Russia: Treatment of ethnic Armenians in Russia and availability of state protection, in particular in St. Petersburg (2001-2002)

No information on the treatment of ethnic Armenians and state protection available to them in St. Petersburg could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

However, according to the Los Angeles Times, Armenians are among ethnic groups targeted by groups of "nationalists" in Russian cities (1 July 2001).

On 15 March 2001, a group of approximately 20 teenagers reportedly attacked a number of ethnic Armenian students in Moscow (RFE/RL 3 Apr. 2001).

As other individuals living in Moscow who originate from the Caucasus, Armenians are said to [translation] "fear" identity verifications by police officers and claim that these checks happen because of their different physical appearance (AFP 24 Nov. 2001).

During a press conference gathering several Russian human rights organizations, a representative from the organization Union antifasciste de la jeunesse showed an article published in a March 2001 issue of Tverskaïa 13, the newspaper of Moscow city authorities, which reportedly stated that there were a lot of gangsters among Armenians, and that Georgians and Azeris were specialized respectively in burglaries and drug traffcking (AFP 23 Mar. 2001).

Referring to the situation of Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan living in Moscow, Country Reports 2001 states the following:

A group of approximately 1,400 to 2,000 Armenian refugees evacuated from Baku, Azerbaijan in the wake of late 1980's ethnic violence remained housed in "temporary quarters," usually in Moscow hotels or workers' dormitories. They are unable to return to Azerbaijan and are not accepted by Armenia; they also lack residency permits for Moscow. Representatives of the community have stated that they are not interested in Russian citizenship, which would entitle them to the benefits accorded to forced migrants, because they do not believe such a step would improve their situation materially. They also have rejected offers of relocation to other regions, because they allege that the alternative housing that they are offered frequently is not suitable or available. Their situation remained precarious because the formerly state-owned hotels in which many reside were being privatized; a number of eviction orders were served in such cases during the year. Despite official promises, their status and permanent housing had yet to be resolved by year's end (4 Mar. 2002).

Although not referring specifically to ethnic Armenians, a number of sources report on the treatment of Caucasian and other minority ethnic groups in Russia.

According to The Russia Journal, police officers tend to single out individuals with Asian or Caucasian physical features when verifying identity documents, although statistics do not reveal any connection between crime and Caucasian or Central Asian ethnic groups (16-22 Nov. 2001).

Lioudmila Guiantsev, a representative from Aide civile, an organization which provides legal, medical and material assistance, accused Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and his administration of fuelling xenophobic feelings towards Caucasians in Moscow (AFP 24 Nov. 2001).

According to The Moscow Times, although there are regular reports in the Russian media of "hate attacks" against Africans and individuals from the Caucasus, few "serious injuries" happen (23 Apr. 2001).

However, an attack by several hundred young individuals (Transitions 30 Oct.-5 Nov. 2001), described by some sources as "skinheads" (The Moscow Times 1 Nov. 2001; BBC News 5 Nov. 2001; The Russia Journal 16-22 Nov. 2001), that occurred in October 2001 in a marketplace near the Tsaritsyno subway station, in southern Moscow, resulted in the death of an Armenian and an Indian (Transitions 30 Oct.-5 Nov. 2001). A third individual from Tajikistan died in a hospital from injuries suffered during the attack (The Moscow Times 6 Nov. 2001; BBC News 5 Nov. 2001). The police arrived on the scene as the attack was in progress, and fired warning shots in the air (ibid.; The Moscow Times 1 Nov. 2001). The police arrested between 10 and 26 individuals (BBC News 31 Oct. 2001; Transitions 30 Oct.-5 Nov. 2001; The Moscow Times 1 Nov. 2001) and subsequently charged one individual with murder (Transitions 30 Oct.-5 Nov. 2001). An investigation, assigned to a special task force, was also initiated (ibid.; The Moscow Times 1 Nov. 2001). The attack was denounced by Yuri Luzhkov (Transitions 30 Oct.-5 Nov. 2001), state officials and members of parliament (RFE/RL 2 Nov. 2001). In particular, President Vladimir Putin ordered Boris Gryzlov, the Interior Minister, to take measures to "crack down on extremist violence" and Yury Chaika, the Justice Minister, to haste the preparation of a bill against extremism and the development of other measures in that area (The Moscow Times 6 Nov. 2001).

Although President Vladimir Putin condemned "racist and ethnic violence" after a series of attacks that occurred in April 2001, the Los Angeles Times claims that the police have done little to reduce the number of such attacks (1 July 2001). The newspaper holds that a large number of victims no longer report such attacks as the authorities are indifferent (ibid.). As well, a BBC report dated 5 November 2001 states that "[p]eople of Caucasian origin often claim that they are not protected by the authorities."

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Agence France Presse (AFP). 24 November 2001. Claire Briguet-Lamarre. "Les Caucasiens de Moscou craignent la police autant que les racistes (MAGAZINE)." ([email protected])

_____. 23 March 2001. "Des associations dénoncent la xénophobie croissante en Russie." ([email protected])

BBC News. 5 November 2001. "Third Person Dies After Moscow Rampage." [Accessed 6 Nov. 2001]

_____. 31 October 2001. "Youth on Rampage in Moscow Market." [Accessed 31 Oct. 2001]

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2001. 4 March 2002. United States Department of State, Washington DC. [Accessed 25 Mar. 2002]

Los Angeles Times. 1 July 2001. John Daniszewski. "Russian Racism Has Foreigners in Fear." ([email protected])

The Moscow Times. 6 November 2001. Megan Twohey. "Putin Keeps Extremism on Agenda." [Accessed 6 Nov. 2001]

_____. 1 November 2001. "Two Killed by Mob of Angry Skinheads."

[Accessed 1 Nov. 2001]

_____. 23 April 2001. Simon Saradzhyan. "One Killed in Attacks for Hitler's Birthday."

[Accessed 23 Apr. 2001]

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Newsline. 6 November 2001. "Putin Calls for Combating Extremism." [Accessed 6 Nov. 2001]

_____. 2 November 2001. "Actions of 'Young Nazis' in Moscow Decried ... "

[Accessed 2 Nov. 2001]

_____. 3 April 2001. Vol. 5, No. 65, Part I. "Ranks of Neo-Nazis Swell to 30,000." (listmana[email protected])

The Russia Journal [Moscow]. 16-22 November 2001. Otto Latsis. "Time to Tackle Racism." [Accessed 22 Mar. 2002]

Transitions [Prague]. 30 October-5 November 2001. Maria Antonenko. "Russia: Alarm Bells Sounding." [Accessed 5 Nov. 2001]

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB Databases

LEXIS/NEXIS

Internet sites including:

Amnesty International

The European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) [Flensburg, Germany]

European Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations (ERCOMER) [Utrecht]

Freedom House

Human Rights Watch

International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

Minorities at Risk Project [College Park, MD]

Minority Electronic Resources (MINELRES)

Minority Rights Group International [London, UK]

Prima News

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) [Prague]

World News Connection (WNC)