design – N. Vinnik Criminal Prosecution of Extremist Groups Layout – М. Konkova and Banned Organizations ......................................................... 54 The Federal List of Extremist Materials ...................................... 55 Подписано в печать 10 июня 2013 г. Формат 60х841/16 Гарнитура Таймс Печать офсетная. Бумага офсетная. Уч.-изд. л. 9,3. Тираж – 300 экз. Заказ № ......... The Banning of Organizations .................................................... 58 РОО Центр «Сова». Адрес для писем: 101000, Москва, Лучников пер., д.4, под.3, к.2. Телефон/факс: (495) 517-92-30. E-mail: [email protected]. Веб-сайт: http: //sova-center.ru Other Administrative Measures .................................................. 59 Типография Россельхозакадемии. 115598, Москва, ул. Ягодная, 12. Olga Sibireva ISBN 978-5-98418-029-0 Freedom of conscience in Russia: Restrictions and challenges in 2012 ....... 61 © Authors, 2013 – report texts Summary .......................................................................................... 61 © Vinnik N.V., 2013 – design 9 785984 180290 Legal regulations concerning religious organizations .......................... 62 Federal legislation ...................................................................... 63 Vera Alperovich, Natalia Yudina Regional initiatives ..................................................................... 64 Initiatives not successfully progressed in 2012 ............................. 65 Problems relating to places of worship ................................................ 68 The Ultra-Right on the Streets with a Problems with the construction of religious buildings .................. 68 Problems relating to existing religious buildings .......................... 70 Pro-Democracy Poster in Their Hands or Positive resolutions ..................................................................... 72 a Knife in Their Pocket: Xenophobia and Preferential treatment accorded certain religious organizations by the authorities ............................................................................... 72 Radical Nationalism in Russia, and Efforts Financial and material help ........................................................ 74 The authorities and increased pro-Church activism .................... 76 to Counteract Them in 2012 Other examples of discrimination and unwarranted interference ............................................................ 79 Liquidation of religious organizations and denial of registration .....79 Summary Discrimination against “non-traditional” religious organizations ..... 81 Considering the dynamics of radical nationalism and the state’s and Other cases................................................................................. 84 society’s efforts to counteract it, 2012 became one of the most paradoxical years. Insufficient protection from defamation and attacks ........................... 85 It is difficult to make any predictions for the future based on this year’s results. Mass protest actions, a defining feature of the year 2012, became for the Maria Kravchenko ultra-right movement an apple of discord. Key ultra-right organizations viewed the protests as an opportunity to overcome their marginal status, and enter Inappropriate enforcement of anti-extremist legislation in Russia in 2012 .. 90 “the big politics” as a part of the democratic opposition. However, the failure Summary .......................................................................................... 90 of this plan became evident as the year went on. First, the overall achievements Creation of Regulatory Acts ............................................................... 92 of the opposition ended up being much more modest than initially expected. Major trends in 2012 .......................................................................... 99 Second, nationalists were unable to recruit significant numbers of new supporters “Excessive Vigilance” ................................................................. 99 from among the protest participants. Third, their political leaders have been increasingly unable to bring their “old” guard out to the streets, since the majority The Internet and Anti-Extremism .............................................101 of the existing ultra-right activists quickly denounced joint actions with despised Incidental Victims of Inappropriate Anti-Extremism .................105 liberals and leftists, and many of those, who remained, gradually abandoned Principal targets of persecution .........................................................107 the protest activity, upon realizing the futility of any attempts to influence the Religious Groups ......................................................................107 authorities via large protest marches and rallies. Political and Civic Activists .......................................................115 These unsatisfactory results moved some nationalist organization to denounce Media Topics ............................................................................123 the protest activity. Most of them, however, see making such a step back as A bit of statistics ...............................................................................126 unproductive, and continue to follow their adopted strategy of cultivating the image of “respectable nationalists” and hoping that new supporters appear eventually. Appendix. In addition to participation in the protest movement of 2012, the ultra-right Crime and punishment statistics .......................................................130 attempted to use yet another method for potential political de-marginalization,
Recommended publications
  • Russian Foreign Policy and National Identity
