Neo-Nazism and Racist Violence in Russia
Within Russia there are neo-Nazi political parties such as the unregistered Russian
National Unity that advocate anti-Semitism (SOVA, 2006a) as well as the Liberal
Democratic Party led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s who is known for his fierce nationalism
and anti-Semitic views. Large scale anti-Semitic action was demonstrated in Russia
and pushed into politics with the ‘Letter of 500’. A radical nationalist had interpreted
the book Kitsur Shulkhan Arukh to be in violation to an anti-extremist law and appealed
to the Prosecutor General to consider all Jewish organisations as extremist. In 2004 a
signature collection was initiated and by 2005 it had reached 15,000 signatures
including 19 members of the State Duma, 14 from the Rodina Party and 5 from the
Communist Party. The campaign and publicity surrounding the ‘Letter of 500’ resulted
in a growth of the relevance of anti-Semitism for extremist groups such as neo-Nazis
(SOVA, 2006a).