St Petersburg Music 00:00
GRIFFITHS: St Petersburg is Russia’s gateway to Europe and a city with a savage history. 00:07
It was the setting of an horrific episode of the Second World War. A German siege trapped the residents of then Leningrad for more than two years. 00:17
Six decades on, the city has become the setting for a new conflict. 00:33
Yunus in courtyard laying flowers Not far from St Petersburg’s glorious avenues – this dingy courtyard is a place of mourning. It’s where on one cold February evening in 2004, Yunus Soltonov lost his daughter. 00:44
Yunus Yunus Sultonov: I was the first to be beaten. I don’t know what happened next. When I came to my senses, I started yelling, calling for help. Some people came and my child was lying on the ground. She was taken inside, covered in blood, we undressed her and called an ambulance but she died in my arms. 01:04
Courtyard/ Dissolve to family photos of Khursheda Music 01:30
GRIFFITHS: His daughter Khursheda was nine years old. The little girl had been stabbed repeatedly by a gang of young men. 01:36
Of nine teenagers charged with her murder, one was let off and the others were found guilty of a far lesser charge. 01:50
Yunus in courtyard Yunus Sultonov: Just hooliganism, not murder. Just hooliganism. 02:00
Yunus And the sentence is very short. They’ll get out and start beating, stabbing and killing again. 02:04
News archive of Khursheda’s funeral GRIFFITHS: The family is from the Central Asian country of Tajikistan. There’s little doubt that Khursheda Sultonova was killed because of her dark skin and foreign appearance. A victim of St Petersburg’s new war waged by home-grown Nazis. 02:12
Night footage. Dmitri and gang Music 02:33
GRIFFITHS: This is Dmitri and his friends. He’s the commander of a fascist movement in St Petersburg called the Slav’s Union. 02:49
The organisation claims to have tens of thousands of supporters throughout Russia – claims that are impossible to verify. 03:00
Swastika symbol on jacket Its symbol is a re-designed swastika. 03:10
Dmitri and gang Dmitri: We have the truth. Victory will be ours. Glory to Russia! 03:18
GRIFFITHS: Dmitri is 19 years old. He and his offsiders are avowed racists and ready to fight for their cause. 03:25
Dmitri Dmitri: We go to the shooting range practically every week. We are training our brothers-in-arms in hand to hand combat. 03:38
Dmitri and gang in city GRIFFITHS: Russia’s new breed of ultra-nationalists have already shown their propensity for violence. 03:51
Amateur vision of attack GRIFFITHS: This is an attack in one of the city’s underground walkways. The victims are outnumbered and don’t stand a chance. 03:59
The beating has been filmed by the skinheads, to train and recruit new members. 04:13
Dmitri: I already have trained people, connections and 04:23
Dmitri contacts. They would probably be ready and fully armed within an hour. 04:30
Rain Music 04:40
Sam Sam: My name is Sam Newhouse. I’m from Boston. I’m 20 years old and I’ve now been living in St Petersburg for four months, studying at Smolny College. 04:52
Sam walking Music 05:01
GRIFFITHS: American student, Sam Newhouse, discovered the seamy side of St Petersburg last August. He was walking along this street at about midnight when he was set upon. 05:06
Sam Sam: They knocked me to the ground and started kicking me, I got kicked in the face and kicked around the head for a while. 05:19
Sam on street GRIFFITHS: He’s more fortunate than others. In the past three years at least nine foreign students have been killed in Russia. The twenty year old thinks he was targeted because of his dark looks. He could pass for someone from Russia’s Muslim south, or even a migrant from neighbouring Georgia. 05:28
Super: Sam Newhouse Student Sam: It definitely freaked me out about the prospect of living in Petersburg. I’d never considered myself a part of an endangered minority before, but since then I’ve kind of had to adapt in my lifestyle and sometimes when I’m walking home I start getting like paranoid that young men are following me. 05:48
Griffiths walks with Ali Nassor GRIFFITHS: Ali Nassor knows the feeling well. Born in Tanzania – he came here as a student. He’s now a permanent resident in St Petersburg and a community leader for the 5,000 other Africans living here. Over the years he’s witnessed the growth of Russia’s neo-nazi groups. 06:07
