This week sees a major protest in downtown Kyiv designed to attract attention to the growing problem of xenophobic violence in Ukraine. Aggressive nationalism is thought to be on the increase in Ukraine, where the economic hardships of the Post-Soviet years have fed resentment among many young Ukrainians who see a future without prospects amid a growing foreign presence in the country. The relaxation of Soviet-era border controls over the past fifteen years has facilitated the creation of a large international community in Ukraine for the first time, providing nationalist extremists with a scapegoat for their frustrations. The end result has been an increasing number of racially motived attacks and killings in the Ukrainian capital over the past eighteen months which has provoked alarm among human rights groups and led to calls for the authorities to introduce legislation directly targeting xenophobia. Despite widespread popular opposition to the violence this week’s protest will be the first public demonstration against the extremist fringe and organisers hope that it will help draw public attention to a problem that is threatening to undermine the country’s positive image internationally and scare off potential investors.

In a land which prides itself as being one of the principle contributors to the victory over 20th century fascism the appearance of Far Right skinhead groups is particularly troubling. The Post-Soviet skinhead movement has its roots in Russia, where it has fed off a rising tide of chauvinistic nationalist sentiment which human rights watchdogs claim has the tacit support of the Kremlin. Since Putin came to power in 2000 the number of racially motivated murders has risen consistently year on year, although exact figures are hard to come by as the Russian authorities continue to label such attacks as hooliganism and existing legislation in many instances remains insufficient to deal with specifically racist crimes. In cases when skinheads have been convicted by Russian courts of involvement in the assault or murder of non-white foreigners they have typically received short sentences of up to five years in prison, as was the case in the murder in St. Petersburg of a nine year old Tajik girl Khursheda Sultonov in 2004 whose murderers received short custodial sentences for hooliganism amid claims that the court was openly sympathetic to the accused. Since the fall of communism racist sentiment has swept through the whole of the Eastern Bloc, where the experience of living alongside non-Europeans is still relatively novel and racial awareness lags far behind the multicultural societies of Western Europe.

 The situation in Ukraine has yet to reach the endemic levels that plague Russia, where foreign students are now routinely advised not to venture into city centres on their own after dark and warned to stay indoors for days on end in the run up to 20 April every year (20 April is Hitler’s birthday and it has become something of a skinhead tradition to carry out high numbers of assaults on and around the anniversary - Ed.). However there are signs that what has long been regarded as a Russian nationalist disease is developing a pan-Slavic dimension and gaining ground in Ukraine, where anti-semitism has long been rife but where racist attacks had previously been few and far between. Ukraine’s skinhead problem has done much to hamper the country’s positive international image as an emerging democracy and famously hospitable country. The recent spate of killings and assaults has led to widespread negative publicity and calls from international human rights groups for action to be taken by the state, and a series of skinhead attacks on Scottish football fans during last October’s European Championship qualifier in Kyiv did much to overshadow coverage of the game in the UK. Government officials have been criticised for their slow reaction to the problem, but the Ukrainian Interior Ministry has publicly stated that Far Right extremist groups will now be specifically targeted in an official clampdown following international outrage at the recent murder of an Iraqi asylum seeker in Kyiv by a group of youths described by witnesses as skinheads. Attacks in Kyiv tend to be random in nature and have occurred throughout the downtown area as well as in the suburbs, with targets ranging across the ethnic spectrum and including senior diplomats, women and even one visiting football star.

 As a response many embassies have taken to warning nationals to take precautions and avoid being caught alone in isolated places, but such is the nature of the attacks that on most occasions very little could have been done to prevent them. The perpetrators generally hunt in packs of six to ten youths, who rush their victims and after delivering a vicious assault retreat to celebrate their ‘victory’. These groups are thought to be under the influence of older authority figures who promote Far Right ideals and justify the violence to impressionable youngsters through hate preaching and support for Slavic nationalism. The Ukrainian Far Right movement has previously received financial and logistical support from pro-Russian elements based in Eastern Ukraine and is thought to benefit from continued assistance from like-minded groupings in Russia itself. Ukrainian legislation does not currently deal directly with discrimination, and it is hoped the new parliament will rectify this in the autumn following September elections. At present the fight against extremist violence is hampered both by these inadequate laws and by widespread complacency within law enforcement agencies which has manifested itself in consistent denial of a racism problem and often borders on tacit support for the stereotypes of a corrupting foreign influence that help foster racial animosity among young Ukrainians. The absence of a suitable official response to the dangers posed by the rising tide of xenophobia threatens to erode the reputation Kyiv currently enjoys as an up and coming tourist destination and undo all the gains of the past three years. Such a reversal is the main objective of those responsible for the attacks, and it is up to Kyivites in general to make sure they fail.

 Attacks in Kyiv tend to be random in nature and have occurred throughout the downtown area as well as in the suburbs, with targets ranging across the ethnic spectrum and including diplomats, women and even one visiting football star.