    University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO Senior Honors Theses Undergraduate Showcase 12-2017 Russian Foreign Policy and National Identity Monica Hanson-Green University of New Orleans Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/honors_theses Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Hanson-Green, Monica, "Russian Foreign Policy and National Identity" (2017). Senior Honors Theses. 99. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/honors_theses/99 This Honors Thesis-Restricted is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Honors Thesis-Restricted in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Honors Thesis-Restricted has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY AND NATIONAL IDENTITY An Honors Thesis Presented to the Program of International Studies of the University of New Orleans In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, with University High Honors and Honors in International Studies By Monica Hanson-Green December 2017 Advised by Dr. Michael Huelshoff ii Table of Contents
    [Show full text]
  • The European and Russian Far Right As Political Actors: Comparative Approach
    Journal of Politics and Law; Vol. 12, No. 2; 2019 ISSN 1913-9047 E-ISSN 1913-9055 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education The European and Russian Far Right as Political Actors: Comparative Approach Ivanova Ekaterina1, Kinyakin Andrey1 & Stepanov Sergey1 1 RUDN University, Russia Correspondence: Stepanov Sergey, RUDN University, Russia. E-mail: [email protected] Received: March 5, 2019 Accepted: April 25, 2019 Online Published: May 30, 2019 doi:10.5539/jpl.v12n2p86 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/jpl.v12n2p86 The article is prepared within the framework of Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Module "Transformation of Social and Political Values: the EU Practice" (575361-EPP-1-2016-1-RU-EPPJMO-MODULE, Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Actions) (2016-2019) Abstract The article is devoted to the comparative analysis of the far right (nationalist) as political actors in Russia and in Europe. Whereas the European far-right movements over the last years managed to achieve significant success turning into influential political forces as a result of surging popular support, in Russia the far-right organizations failed to become the fully-fledged political actors. This looks particularly surprising, given the historically deep-rooted nationalist tradition, which stems from the times Russian Empire. Before the 1917 revolution, the so-called «Black Hundred» was one of the major far-right organizations, exploiting nationalistic and anti-Semitic rhetoric, which had representation in the Russian parliament – The State Duma. During the most Soviet period all the far-right movements in Russia were suppressed, re-emerging in the late 1980s as rather vocal political force. But currently the majority of them are marginal groups, partly due to the harsh party regulation, partly due to the fact, that despite state-sponsored nationalism the position of Russian far right does not stand in-line with the position of Russian authorities, trying to suppress the Russian nationalists.
    [Show full text]
  • The Russia You Never Met
    The Russia You Never Met MATT BIVENS AND JONAS BERNSTEIN fter staggering to reelection in summer 1996, President Boris Yeltsin A announced what had long been obvious: that he had a bad heart and needed surgery. Then he disappeared from view, leaving his prime minister, Viktor Cher- nomyrdin, and his chief of staff, Anatoly Chubais, to mind the Kremlin. For the next few months, Russians would tune in the morning news to learn if the presi- dent was still alive. Evenings they would tune in Chubais and Chernomyrdin to hear about a national emergency—no one was paying their taxes. Summer turned to autumn, but as Yeltsin’s by-pass operation approached, strange things began to happen. Chubais and Chernomyrdin suddenly announced the creation of a new body, the Cheka, to help the government collect taxes. In Lenin’s day, the Cheka was the secret police force—the forerunner of the KGB— that, among other things, forcibly wrested food and money from the peasantry and drove some of them into collective farms or concentration camps. Chubais made no apologies, saying that he had chosen such a historically weighted name to communicate the seriousness of the tax emergency.1 Western governments nod- ded their collective heads in solemn agreement. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank both confirmed that Russia was experiencing a tax collec- tion emergency and insisted that serious steps be taken.2 Never mind that the Russian government had been granting enormous tax breaks to the politically connected, including billions to Chernomyrdin’s favorite, Gazprom, the natural gas monopoly,3 and around $1 billion to Chubais’s favorite, Uneximbank,4 never mind the horrendous corruption that had been bleeding the treasury dry for years, or the nihilistic and pointless (and expensive) destruction of Chechnya.
    [Show full text]
  • Russia's Europe, 1991–2016
    Russia’s Europe, 1991–2016: inferiority to superiority IVER B. NEUMANN* As the Soviet Union fell apart, Russia opted for a foreign policy of coopera- tion with Europe and the West. The following 25 years saw an about-turn from cooperation to conflict. In 2014, having occupied the Crimean peninsula, it aided and abetted an insurgency against the central authorities in neighbouring Ukraine. In 2015, it left the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe and began a military buildup along its entire western border. In 2016, it came to the aid of its ally Syria in a way that brought it directly into conflict with western powers. There are a number of ways of accounting for such sea-changes in foreign policy. Some studies set out to explain Russia’s foreign policy by analysing the country’s place in the international system, most often in geopolitical terms.1 Clearly, one reason for Russia’s about-turn is the state’s difficulty in dealing with the downsiz- ing in territory and resources that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the more marginalized place within the state system in which Russia found itself as a result. Other studies aim to demonstrate how Russian foreign policy is deter- mined by structural domestic changes such as bureaucratic in-fighting, the motives of political leaders and so on.2 Such factors are always important in understanding how specific foreign policy decisions come about. A third literature traces the influ- ence of ideas.3 Given that actions depend on how people think about the world, * I thank Amanda Cellini, Minda Holm and Sophie Meislin for assistance and my reviewers for comments.