Ali. Super: Ali NassorAfrican Unity Ali Nassor: It’s like saying, if you don’t want to go home, then we’ll make you go, we’ll force you to go, and in this case that’s why they inflict terror. 06:28
Market GRIFFITHS: After the fall of the USSR, Russia’s big cities were swarmed by citizens from the former Soviet states. 06:40
Most of them are Muslims. And many of them work illegally in markets like these – where Russian customers accuse them of overcharging. To Fyodor -- another member of the Slav’s Union -- these people shouldn’t be here. 06:54
Fyodor Fyodor: Who are the enemies of the Russian nation? Let us say, our uninvited guests. We, for instance, don’t go anywhere, to anyone’s country, it is they who come here. We did not invite them. 07:11
Gang attack on fruit vendor Music 07:29
GRIFFITHS: You are about to watch a murder filmed by the killers. The victim is from Azerbaijan. He sells watermelons for a living – and is a father of eight children. 07:36
Gang in forest During this ambush – he’s stabbed to death. The perpetrators are young members of a neo-nazi group. They escape elated into a nearby forest – one of them wielding a bloodied knife. Three of the teenagers were arrested and given light sentences. One of them is already free. 07:53
Such attacks elicit sympathy from most people – but some -- even MPs – claim that the newcomers bring it on themselves. 08:22
Super: Alexander ProkhorenkoSt Petersburg City Government Prokhorenko: There are people who come over here from the ex-Soviet republics – migrants, as they are called, who are not properly settled, established, who have their own style of behaviour. They come here without much respect in their souls for Russians. 08:35
GRIFFITHS: Local politician Alexander Prokhorenko struggles to explain the skinhead phenomenon in his city. 09:00
St. Petersburg But Russia’s fall from superpower status has left many feeling let down and disillusioned. It’s created fertile ground for extremism. Mr Prokhorenko worries about Russia’s young men wasting their lives. 09:10
Prokhorenko Prokhorenko: I certainly feel sorry that these young people devote the best years of their lives to absolutely unproductive, and inhumane style of behaviour and ideas. 09:26
Griffiths with Ali Nassor GRIFFITHS: Ali Nassor believes many politicians and police tacitly support the skinheads – and turn a blind eye to their crimes. 09:46
Super: Ali Nassor African Unity Ali Nassor: I’m afraid because these people are -- I mean fascists are stronger and more organised – they have even infiltrated themselves into political parties or these circles. 09:57
Dmitri and gang target shooting GRIFFITHS: Dmitri and his gang say they are a political force. They claim to have supporters both in government and police circles. 10:10
10:22
Dmitri: Glory to Russia! Glory to Russia 10:28
Dmitri Dmitri: You know, Hitler for me personally is like a teacher. He built his Germany for seven years. He made it a great state. That is his plus. His minus is that he attacked Russia in 1940. That is his minus. 10:33
Liliana walking Music 11:00
Liliana Liliana: My name is Liliana Sissoko. I am 10 years old. I live in Russia, in St. Petersburg. 11:09
Liliana walking GRIFFITHS: Lilian Sissoko has been forced to grow up quickly. She speaks with perfect composure about the day two young men followed her home. 11:23
Liliana Liliana: One was standing next to a tourist company, next to our house - the other was behind me. Then he said “which floor do you live on?” and I told him I don’t count the floors. Then he stabbed me with a knife or something. And they ran away. I went upstairs, home, to the third floor. I was running home. My mum was yelling -- well, it was tough for her and she was doing everything possible. She was sponging my blood with a towel. And then I vomited. Then my mum and dad called the ambulance three times. 11:36
Liliana shows scars GRIFFITHS: Lilian Sissoko freely shows us her horrific scar. She was stabbed in the throat and tongue. 12:15
