Zu Übergriffen auf ArmenierInnen in Belgorod sowie deren Schutz durch den Staat konnten in den ACCORD derzeit zur Verfügung stehenden Quellen im Rahmen der zeitlich begrenzten Recherche keine Informationen gefunden werden. Die folgenden Informationen beziehen sich auf rassistische Übergriffe in Belgorod und generell in der Russischen Föderation, sowie auf Fälle von ethnischer Gewalt gegen ArmenierInnen:

 

Im Hate Crimes Survey 2007, veröffentlicht von der NGO Human Rights First, wird erwähnt, dass in Belgorod im September 2006 elf junge Männer im Zusammenhang mit einem Angriff auf eine Roma-Familie wegen Rowdytums, schwerer rassistisch motivierter Körperverletzung und der Gründung einer extremistischen Gruppe namens Belgorod National Corps zu Haftstrafen von einem halben Jahr bis zu fünf Jahren verurteilt worden seien:

“In Belgorod, in late September 2006, a district court convicted eleven young men on charges of hooliganism, aggravated assault with a racist motive, and forming an extremist group (the ‘Belgorod National Corps’) in relation to an attack on a Roma family a month earlier on August 25. Sentences ranged from five years for the leader of the group, a former student at the Belgorod police academy, and from one and a half to four years for his codefendants. The charges were based on an attack on the home of the Nikolaenkos family on the outskirts of the town:

Acting with malicious forethought, the extremists placed a sign reading ‘Road Closed’ on the Nikolaenkos’ street in order to isolate their home from any witnesses. They then threw a firebomb and a smoke canister into the house and waited until the family members came out. The teenage son of the home’s owner ran out first and was stabbed multiple times, including once in the neck. His father and mother were then beaten with metal rods (the mother’s arm was broken in three places). The attackers were arrested within a week.According to the prosecution, the men were part of an extremist group formed expressly to force non-Russians from the city. Defense lawyers argued that the attack was not motivated by racism, however, but was intended to punish the Roma family for ‘drug dealing’—in line with a common anti-Roma stereotype of criminality that is widely promoted in the Russian Federation. Police investigators confirmed that the allegations against the family were groundless.“ (Human Rights First, 2007, S. 24)

Auf der Website des SOVA Center, einer Organisation, die Monitoring und Berichterstattung über rassistische Gewalt in Russland betreibt, erscheint im März 2010 ein Beitrag von Galina Koschewnikowa über radikalen Nationalismus und Maßnahmen dagegen. Darin sind mehrere Angriffe auf die armenische Volksgruppe erwähnt: Im September 2009 hätten einige Polizisten in Moskau einen Armenier angegriffen, rassistisch beschimpft und zusammengeschlagen. Vandalenakte ideologischer Natur hätten im Jahr 2009 in vier Fällen armenische Gebäude betroffen.

Ein Kandidat für die Partei Gerechtes Russland in der Region Moskau habe in seinem Wahlkampf explizit anti-armenische Propaganda betrieben, indem er ArmenierInnen der Pädophilie, der Korruption, des Drogenhandels und ähnlicher Delikte bezichtigt habe. Nach einer Anklage hätten jedoch weder das Gericht noch die Staatsanwaltschaft seine Aussagen für gesetzeswidrig befunden. Auch anti-armenische Aussagen in einer lokalen Zeitung, die den Wahlkampf dieses Kandidaten unterstützt habe, seien von den Behörden nicht beanstandet worden:

“But xenophobic attacks by racist police and the military are not limited to the Navy Day. In July 2009 a military officer went on a racist rampage in response to a remark made by a store owner in the suburbs of Sochi, and in September several police officers in Moscow attacked an Armenian and yelled racist insults while beating him. […]

In 2009, most acts of vandalism were of ideological nature; they targeted World War II memorials and monuments to Lenin and included coordinated neo-Nazi graffiti-painting campaigns, among other things - a total of 76 episodes. In 2008, there were just 26 incidents of this type. We did not include statistics on individual cases of swastika graffiti being found on buildings or fences. Jewish sites were the second largest target of vandals' attacks, with 22 incidents (in 2008 there were 24 incidents). They were followed by Orthodox sites, with 15 incidents (compared to 20 incidents in 2008), and Jehovah's Witnesses with 12 acts of vandalism (in 2008 there was just one incident. Muslim sites accounted for seven incidents (six were reported in 2008); four Armenian and four Protestant buildings were attacked (in 2008, two and six incidents, respectively), and in one case a Catholic church was vandalized. […]

