Russia: Non-Romani pogrom against Roma continues, non-Romani residents of Korkino set their cars and homes on fire last night

According to local media and social media reports, the most recent attacks began on Friday at about 22:00, when unidentified perpetrators set fire to a house on Pionerska Street. A vehicle was then set on fire 40 minutes later on Pavlova Street, less than a kilometer away from Pionerska Street. After midnight another fire broke out in a house on Ostrovsky Street, where the unrest had taken place the day before involving the overturning of several vehicles belonging to local Roma.

“We are interrogating witnesses and we have also deployed forensic experts,” said the spokesperson for the Interior Ministry’s office in the region. According to the authorities, a criminal proceedings has been opened in the matter of the arsons under Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for intentional property damage or destruction. “A special investigation group of both local and regional police forces has been created,” announced the police, who are also looking for the arsonists.

The violence is a reaction to the recent death of taxi driver Yelena Saraanovova. Her murder, which a 16-year-old Romani youth has been charged with, sparked a wave of unrest in Korkino. The juvenile suspect is deaf and his family insists he is innocent. In an interview for local media, the father of the accused said his son is innocent, claiming that somebody else who could have been the real perpetrator could have entered the taxi during the journey.

Yelena Saraanovova was a 40-year-old mother of two and her funeral was held in Korkino on Saturday. The ceremony was attended by the Chelyabinsk Oblast Governor, Alexei Teksler, who ended his vacation early over the tragedy. Acquaintances, friends, neighbors and those who had never known the deceased personally filled the funeral parlor.

150 non-Roma set Romani homes on fire and overturned cars during the first pogrom

Roma in the Timofeyevka quarter were targeted with a pogrom on 24 October, when about 150 non-Romani residents attacked them. The rioters overturned cars and broke the windows of Romani homes. One local Romani man fired a shotgun into the mob. He injured two non-Romani men. The 58-year-old shooter was arrested and charged with attempted murder, for which he faces up to 15 years in prison.

Governor Teksler called on local non-Romani residents not to succumb to “provocations” and emphasized that violence is not the answer. Police have accused some bloggers and other external forces outside of the Chelyabinsk Oblast of spreading calls which have incited citizens to violence. According to the Interior Ministry, those who participate in any future protests risk prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.

Representatives of the Romani community fear more attacks against innocent Roma. “Look what they’ve done to our home. They set it on fire, they overturned my car. Why? What did we ever do to them?” asked Nikolai, a Romani man who has lived in Korkino for more than 30 years and was targeted by the pogrom, when interviewed by news server 74.ru. He added that many Roma do not want to appear in public and are preferring to stay out of the conflict. “The elders always told us never to get involved in anything. We are doing our best to back down, but who will back down on the other side?” he asked bitterly, pointing to the homes with broken windows and the traces of burned-out cars on the street.

Local non-Romani Russians are bothered by Romani Russians’ nice cars and houses

Korkino is a former mining town with approximately 37,000 inhabitants on the outskirts of an enormous mine. Locals recall that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Chechens immigrated to the area, moving elsewhere soon thereafter. After that, Romani people started settling in the town – at first in small numbers, and it seemed the non-Romani locals were accepting them. However, in recent years tensions have grown between local non-Roma and the Roma.

According to media reports, the current unrest has revealed the longlasting animosity between local non-Roma and the Romani community, whom many criticize for their allegedly illegal incomes and lifestyles. One non-Romani resident quoted by news server 74.ru pointed to the “luxury homes and expensive cars owned by the Roma.”

“Have you seen their cars? When the new Toyota Camry came out, there were more of them here than in Japan,” the non-Romani resident told 74.ru. “Do you know how long I had to work for such a car? Where do these people get the money for it?” In his view, Romani people make money through illegal activities including drug trafficking, and he accused the local authorities of ignoring their behavior.

Local non-Romani residents also accuse the Romani residents of arrogant, careless behavior in public. “They act like they own the whole town, they park their expensive vehicles wherever they please, they’re frequently loud and disrespectful toward the locals,” one non-Romani resident who preferred to remain anonymous said. Some of these frustrations stem from the Romani residents’ different lifestyles, as they often build big single-family homes with characteristic architectural elements and decorated gates.

Non-Romani residents of Korkino are demanding the Roma be “deported”, local authorities will be auditing their assets

Non-Romani locals in Korkino are criticizing the local administration and demanding a harsher approach toward the Romani community, whom they perceive as privileged. However, the Russian security forces are reminding the public that the Roma are also citizens of the Russian Federation and that it is not legally possible to relocate them. “Many [non-Romani] residents have been demanding the deportation of the Roma, but they have civil rights like everybody else,” a local police representative commented.

Governor Teksler said the local authorities are investigating the income sources of local Romani residents to determine whether illegal activities are being committed. “I am turning to the security forces to find out where these citizens’ incomes come from and also if there is any other illegal behavior that people have been talking about. This investigation must be performed strictly in accordance with the law under the supervision of the prosecutor,” he said.

Teksler also said significant tensions prevail in the region because of the allegedly arrogant behavior of some members of the Romani community: “The fact that some individuals call themselves barons and especially emphasize how exceptional they are irritates the locals.” He stressed that “we are all equal before the law.” At the same time, he admitted that the state itself is partially responsible for the current tensions, as preventive measures have been neglected. “It is necessary to admit that we wasted time and did not identify the problem with this conflict and its ethnic subtext in time,” he acknowledged.

As a consequence of the unrest, the head of the local police department in Korkino, Vladimir Dyakin, has been dismissed. Despite efforts to calm the situation, the tensions between the non-Roma and Roma are still growing​.