Moscow Launches Major Effort to Combat Ethnic Bullying, a Problem It has Only Rarely Acknowledged

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Mar. 21 – Supported by a Presidential grant and Russia’s Social Chamber, the Guild of Journalists Specializing on Ethnic Relations has started a pilot project in eight federal subjects to combat bullying long ethnic lines among young people in the Russian Federation, a problem that Moscow has only rarely acknowledged.
    But in the wake of the Crocus City Hall violence, Russian officials have begun talking about a widespread problem among the young of Russia, a problem that until this year, they have generally downplayed by insisting that factors other than ethnicity were the primary ones involved in such violence.
    That they have made this change suggests that the growth of xenophobia among Russians is now affecting younger ones to the point that Moscow no longer feels it can ignore this problem and that at least some in Russia fear could cast a dark shadow on that country’s future (nazaccent.ru/content/43714-v-rossii-startoval-proekt-stop-etnobulling-cherez-znanie-k-vzaimoponimaniyu/).