Elelctronic Telegraph July 17,1999 Blackshirts fuel Kremlin fears of Nazi revival By Marcus Warren in Voronezh RUSSIA'S neo-Nazis are on the march, taking to the streets and preaching their message of hatred with a zeal viewed with growing alarm by the Kremlin. Black-uniformed toughs from the most well-organised group are particularly visible in the south and have covered one of its largest cities with their swastika-like emblem and sinister slogans. Parallels between the Russian National Unity movement and the Nazis are too striking to ignore: virulent anti-Semitism, the uniform, a stretched-arm salute, and a war cry "Glory to Russia" in addition to a cult of the group leader, Alexander Barkashov. Yet they operate with impunity in Voronezh, a city almost wiped off the face of the earth in fighting between the Red Army and the Wehrmacht during the Second World War and a Communist stronghold to this day. Visitors could be forgiven for concluding that the group's red and white symbol - based on an ancient Slav design according to RNU claims - is the city's coat of arms. It decorates almost every lamppost and covers bridges and walls. Members have held party conferences and parades in Voronezh and regularly turn out in uniform to distribute their newspaper Russian Order to passers-by. Last winter local members patrolled the streets, SS-style, in long leather trenchcoats with alsatian dogs at their side. Recruiting films show members practising with firearms and learning martial arts at a network of secret camps throughout Russia. A number of anti-Semitic outrages, most recently a stabbing in Moscow's main synagogue, the increasingly high profile of groups such as RNU and the reluctance of local authorities to take action against them are worrying the Kremlin. Boris Kuznetsov, President Yeltsin's representative in Voronezh said: "I am extremely dissatisfied with the reaction of our local authorities to this sort of extremism. Basically, there is no reaction." Gauging RNU's size - or even how much support it enjoys - is not easy. Members despise journalists and when they do talk to outsiders like to hint at a huge number of secret sympathisers in the police, security services and army. RNU may have less than 10,000 full members nationwide. But they are only the highly motivated core of a much bigger movement, running to tens of thousands of supporters, untried recruits and young people. "The media tell lies and creates an image of a gang of bandits and society rejects," one member of the Voronezh organisation said."But society supports us." Vladimir Firstov, a former member who set up the Voronezh branch but has now split from the party, said: "RNU is not political, it is more of a sect. It has its own internal laws and doctrines and exists mainly to recruit acolytes for the faith." Touchstones of the faith include violent anti-semitism, dressed up as opposition to "Jewish fascism" which aims "to destroy the Russian people", and hatred for all non-Russians, especially those from the Caucasus. Tim Brown in Madrid writes: A 500-strong mob led by skinheads wearing swastikas and other neo-Nazi emblems attacked shops and vehicles owned by Moroccan immigrants in a second night of violence in the industrial town of Tarrassa outside Barcelona. 6 June 1999: Exodus as thousands flee from Russian anti-Semites 3 May 1999: Moscow synagogues bombed 17 May 1998: Synagogue bomb marks sinister rise of Russia's neo-Nazis 15 May 1998: Fascists blamed for synagogue bomb 24 August 1996: Jews fearful after Moscow bomb