Liliana: You’re not allowed to kill someone anywhere just because of the colour of the skin. If it wasn’t like this, I wouldn’t have to be here and I could enjoy my life with my mum. 12:23
Liliana on swing GRIFFITHS: Her attackers have never been caught. Lilian’s Russian mother has sent her to a children’s sanatorium 100 kilometres away – to keep her safe. She sees her about once a month –and Lilian’s father, who is from Mali in Africa, also sometimes visits. 12:37
Griffith with Ali Nassor GRIFFITHS: Ali Nassor says this attack – on another little girl – shows how the skinhead groups are acting with impunity. 12:59
Ali Nassor: She is Russian, she is Russian, she doesn’t have any other home, she was born here. It’s just because she is black. 13:09
St. Petersburg/Dimitri and Slav Union member at port Music 13:18
GRIFFITHS: Dmitri has no sympathy – not even for the smallest victims of St Petersburg’s bloodshed: not for Lilian and those like her who have been injured, nor for other children who have been killed. 13:24
Dmitri: You realise we are at war. There is no such thing as cruelty in war. 13:42
That’s our way of doing things. They’re our enemies. 13:58
Dmitri Yes, one might say in general that it is a pity that a child died. But who might this child become? In future, hell either become a terrorist, or an enemy. If it is a girl she will give birth to some more enemies. You see? I have no mercy, as such. 14:04
Music 14:21
St. Petersburg/Gang members GRIFFITHS: Millions of Russians died vanquishing the Nazi armies of Germany. Most Russians recoil at the thought of fascism making a comeback in their own country. 14:27
But there’s little to suggest that anything is being done to stunt its growth. The death toll from this new war in St Petersburg – and throughout Russia – is growing. 14:42
Music 14:52
Credits Reporter: Emma Griffiths Camera: Louie Eroglu ACS Editor: Garth Thomas Producer : Trevor Bormann Olga Pavlova 15:07
GRIFFITHS: St Petersburg is Russia’s gateway to Europe and a city with a savage history. 00:07
It was the setting of an horrific episode of the Second World War. A German siege trapped the residents of then Leningrad for more than two years. 00:17
Six decades on, the city has become the setting for a new conflict. 00:33
Yunus in courtyard laying flowers Not far from St Petersburg’s glorious avenues – this dingy courtyard is a place of mourning. It’s where on one cold February evening in 2004, Yunus Soltonov lost his daughter. 00:44
Yunus Yunus Sultonov: I was the first to be beaten. I don’t know what happened next. When I came to my senses, I started yelling, calling for help. Some people came and my child was lying on the ground. She was taken inside, covered in blood, we undressed her and called an ambulance but she died in my arms. 01:04
Courtyard/ Dissolve to family photos of Khursheda Music 01:30
GRIFFITHS: His daughter Khursheda was nine years old. The little girl had been stabbed repeatedly by a gang of young men. 01:36
Of nine teenagers charged with her murder, one was let off and the others were found guilty of a far lesser charge. 01:50
Yunus in courtyard Yunus Sultonov: Just hooliganism, not murder. Just hooliganism. 02:00
Yunus And the sentence is very short. They’ll get out and start beating, stabbing and killing again. 02:04
News archive of Khursheda’s funeral GRIFFITHS: The family is from the Central Asian country of Tajikistan. There’s little doubt that Khursheda Sultonova was killed because of her dark skin and foreign appearance. A victim of St Petersburg’s new war waged by home-grown Nazis. 02:12
Night footage. Dmitri and gang Music 02:33
GRIFFITHS: This is Dmitri and his friends. He’s the commander of a fascist movement in St Petersburg called the Slav’s Union. 02:49
The organisation claims to have tens of thousands of supporters throughout Russia – claims that are impossible to verify. 03:00
Swastika symbol on jacket Its symbol is a re-designed swastika. 03:10
Dmitri and gang Dmitri: We have the truth. Victory will be ours. Glory to Russia! 03:18
GRIFFITHS: Dmitri is 19 years old. He and his offsiders are avowed racists and ready to fight for their cause. 03:25
Dmitri Dmitri: We go to the shooting range practically every week. We are training our brothers-in-arms in hand to hand combat. 03:38