Vitaly Ustimenko of the Fair Russia Party running for the office of the Head of Administration in Tuchkovo (Moscow Region) used extensive and explicit anti-Armenian propaganda in his campaign. The matter went to court when his opponents demanded that the candidate should be banned and criminal proceedings should be initiated against him under article 282 of the Criminal Code. The complaint filed with the court cited two meetings with the voters where Ustimenko had accused Armenians of pedophilia, corruption, drug trafficking, etc. However, neither the court nor the prosecutor's office found the alleged statements to be illegal. A local newspaper received a warning from Roskomnadzor for an anti-Armenian publications in support of Ustimenko; however, the warning did not mention xenophobia but focused instead on the fact that the paper ... ‚indicated a place where drugs may be purchased’ (i.e. the de facto the authority agreed with the xenophobic statements).” (SOVA Center, 10. März 2010)  

In der russischen Version dieses Berichts von Galina Koschewnikowa, erschienen im Februar 2010 auf der Website des SOVA Center, sind einige Statistiken angeführt, in denen auch Belgorod angeführt ist: In Belgorod seien aus rassistischen Motiven im Jahr 2004 fünf Personen verletzt worden, im Jahr 2005 4 Personen, 2006-2007 18 Personen, 2008 eine Person und 2009 zwei Personen. In den Jahren 2004 bis 2009 sei lediglich in drei Urteilen, die insgesamt 15 Personen erfasst hätten, das Motiv des Hasses berücksichtigt worden (SOVA, 2. Februar 2010).

 

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) stellt im April 2010 fest, dass vor allem für ethnische Minderheiten aus dem Kaukasus das Leben in Moskau schwierig sei, da sie von Diskriminierung, Schikanen, Angriffen und erniedrigenden Dokumentenkontrollen durch die Polizei betroffen seien. Terroranschläge wie am 29. März 2010 in Moskau würden diese Situation verschlimmern. Zwischen 29. März und 1. April 2010 habe das SOVA Center fünf Übergriffe auf Angehörige ethnischer Minderheiten verzeichnet, unter anderem auf eine 17-jährige Armenierin. Laut einem Vertreter einer georgischen Community in Moskau seien alle Völker des Kaukasus gleichermaßen in Gefahr: 

“Life in Moscow is never easy for ethnic minorities, particularly people from the Caucasus. They are routinely subjected to discrimination, harassment, attacks, and humiliating document checks by police. But their situation gets even worse when terrorism strikes, returning the public focus to Russia's long-simmering conflict in the North Caucasus, and heightening resentment between ethnic Slavs and other city residents. The Moscow-based Sova Center, which monitors racially motivated attacks, has recorded assaults on five members of ethnic minorities in three separate incidents since the March 29 attacks. Among those attacked were three females, including a 17-year-old Armenian girl and two Muslim women who were wearing head scarves. […]

Johny Karatskhelia, president of Lazare, a Moscow-based Georgian community organization, says Patrushev's remark shows that all people from the Caucasus living in Moscow are under suspicion -- and therefore in danger. ‘For them, it doesn't matter where in the Caucasus somebody is from. They don't make a distinction between a Chechen, an Ingush, a Georgian, or an Abkhaz,’ Karatskhelia says. ‘All Georgians and all people from the Caucasus are afraid of what will happen next.’” (RFE/RL, 1. April 2010)

Die britische Zeitung Guardian veröffentlicht im Februar 2009 eine Reportage über die Verbreitung rechtsradikaler Gruppen in Russland, deren Ziel die ethnische Säuberung des Landes sei. Dabei wird die Ermordung eines ethnischen Armeniers, der seit den späten 1980er Jahren mit seiner Familie in Moskau gelebt habe und Chef eines Moskauer Versicherungsunternehmens gewesen sei, durch zwei 17-jährige Skinheads erwähnt. Laut Alexander Werchowski, dem Leiter der Organisation SOVA Center, sei Fremdenfeindlichkeit weit verbreitet: Über 50 Prozent der RussInnen seien der Meinung, ethnische RussInnen sollten gegenüber anderen Ethnien bevorzugt werden, ebenfalls über 50 Prozent seien dafür, ethnische Minderheiten zu reduzieren oder überhaupt aus ihrer Region auszuweisen.