    [Show full text]
  • Russia's Hostile Measures in Europe
    Russia’s Hostile Measures in Europe Understanding the Threat Raphael S. Cohen, Andrew Radin C O R P O R A T I O N For more information on this publication, visit www.rand.org/t/RR1793 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this publication. ISBN: 978-1-9774-0077-2 Published by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. © Copyright 2019 RAND Corporation R® is a registered trademark. Limited Print and Electronic Distribution Rights This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited. Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions. The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. Support RAND Make a tax-deductible charitable contribution at www.rand.org/giving/contribute www.rand.org Preface This report is the collaborative and equal effort of the coauthors, who are listed in alphabetical order. The report documents research and analysis conducted through 2017 as part of a project entitled Russia, European Security, and “Measures Short of War,” sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7, U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • 10.1057/9780230282940.Pdf
    St Antony’s Series General Editor: Jan Zielonka (2004– ), Fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford Othon Anastasakis, Research Fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford and Director of South East European Studies at Oxford Recent titles include: Julie Newton and William Tompson (editors) INSTITUTIONS, IDEAS AND LEADERSHIP IN RUSSIAN POLITICS Celia Kerslake , Kerem Oˇktem, and Philip Robins (editors) TURKEY’S ENGAGEMENT WITH MODERNITY Conflict and Change in the Twentieth Century Paradorn Rangsimaporn RUSSIA AS AN ASPIRING GREAT POWER IN EAST ASIA Perceptions and Policies from Yeltsin to Putin Motti Golani THE END OF THE BRITISH MANDATE FOR PALESTINE, 1948 The Diary of Sir Henry Gurney Demetra Tzanaki WOMEN AND NATIONALISM IN THE MAKING OF MODERN GREECE The Founding of the Kingdom to the Greco-Turkish War Simone Bunse SMALL STATES AND EU GOVERNANCE Leadership through the Council Presidency Judith Marquand DEVELOPMENT AID IN RUSSIA Lessons from Siberia Li-Chen Sim THE RISE AND FALL OF PRIVATIZATION IN THE RUSSIAN OIL INDUSTRY Stefania Bernini FAMILY LIFE AND INDIVIDUAL WELFARE IN POSTWAR EUROPE Britain and Italy Compared Tomila V. Lankina, Anneke Hudalla and Helmut Wollman LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE Comparing Performance in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Russia Cathy Gormley-Heenan POLITICAL LEADERSHIP AND THE NORTHERN IRELAND PEACE PROCESS Role, Capacity and Effect Lori Plotkin Boghardt KUWAIT AMID WAR, PEACE AND REVOLUTION Paul Chaisty LEGISLATIVE POLITICS AND ECONOMIC POWER IN RUSSIA Valpy FitzGerald, Frances Stewart
    [Show full text]
  • Places in Moscow That Have to Be Visited
    Places in Moscow which have to be visited Оглавление SHOPPING CENTERS 3 GUM 3 TSUM 3 AVIAPARK 4 EVROPEISKY 4 AFIMALL CITY 4 MOSCOW PARKS. 5 GORKY CENTRAL PARK OF CULTURE AND LEISURE 5 TSARITSYNO MUSEUM-RESERVE 5 SOKOLNIKI PARK 6 MUZEON PARK OF ARTS 6 MUSEUMS 7 THE STATE DARWIN MUSEUM 7 THE STATE HISTORICAL MUSEUM 9 THE BASEL’S CATHERDRAL 10 MUSEUM OF THE PATRIOTIC WAR OF 1812 11 MUSEUM OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR, MOSCOW 12 THE STATE TRETYAKOV GALLERY 12 THE TRETYAKOV GALLERY ON KRYMSKY VAL 13 PRIVATE PHOTOGRAPHING IN THE GALLERY 14 ENGINEERING BUILDING AT LAVRUSHINSKY LANE, 12 15 PUSHKINS STATE MESEUM OF FINE ARTS 16 THE MUSEUM OF COSMONAUTICS 17 TOUR GROUPS 17 TOLSTOY HOUSE MUSEUM MOSCOW 18 Shopping centers GUM (pronounced [ˈɡum], an abbreviation of Russian: Глáвный универсáльный магазин, tr. Glávnyj Universáĺnyj Magazín literally "main universal store") With the façade extending for 242 m. along the eastern side of Red Square, the Upper Trading Rows (GUM) were built between 1890 and 1893 by Alexander Pomerantsev (responsible for architecture) and Vladimir Shukhov (responsible for engineering). The trapezoidal building features a combination of elements of Russian medieval architecture and a steel framework and glass roof, a similar style to the great 19th-century railway stations of London. William Craft Brumfield described the GUM building as "a tribute both to Shukhov's design and to the technical proficiency of Russian architecture toward the end of the 19th century”. The glass-roofed design made the building unique at the time of construction. The roof, the diameter of which is 14 m., looks light, but it is a firm construction made of more than 50,000 metal pods (about 819 short tons (743 t), capable of supporting snowfall accumulation.
