Paul Goble
Staunton, Nov. 14 –Russian realtors admit and an investigation by the Holod news agency confirms that many Russian property owners refuse to rent or sell their apartments or houses to Muslims or Jews and ignore a new law that imposes only minimal penalties on individuals who discriminate in this area although it sets higher ones for organizations.
Participants in the Forum of Russian Realtors say that many property owners refuse to rent or sell to Muslims or Jews, although most avoid fines by not specifying their intentions in ads but signaling that in other ways (cian.ru/forum-rieltorov-diskriminatsija-arendatorov-zhilja-333025/).
An investigation by the Holod portal reaches the same conclusion, noting that major Russian realty listings generally follow the law but that smaller services and especially those in specific regions like Daghestan often don’t, with discrimination there far more open (holod.media/2023/11/13/tolko-dlya-slavyan/).
An investigation in 2019 find that discrimination on ethnic and religious grounds was widespread, including in Moscow (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2019/08/one-in-seven-moscow-apartments-now.html), a conclusion that prompted the largest listing agencies to ban openly discriminating declarations in their ads (promo.cian.ru/equality and yandex.ru/support/realty/rules/requirements-ads.html).
The Russian government also moved to criminalize any such declarations (https://fzrf.su/kodeks/koap/st-5.62.php), but its fines on individuals are so low – between 10 and 30 US dollars per case –that this has not acted as much of a constraint. As Holod notes, the laws and the market may have changed, but Russians have not.
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