Residents of Non-Russian Republics Far More Likely to Be Charged with Extremism Crimes than are Russians Elsewhere

Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 24 – For the Russian Federation as a whole between 2011 and 2017, 5.1 per 100,000 residents were charged with extremist crimes, but four of the top five federal subjects, with rates of 19.9 to 14 per 100,000, were non-Russian republics, while four of the bottom five, with rates of 0.9 to 1.7 per 100,000, were predominantly Russian oblasts and krays.

            The top five, in descending order, are Karelia, the Altai Republic, Novgorod Oblast, and Ingushetia; the bottom five, in ascending order, are Leningrad Oblast, Belgorod Oblast, Penza.Oblast, Yamalo-Nenets AO, and Volgograd Oblast.

            Those figures, available at news.ru/obshestvo/obshestvo-ekstremizm-pravo-zakon-mvd/ and facebook.com/vadim.shtepa/posts/2017442478306732, reflect local problems as well as the proclivities of officials; but collectively they suggest that Moscow sees anti-extremism legislation as one more way of controlling the non-Russians.