Racism in Moscow? (home, live, safe)

[decafdave]

I have a Bulgarian friend that is of Roma descent (he has brown skin) and is thinking of visiting Moscow. I have seen videos of Russian skins attacking random people in subway cars and I was wondering just how typical is this of Moscow? I do not think of Russia as this way but if someone here with more knowledge of the matter could tell me if its safe I would appreciate it.

[cosmomo]

There is not here no racism!
And there is nothing to be
afraid )

[bob rulz]

I've heard that racism is very prevalent in Russia, especially compared to other Western countries. In fact, I've spoken to a Russian Moldovan who personally admitted this.

Supposedly it's worst in St. Petersburg.

I don't know how typical it is overall, but racism is a huge problem there from what I've heard.

[iamman]

Yes Racism is, unfortunately, very prevelant in Russia. On a Russian train a few years ago I read an article about skinheads, in the article it stated that St Petersburg was the worst with over 5,000 members of known skinhead orginizations. That is roughly 1% of the population of the city. It is becoming more frequent, the last incident I heard of was the hanging of a Japanese exchange student (a girl) in July. It is common enough to have been a key part of a popular recent Russian movie entitled Zhara where a Russian rapper/hip hop artist is chased by skinheads. He is half Jewish and half Tatar.

Although it is an obvious, almost accepted part of today's Russia I personally had no problems when I lived there and none last summer when I returned to St Peter. If your friend doesn't hang out in the wrong parts of town at night then everything should be fine. Although I ran into skinheads multiple times and spoke with them a few times, I never once had a problem. They seemed more to think it was cool than to really beleive in and act on it.

Then again, I'm white and I speak Russian, so who knows?

Just tell him to be smart, be careful and stick to areas where there are other tourists.

[MoreDudley]

Your Bulgarian friend shouldnt be wondering. In Bulgaria, ethnic conflicts targeting Romas and Turks are common and historical. Bulgarian and Russian societies are Slavic, and very similar in chauvanism and nationalism. There would be no culture shock.

[iamman]

Skinhead Violence Rising in Russia

Just happened to run across a relevant article today.

[redline601]

Let me tell you i am british with asian ancestry so i have brown skin.

i found NO HINT of racism in russia nothing
I was in moscow with my russian blonde wife (beautiful of course) and no one looked twice including the subway. I also saw NO skinheads anywhere and we went to all clubs and cafes in lots of districts. I also traveled to a small village 400km s e of moscow in the heart of russia and same thing!

the russian people are warm and friendly and i can tell you i also had the same doubts before travelling. i would gladly go again. of course there may be problems as in every country but it does nt seem to be prevalent in they re society.

I feel more subtle racism here in the uk than in russia.

[Doctor girl]

The situation in Russia is very sad.Trust me I have been there for 6 years. I am a brown skinned individual with Asian (Indian) ancestry who lives in the US and had been to Russia, Moscow to study. My dark skin friends have been beat up on many ocassions by skin heads or hooligans whatever you want to call them. Sadly one of my friends passed away in such an incident. It is astonishing that in this age there exist people who are so ignorant that they believe that the lighter the color of their skin the more superior the race. I know how it is to travel in the subway or metro as they call it and feel the underlying pulse of racism in the air. There have been instances of people refusing to sit next to me or my friends of darker color or of them asking us to vacate, or vendors refusing to sell us goods, even though we were the ones who used to spread the wealth around! I know, the fear a dark skin person faces when he/she goes out at night.The militsia/police would never bother, infact many of them would ask us for money! If you are white or with a white person I doubt anybody will act racist , and since as a tourist you will stay there for a much shorter time you may not encounter it. So if you still want to make that trip, go ahead. I have to admit the city is beautiful.Do carry a russian-english dictionary though, communication may be a problem.

[RangerDuke08]

Racism can be found anywhere. I can tell you I have found Russians some of the kindest people, although they can be upfront and rough on the edges sometimes, they are soft on the inside and once they get to know the real you, they will welcome you into their home like family.

[sevenofsix]

There was a thread about this at another site and the russian guy said to try and walk in groups and stay indoors at night