'Rusland voor de Russen!': xenofobie en het monster van Frankenstein

In recent years, Russia has faced the immigration of millions of people from abroad, who are looking for work, but often lack a legal status. Most of them come from Central-Asian, Caucasian or other former Soviet republics. It has caused defensive reactions among a large part of the Russian population, sometimes even turning into direct xenophobia and racial violence. This is a questionable attitude, as for demographic and economic reasons Russia very much needs foreign workers. Apart from that, people from the North Caucasus, which is part of Russia, can hardly be treated as unwanted immigrants. The Russian government has no real anti-xenophobic policy, and quotas of admitted workers from abroad have even been reduced recently. The article observes an antagonistic spiral, with extremists from both sides going over either to terrorism (North Caucasians) or racial violence (Russians).