    [Show full text]
  • The City of Moscow in Russia's Foreign and Security Policy: Role
    Eidgenössische “Regionalization of Russian Foreign and Security Policy” Technische Hochschule Zürich Project organized by The Russian Study Group at the Center for Security Studies and Conflict Research Andreas Wenger, Jeronim Perovic,´ Andrei Makarychev, Oleg Alexandrov WORKING PAPER NO.7 APRIL 2001 The City of Moscow in Russia’s Foreign and Security Policy: Role, Aims and Motivations DESIGN : SUSANA PERROTTET RIOS Moscow enjoys an exceptional position among the Russian regions. Due to its huge By Oleg B. Alexandrov economic and financial potential, the city of Moscow largely shapes the country’s economic and political processes. This study provides an overall insight into the complex international network that the city of Moscow is tied into. It also assesses the role, aims and motivations of the main regional actors that are involved. These include the political authorities, the media tycoons and the major financial-industrial groups. Special attention is paid to the problem of institutional and non-institutional interaction between the Moscow city authorities and the federal center in the foreign and security policy sector, with an emphasis on the impact of Putin’s federal reforms. Contact: Center for Security Studies and Conflict Research ETH Zentrum / SEI CH-8092 Zürich Switzerland Andreas Wenger, head of project [email protected] Jeronim Perovic´ , project coordinator [email protected] Oleg Alexandrov [email protected]; [email protected] Andrei Makarychev [email protected]; [email protected] Order of copies: Center for Security Studies and Conflict Research ETH Zentrum / SEI CH-8092 Zürich Switzerland [email protected] Papers available in full-text format at: http://www.fsk.ethz.ch/ Layout by Marco Zanoli The City of Moscow in Russia’s Foreign and Security Policy: Role, Aims and Motivations By Oleg B.
    [Show full text]
  • Prime Residential Real Estate Market Moscow
    The total transactions The supply volume cost exceeded shortened to 2,1 thousand 110 bln rubles apartments and flats PRIME RESIDENTIAL REAL knightfrank.com/research ESTATE MARKET MOSCOW 2020 PRIME RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE MARKET. MOSCOW Key findings Shift of the traditional leading Acceleration of price growth in the Khamovniki district from the leading context of supply volume shortage: 890 positions in the demand structure thousand rubles / sq. m (+10% in the rating. The district of Dorogomilovo Andrey Solovyev annual dynamics). became the most popular location Director of City Sale Department, Stable growth of share of supply with among the buyers. Knight Frank finishing was supported by increase The total transactions cost exceeded 110 of demand for units ready for living; bln rubles, having renewed the record more than 60% transactions were in rate of the previous year. this format. The historically record-high level of buying activity may be considered to be one of the key events at the elite housing market. Key indicators. Dynamics The growth of number of incoming calls/ requests for accommodation acquirement was recorded even during the severe Supply Deluxe Dynamics* Premium Dynamics* restrictive measures; however, during those ‘quarantine’ months only part of them was Total supply, pcs. 480 -38% 1,640 -11% converted to transactions. Several factors Average price, thousand became the main reasons for the records. 1,362 +18% 696 +15% rub./sq m First of all, square meters always remain a stable currency in the context of high volatility Average area, sq m 160 +6% 115 +3% of the financial markets, and many customers Average price, mln rub.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bolshevik Party in Conflict the Left Communist
    Ronald I. Kowalski THE BOLSHEVIK PARTY IN CONFLICT THE LEFT COMMUNIST OPPOSITION OF 1918 STUDIES IN SOVIET HISTORY & SOCIETY General Editor: R.W. Davies The Bolshevik Party in Conflict The Left Communist Opposition of 1918 Ronald I. Kowalski Senior Lecturer in Russian History Worcester College ofHigher Education in association with the M Palgrave Macmillan MACMILLAN © Ronald I. Kowalski 1991 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1991 All rights reserved. No reproduction. copy or transmission of this publication may be made without prior permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced. copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright. Designs and Patents Act 1988. or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. 33--4 Alfred Place. London WCIE 7DP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1991 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills. Basingstoke. Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Filmset by Wearside Tradespools. Fulwell. Sunderland British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Kowalski. Ronald I. The Bolshevik Party in conflict: the left Communist opposition of 1918. - (Studies in Soviet history and society). I. Soviet Union. Political events. 1917-1924 I. Title II. University of Birmingham. Centre for Russian and EastEuropean Studies
