Azernews.Az

Up to 20 migrants have been killed and over 50 injured in Russia in the past two months, a local human rights group has said.
The assaults by "skinheads", a radical group known for its hostility to non-Russians, mostly take place in the country's largest cities. In this period, six people have been killed and 17 received injuries in such attacks in the capital Moscow alone. The death toll from hate crimes in St. Petersburg stood at four, according to the Sova analytical center.
The criminals mostly target citizens of the South Caucasus republics Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as Central Asian states Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Russian daily Vremya Novostey reported that 50 and 30 dead bodies were sent to Azerbaijan and Georgia from Russia respectively in 2007 alone. The number of Kyrgyzes, Tajiks and Uzbeks as well as other nationals of former Soviet republics killed in violent attacks exceeds 100.
Moscow's police officials met with the people representing the nations hated by skinheads, including Azerbaijani Diaspora representatives, early last week.
The editor of the Central Asian online publication Fergana.ru, Denis Kislov, blamed the Russian authorities for skinheads' arbitrariness, saying the recent anti-migration law passed by the government had contributed to making things easier for them.
The Moscow police chief Vladimir Poronin, in reply to the criticism, enumerated the crimes perpetrated by migrants.
"5,000 crimes were committed against people of other nationalities in the city last year, but the migrants themselves are responsible for 14,000 offenses," he said.
Migrants are confident that the Russian police are covering up skinheads' crimes. Director of the Moscow-based Azeri FRAK news agency, Tunzale Valigyzy, said: "An Azeri has been found dead in the woods, and they say he died of drugs. Why would anyone consume narcotics there? They kill people because of their skin color. They don't care if that person is educated or not."
But police officials argue that they are cracking down on skinheads and have already eliminated up to 12 nationalist groups in Russia. Maksim Martsinkevich, the 23-year-old leader of a nationalist youth group known under the "Axe" nickname, was sentenced to three years in jail early last week.
Just like many other expatriates, ethnic Azeri Russian citizen Telman Maharramov who lives in the capital has little confidence in the government's fight against skinheads.
"Reports were once published that all those youths undergo training in the camps of special police units. In my opinion, the government itself is behind these individuals. They don't want us to forget that we are visitors here. This is actually the policy of those representing the authorities. They [skinheads] have now become extremely active. Riding in subway and buses, returning home late and simply walking in the park is dangerous," Maharramov said.
The statistics of Russian police suggests that the attacks on migrants in public transport have become less frequent, but the figures are of no consolation for them.
The Sova group said that up to 70 migrants were killed and over 550 injured in Russia in 2007 at the hands of skinheads and other nationalist groups. Thus, the number of hate crimes' victims has risen compared to 2006. If the troubling tendency continues, the number of people killed by skinheads will double in 2008, the rights group said.
Sova is a non-governmental organization that conducts sociological research on nationalism and racism trends in present-day Russia. It produces regular reports on hate crimes and develops recommendations that are widely used and cited by a number of international groups.