Seit dem 2. Tschetschenienkrieg und dem Bombenanschlag auf ein Wohnhaus im Jahr 1999 habe die Verbreitung von Rassismus erstaunliche Ausmaße erreicht. 2008 seien in rassistisch motivierten Verbrechen 96 Menschen ermordet und 419 zusammengeschlagen oder verwundet worden. Gemäß einer Studie des SOVA Center sei Fremdenfeindlichkeit in Russland eine allgemein akzeptierte Einstellung, die auch unter Exekutivbeamten vorherrsche. PolizistInnen würden rassistische Übergriffe üblicherweise ignorieren oder weniger schwerwiegend als Rowdytum betrachten. Daher hätten Skinheads keine Angst, von der Polizei erfasst zu werden:

“Their mission is to cleanse Russia of its ethnic ‘occupiers’, with an anti-immigrant stance supported by half the population. And since 2004 their most extreme members have murdered more than 350 people. Luke Harding reports on the rise of the Russian far-right […]

The names of Abramian's killers are Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky, both 17. Their motive for murdering Abramian, the 46-year-old boss of a Moscow insurance company, was ideological. As they saw it, Abramian's violent death was part of a national liberation movement - an ambitious, quasi-mystical struggle to get rid of Russia's foreigners, in which they played the role of hero-warriors. The boys had picked Abramian because he was an ethnic Armenian. But his murder was an act of random racist violence: Ryno and Skachevsky spotted him on the street and decided impulsively to kill him. […]

Xenophobic prejudice is widespread in Russia, Verkhovsky says. ‘More than 50% support the idea that ethnic Russians should have privileges over other ethnic groups,’ he says. ‘More than 50% believe that ethnic minorities should be limited or even expelled from their region.’ Under communism there was prejudice towards non-Slavs as well as Jews, despite the poly-ethnic nature of Soviet life. In the 1990s, when many ethnic Russians returned from newly independent republics like Uzbekistan, prejudice continued. But it is over the past eight years that racism has grown to astonishing levels, Verkhovsky says. Russia's second war in Chechnya and the 1999 apartment block bombings, which killed almost 300 people in four Russian cities, created this new xenophobia. The Kremlin blamed the bombings on terrorist Chechens; others suspect they were the work of the FSB, the former KGB. Either way, racism in Russia is now ubiquitous. According to Sova, 96 people were murdered in 2008 in racist or neo-Nazi attacks, with another 419 beaten or wounded. (The number of deaths was 50 in 2004, 47 in 2005, 64 in 2006 and 86 in 2007.) Last month, another 12 people were murdered. Sova's research suggests that xenophobic prejudice has become mainstream, acceptable. And while most Russians don't support radical ideas in practice, there are around 2,000-3,000 young skinheads prepared to attack and kill migrants, he estimates. Russia's law enforcement agencies, tasked with the job of catching these boy killers, share the prejudices of Russia's general population. Typically, police officers ignore race attacks, or classify them with the lesser charge of hooliganism. Verkhovsky says: ‘Enforcement is very weak. These young skinheads don't feel fear of the police, since the risk of getting caught is small.’ […]

The couple met and courted in Baku, but in the late 80s they moved to Moscow when war erupted between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Karen studied at Moscow University and then joined an insurance firm, rising to become its general director. He wrote poems and composed songs. ‘He was a wonderful father, a wonderful son and wonderful husband,’ Marta says. ‘I never thought this could happen to my husband. We considered ourselves real citizens of Russia. We work here. We pay taxes. This is our country.’” (Guardian, 8. Februar 2009)

Zum Thema Fremdenfeindlichkeit und rassistisch motivierte Gewalt in Russland siehe auch folgende Ausschnitte aus dem Menschenrechtsbericht des US Department of State (USDOS) vom März 2010, sowie aus dem Hate Crime Survey 2008 von Human Rights First:  

 

