By Vestnik Kavkaza
The dramatic events in Ukraine have proved that radical nationalism could be used for committing violence and overthrowing a regime. That is why the ethnic issue is still one of the most topical priorities of the social and political development of Russia.
The director of the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, a member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights, a member of the Presidential Council on International Relations, Alexander Brod, thinks that “we are interested in reducing the risks of radical nationalism and xenophobia in our country, because these risks may adversely affect the question of unity, the political and social climate in the country.”
Earlier this year, the Olympic Games in Sochi were quite worrying, because radicals threatened a breakdown and acts of terrorism in the North Caucasus. But thanks to the competent work of the law-enforcement agencies, the Olympics took place in an atmosphere of security. More generally, 2013 was a year with a tendency of reducing the number of terrorist attacks in the North Caucasus and in 2014 this trend has continued.
Along with the annexation of Crimea, Russia inherited a wide range of problems associated with the multi-ethnic population of the peninsula. “Historically, the Community of Crimea evolved as multinational and multi-confessional. In this case, each ethnic group has its own objective knowledge and subjective perceptions of the degree of being autochthonous and having roots on the peninsula. In some of the subjects of the Crimean socio-political landscape there are significant claims and the pursuit of ethno-political revenge in connection with repression in the Soviet era. Tatars, Armenians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Germans. And in this series a part is building relationships with the Crimean Tatars,” Brod says.
According to the human rights activist, throughout 2014 in the Crimea there were many conflicts between the Crimean Tatar Mejlis and the regional authorities. These problems are continuing now - just a few days ago expert meetings were held with members of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation and the Public Chamber of the Republic of Crimea, which addressed these problems.
Sociologists from the "Levada Center" say that in October 2013 a peak in xenophobic sentiments was recorded, when the slogan "Russia for Russians" was supported by 60% of Russians, which is the maximum in all the years of measurements. By the middle of 2014 this figure was 54%, which, of course, is still significant, but represents an important trend of decreasing. On October 22, 2014, the Fund "Public Opinion" published the results of a survey, according to which 44% of Russians see in a multiethnic country more positive than negative, 76% of respondents said they did not have an aversion to people of different nationalities. Only 17% agreed that they have this feeling.
