Moscow: The number of extremist crimes in Russia has grown more than 200 per cent over the past four years, chief of the counter-extremism department at the Russian Interior Ministry, Yuri Kokov, told a conference in Domodedovo, near Moscow.

"According to official statistics, extremism-related crimes have tripled over the past four years from 130 in 2004 to 356 in 2007," he said. In January-October, Russian law enforcers have registered 395 manifestations of extremism.

"The official statistics do not reflect the real state of affairs, because some of the crimes committed by extremist groups are registered as plain household incidents," Kokov said.

In his opinion, to better resist extremist outbreaks police operatives should conduct pre-emptive policing in two directions, in relation to radical nationalist groups and ethnic minorities, in particular, migrant communities.

"This aspect of policing is a top priority one for the newly-formed counter-extremist units," the senior police official said. Kokov said specific measures were being implemented to safeguard the rights and freedoms of ethnic minorities.

As an example he mentioned the ongoing trial of a gang of skinheads, underway at the Moscow City Court. In the dock there are nine members of the gang, led by one Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky.

The youngest member of the gang is fifteen years of age. All are charged with more than 20 hate murders and twelve attempts on the lives of people committed out of hatred towards the victims race or religion.

Source : PTI