·       USDOS - US Department of State: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009 - Russia, 11. März 2010

“The law prohibits discrimination based on nationality; however, government officials at times subjected minorities to discrimination. Recent years have seen a steady rise in societal violence and discrimination against minorities, particularly Roma, persons from the Caucasus and Central Asia, dark‑skinned persons, and foreigners. Although the number of reported hate crimes decreased during the year, skinhead groups and other extreme nationalist organizations fomented racially motivated violence. Racist propaganda remained a problem during the year, although courts continued to convict individuals of inciting ethnic hatred by means of propaganda. […]

Federal and local law enforcement personnel continued to target members of ethnic minorities disproportionately. Police reportedly beat, harassed, and demanded bribes from, persons with dark skin or who appeared to be from the Caucasus region, Central Asia, or Africa. […]

Skinhead violence continued to be a serious problem. Skinheads primarily targeted foreigners, particularly Asians and individuals from the Northern Caucasus, although they also expressed anti‑Muslim and anti‑Semitic sentiments. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, neofascist movements had approximately 15,000 to 20,000 members, more than 5,000 of whom were estimated to live in Moscow. However, the ministry stated that if the category were expanded to include "extremist youth groups" in general, the number was closer to 200,000. In February the MBHR estimated that there were up to 70,000 skinhead and radical nationalist organizations operating in the country compared with a few thousand in the early 1990s. Skinhead groups were most numerous in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Yaroslavl, and Voronezh. The three most prominent ultra-nationalist groups--the Great Russia party, the Slavic Union movement, and the Movement against Illegal Immigration (DPNI)-–claimed, respectively, 80,000, 10,000, and 20,000 members. However, membership claims by these underground organizations were difficult to verify. Some military and law enforcement personnel openly sympathized with the DPNI, in some cases voluntarily guarding its events. On May 28, a Moscow court convicted Aleksandr Belov, former DPNI leader, of hate speech for an address he gave at a nationalist rally in 2007 that expressed hostility toward members of ethnic groups from the Caucasus region. The court gave him an 18‑month suspended sentence; Belov resigned from the DPNI in April because of the charges.

Authorities registered a total of 12,900 racially or religiously motivated crimes during the year, which they stated was a slight decrease from 2008. According to the SOVA center, during the year 54 persons were killed and 294 injured in violent attacks by nationalists, a decrease of 51 deaths and 255 injuries compared to 2008. The MBHR reported 212 racially motivated attacks during the year, resulting in 68 deaths and 273 injuries (a decrease of 40 deaths and 90 injuries from the MBHR's reported amount in 2008). According to the SOVA Center, there were 30 convictions in the first six months of the year for ethnically or racially motivated crimes. The MBHR stated that during the year, 292 persons were convicted for crimes motivated by "aggressive xenophobia," of which 138 were imprisoned. In most cases the attackers wore skinhead attire or proclaimed nationalist slogans. In February The Observer reported that since 2004, racist attackers had killed more than 350 persons. As a result of the organization's antiracist activities, SOVA's directors received death threats from extremist organizations in a February letter that also threatened attacks on journalists and lawyers. At a press conference, SOVA representatives stated that they would send a copy of the letter to authorities; however, there was no response during the year. […]

Police investigation of cases that appeared to be racially or ethnically motivated was frequently ineffective. Authorities were at times reluctant to acknowledge the racial or nationalist element in the crimes, often calling attacks "hooliganism." Many victims met with police indifference, and immigrants and asylum seekers who lacked residence documents recognized by police often chose not to report attacks. According to the SOVA Center, willingness to recognize crimes as hate crimes varied widely depending on the personal views of the local prosecutor; the center noted that the number of hate crimes prosecuted in Moscow increased significantly after a new prosecutor took office in 2008.” (USDOS, 11. März 2010, Sec. 5)

 

·       Human Rights First: 2008 Hate Crime Survey, 2008

 

“The Survey also looks in more detail at two countries where violent hate crimes have been on the rise and makes specific recommendations for government action. Of particular concern is the Russian Federation, where the number of bias-motivated attacks on individuals continues to grow steadily, with 2008 on track to be the fourth record-setting year in a row and with an annual number of bias-motivated murders approaching 100. Though government officials have begun to recognize the problem posed by neo-Nazi violence, the official response has been sorely inadequate.“ (Human Rights First, 2008, S. 4f.)

