MOSCOW, November 27 (RIA Novosti) - A dozen...
The groups, comprising 59 members, are accused of a combined total of 46 crimes, including 34 race-hate murders, and two attempted murders.
"The groups could be responsible for the deaths of 14 nationals of Tajikistan, 10 Uzbek nationals, six Kyrgyz nationals, four of Azerbaijan, one Turkish citizen and 3 Russians with non-Slavic features," said Yury Kokov, the head of the Interior Ministry's anti-extremism department.
Russia has seen a wave of racially-motivated crimes since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Routine attacks by skinheads and gangs of youths on foreigners and people with non-Slavic features are a regular occurrence in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in the central Russian city of Voronezh, which hosts a number of foreign university students.
In early October, two 18-year-old leaders of a Moscow skinhead group pleaded guilty in court to charges of race-hate killings and attacks.