    [Show full text]
  • Xenophobia, Freedom of Conscience and Anti-Extremism in Russia in 2014
    SoVA CENTER FoR INFoRMATIoN AND ANALYSIS Xenophobia, Freedom of Conscience and Anti-Extremism in Russia in 2014 A collection of annual reports by the SoVA Center for Information and Analysis Moscow 2015 UDC 323.1(470+571)(082.1)”2014” Содержание BBC 66.094я43+66.3(2Рос),54я43 X44 X44 Xenophobia, Freedom of Conscience and Anti-Extremism in Russia in 2014: Vera Alperovich, Natalia Yudina A collection of annual reports by the SoVA Center for Information and Analysis; Calm Before the Storm? Xenophobia and Radical Nationalism in Russia, [Alperovich Vera, Sibireva Olga, Kravchenko Maria, Yudina Natalia / Ed. by and Efforts to Counteract Them in 2014 ..................................................... 5 Verkhovsky Alexander] – М.: SOVA Center, 2015. – 164 pp.: tables Summary ............................................................................................. 5 ISBN 978-5-98418-036-8 Criminal Manifestations of Racism and Xenophobia ............................. 8 Systematic Racist and Neo-Nazi Violence ................................8 This collection of reports summarizes all the major areas of work addressed by the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis in 2014, in a similar fashion to collections in previous years. Vandalism .................................................................................. 14 There are three reports on themes which have become traditional for the SOVA Public Activity of Ultra-Right Radicals ............................................... 15 Center in this collection: The first report addresses radical nationalism and hate crime, and the efforts of government and society to combat these phenomena. The second report Position on the “Ukrainian Question” ........................................ 15 addresses problems relating to freedom of conscience in contemporary Russia. The third report addresses the misuse and abuse of ‘anti-extremism’ measures. The reports are Consequences of These Differences updated versions of original texts on the SOVA Center website.
    [Show full text]
  • The Images of the EU Framed by Russian Officials in Social Media
    The images of the EU framed by Russian officials in social media Viktor Lambin University of Helsinki Faculty of Social Sciences European and Nordic Studies Master’s Thesis May 2021 Abstract Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences Degree programme: Master’s Programme in European and Nordic Studies Study track: Master of Social Sciences track Author: Viktor Lambin Title: The images of the EU framed by Russian officials in social media Level: Master’s Thesis Month and year: May 2021. Number of pages: 104 Keywords: The EU, Russia, social media, identity construction, discourse, officials Where deposited: Social Sciences, European and Nordic studies, Russian studies Additional information: Abstract: The contemporary crisis between Russia and the EU, reflects, among other things, in the identity construction in both European and Russian domestic discourses. In view of the current conflict between Russia and Europe, it is crucial to comprehend how both actors perceive each other and the reality(ies) of the current status of their bilateral relations. According to the post-structuralists, foreign policies are dependent on the representations of “us” and “them”, articulated in national discourses. Such constructs are often represented through mass media, and given the growing adaptation of IT technologies, social media specifically become a suitable platform for the distribution of the images of “us” and “them” for both domestic and foreign audiences. The study seeks to identify which images of the EU are framed by Russian officials in social media and whether such frames correlate with some aspects of Russian domestic and foreign agendas. The thesis focuses on the images of the EU framed by Russian officials in the period between March 2019 and December 2019, a drastic period of EU-Russia relations, triggered by the Ukrainian crisis.
    [Show full text]