According to our incomplete data, the number of xenophobically motivated attacks decreased radically during the past year. This decrease was primarily due to the drop in the number of the targets perceived by the attackers as “ethnic outsiders”. The reason for such a dramatic drop in xenophobic crime is not entirely clear. Perhaps it is a more consistent silencing of this kind of data by law enforcement agencies and the media, or it could also be that since February, many militant far-right activists have shifted their attention to the events in Ukraine, and some of them have simply left the country, including to fight at the front.
Despite the rhetoric being cultivated by the state of fighting for “traditional values,,” the number of attacks against LGBT people has also decreased noticeably. The reason probably lies also in the emigration of both many prominent LGBT activists and some of the anti-LGBT activists. However, homophobic sentiments in the Russian society are very strong; most of the victims suffered homophobic attacks only because they looked like LGBT people: an earring, long hair, etc. served as the reason for the beating.
The number of attacks on “ideological opponents” of the ultra-right also decreased during the year, but not so radically.
2022 saw slightly fewer cases of damage to buildings, monuments, cemeteries, and various cultural sites motivated by religious, ethnic, or other xenophobic hatred than the pre- vious year; the number of attacks on religious sites remained the same. The share of dangerous acts such as explosions and arson also decreased this year.
The number of convictions for hate-motivated violence has also declined. In 2022, two formerly well-known neo-Nazis were finally convicted in the murder case, the subject of the viral video titled Execution of a Tajik and a Dagh. Apart from that, 2022 saw the names of organizations that date back to the early 2000s resurfaced in criminal reports. Preparations are underway for the trials of former members of the Borovikov-Voyevodin gang for murders committed 20 years ago and of a group of members of the banned organization NS/WP, suspected of planning political murders in more recent years. We also know about the convictions handed down to members of new groups, White City 31 in Belgorod, the Astrakhan National Movement (ANM), and Belaya Ukhta in Komi.
Overall, the analysis of the data on hate crimes and countermeasures to such crimes gives the impression of a certain lull in this area.
