A Moscow court jailed a group of skinheads today for murdering 20 migrants in a racist killing spree, part of a wave of violence against immigrants in Russia.
Attacks on migrant workers have risen this year and political analysts fear the global economic crisis, which is hitting Russia hard, may aggravate the problem.
Led by a student of religious icon painting, the seven teenaged skinheads killed the migrants and tried to murder 12 others between August 2006 and October 2007.
"Even in Russia, this was an extraordinary attack because of the number of crimes committed," said Alexander Verkhovsky from the SOVA Centre, which tracks racism in Russia.
Television pictures from the court showed the group's members with close-cropped hair standing behind a glass wall grinning and smiling.
The judge sentenced them to between six years' imprisonment and 20 years' hard labour.
Resentment towards migrants, mainly from the former Soviet states in Central Asia and the Caucasus, has grown among the margins of Russian society since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Now analysts worry that that global economic crisis which has halted a decade-long economic boom in Russia may boost frustration against migrants further.
While pledging to fight racism, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said immigrant quotas should be halved, a slogan pro-Kremlin youth groups have since echoed in protests.
Last week, Tajikistan made a formal complaint to the Russian government after the severed head of a Tajik worker was found near Moscow. A nationalist group said it had beheaded the worker in retaliation for the rape of a Russian girl.
Many of the estimated 10 million migrants work on construction sites, in markets and as road sweepers in Russia and attacks on them have already risen this year, according to figures from the organisation Moscow Human Rights Bureau.
Its figures show that from January to October, 113 migrants were killed in racist attacks and 340 were injured -- up from 74 dead and 320 injured for the whole of 2007.
Verkhovsky from the SOVA Centre said there was a difference between a surge in attacks by racists, who often film the events on their mobile phones to boast of their exploits, and by people blaming immigrants for the economic slowdown.
"More people may support nationalist groups because of the economic crisis but they are unlikely to participate in violent attacks," he said.
Reuters