“In the Russian Federation, the number of violent hate crimes against individuals continues to grow steadily, with 2008 on track to be another record-setting year. According to the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis, the leading nongovernmental monitor of hate crimes, in 2007 there were at least 667 victims of racially motivated violence, including 86 murders.In comparison, there were 568 victims of violent hate crimes, including 63 murders, registered in 2006. The beginning of 2008 has shown a dramatic growth of hate violence. Already in the first eight months of 2008, 65 people were killed and 318 injured as a result of racial and other bias-motivated assaults.” (Human Rights First, 2008, S. 19)

“In many cases, police remained unaware of hate crime incidents. A serious shortcoming lies in the failure, sometimes due to unwillingness, of law enforcement agencies to establish relations with particular minority communities, resulting in many crimes not being reported to the authorities. Similarly, some police agencies also fail to appropriately record the evidence of bias attacks when victims do in fact come forward.” (Human Rights First, 2008, S. 22) 

“In the Russian Federation, in early March, 2007, vandals shattered some 30 Jewish and Lutheran gravestones at Ekaterinburg’s city cemetery. In May 2007, vandals daubed swastikas on some 40 Armenian gravestones in Krasnokumsky, Russia (Stavropol Krai). Police detained four suspects, accused of ‘mocking the bodies of the dead and their places of burial’.” (Human Rights First, 2008, S. 90)

Auf der Website der Volkszählung in der Russischen Föderation 2002 (Wserossijskaja perepis naselenija 2002 goda) sind deren Ergebnisse veröffentlicht, unter anderem die ethnische Zusammensetzung der Bevölkerung je nach Region. Demnach würden in der Region Belgorod insgesamt 1.511.620 Menschen leben, davon der Großteil (1403977) RussInnen, gefolgt von 57846 UkrainerInnen und 7824 ArmenierInnen (Wserossijskaja perepis naselenija 2002 goda). 

 

Im April 2007 fand ein Symposion des International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) über die ehemaligen Sowjetrepubliken in Zentralasien statt, auf dem der Politikwissenschaftler Matthew Light eine Vergleichsstudie über die Situation von GastarbeiterInnen in drei russischen Regionen (Moskau, Belgorod und Adygeja) präsentierte. Zur Region Belgorod heißt es in der Zusammenfassung seines Vortrags, die regionale Regierung sei für ihren Mangel an  Offenheit für sichtbare ethnische Diversität und für eine Politik der vorschriftsmäßigen Kontrolle von Migration bekannt, wodurch die Anzahl der nicht-russischen Bevölkerung in der Region gesenkt werde:

“Ethnic relations and politics within each region. Belgorod’s government is known for its strong support for the Orthodox Church and its lack of enthusiasm for visible  ethnic diversity. This comports well with its policy of by-the-book enforcement of migration controls, which undoubtedly reduces the size of the non-ethnically Russian population in the province.” (IREX, 26.-28. April 2007)

 

 

 

 

·       Guardian: Putin's worst nightmare, 8. Februar 2009

·       Human Rights First: Hate Crimes 2007 Survey, 2007

·       Human Rights First: 2008 Hate Crime Survey, 2008

·       RFE/RL – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: For Moscow's Ethnic Minorities, A Fresh Sense Of Fear, 1. April 2010

·       SOVA Center: Galina Koschenwnikowa. Pod snakom polititscheskogo terrora. Radikalnyj nazionalism w Rossii I protiwodejstwie emu w 2009 godu, 2. Februar 2010

·       SOVA Center: Galina Kozhevnikova. Under the Sign of Political Terror. Radical Nationalism and Efforts to Counteract It in 2009, 10. März 2010

·       USDOS - US Department of State: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009 - Russia, 11. März 2010

 

·       IREX – International Research and Exchange Board, Matthew Light: Variation in the position of undocumented CIS guest workers in various Russian regions, 26.-28. April 2007
http://www.irex.org/programs/symp/07/summaries/Light.pdf

·       Wserossijskaja perepis naselenija 2002 goda: National composition of population for regions of the Russian Federation, 2002