MOSCOW, April 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Interior
Ministry said on Sunday it was taking extra measures to thwart
neo-Nazi rallies on Hitler's birthday.
"The Interior Ministry's units for struggle against
extremism are taking additional measures to prevent
nationalistic rallies on Hitler's birthday celebrated on April
20," a source in the Interior Ministry said.
It was earlier reported that Russian neo-Nazis were
planning to celebrate Hitler's birthday, three weeks before
Victory Day celebrations - on May 8 in Europe and May 9 in
Russia - which mark the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Similar preventive measures in 2008 enabled the police to
fully control the situation on that day and prevent serious
incidents linked with extremist manifestations," the source
said.
Attacks on foreigners and ethnic minorities are a regular
occurrence in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as other
Russian cities.
According to the Russian non-governmental organization
SOVA, last year more than 630 Russian citizens and foreigners
became targets of xenophobic attacks, most of them in Moscow,
the Moscow Region and St. Petersburg.
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