Dmitri and gang in city GRIFFITHS: Russia’s new breed of ultra-nationalists have already shown their propensity for violence. 03:51
Amateur vision of attack GRIFFITHS: This is an attack in one of the city’s underground walkways. The victims are outnumbered and don’t stand a chance. 03:59
The beating has been filmed by the skinheads, to train and recruit new members. 04:13
Dmitri: I already have trained people, connections and 04:23
Dmitri contacts. They would probably be ready and fully armed within an hour. 04:30
Rain Music 04:40
Sam Sam: My name is Sam Newhouse. I’m from Boston. I’m 20 years old and I’ve now been living in St Petersburg for four months, studying at Smolny College. 04:52
Sam walking Music 05:01
GRIFFITHS: American student, Sam Newhouse, discovered the seamy side of St Petersburg last August. He was walking along this street at about midnight when he was set upon. 05:06
Sam Sam: They knocked me to the ground and started kicking me, I got kicked in the face and kicked around the head for a while. 05:19
Sam on street GRIFFITHS: He’s more fortunate than others. In the past three years at least nine foreign students have been killed in Russia. The twenty year old thinks he was targeted because of his dark looks. He could pass for someone from Russia’s Muslim south, or even a migrant from neighbouring Georgia. 05:28
Super: Sam Newhouse Student Sam: It definitely freaked me out about the prospect of living in Petersburg. I’d never considered myself a part of an endangered minority before, but since then I’ve kind of had to adapt in my lifestyle and sometimes when I’m walking home I start getting like paranoid that young men are following me. 05:48
Griffiths walks with Ali Nassor GRIFFITHS: Ali Nassor knows the feeling well. Born in Tanzania – he came here as a student. He’s now a permanent resident in St Petersburg and a community leader for the 5,000 other Africans living here. Over the years he’s witnessed the growth of Russia’s neo-nazi groups. 06:07
Ali. Super: Ali NassorAfrican Unity Ali Nassor: It’s like saying, if you don’t want to go home, then we’ll make you go, we’ll force you to go, and in this case that’s why they inflict terror. 06:28
Market GRIFFITHS: After the fall of the USSR, Russia’s big cities were swarmed by citizens from the former Soviet states. 06:40
Most of them are Muslims. And many of them work illegally in markets like these – where Russian customers accuse them of overcharging. To Fyodor -- another member of the Slav’s Union -- these people shouldn’t be here. 06:54
Fyodor Fyodor: Who are the enemies of the Russian nation? Let us say, our uninvited guests. We, for instance, don’t go anywhere, to anyone’s country, it is they who come here. We did not invite them. 07:11
Gang attack on fruit vendor Music 07:29
GRIFFITHS: You are about to watch a murder filmed by the killers. The victim is from Azerbaijan. He sells watermelons for a living – and is a father of eight children. 07:36
Gang in forest During this ambush – he’s stabbed to death. The perpetrators are young members of a neo-nazi group. They escape elated into a nearby forest – one of them wielding a bloodied knife. Three of the teenagers were arrested and given light sentences. One of them is already free. 07:53
Such attacks elicit sympathy from most people – but some -- even MPs – claim that the newcomers bring it on themselves. 08:22
Super: Alexander ProkhorenkoSt Petersburg City Government Prokhorenko: There are people who come over here from the ex-Soviet republics – migrants, as they are called, who are not properly settled, established, who have their own style of behaviour. They come here without much respect in their souls for Russians. 08:35
GRIFFITHS: Local politician Alexander Prokhorenko struggles to explain the skinhead phenomenon in his city. 09:00
St. Petersburg But Russia’s fall from superpower status has left many feeling let down and disillusioned. It’s created fertile ground for extremism. Mr Prokhorenko worries about Russia’s young men wasting their lives. 09:10
Prokhorenko Prokhorenko: I certainly feel sorry that these young people devote the best years of their lives to absolutely unproductive, and inhumane style of behaviour and ideas. 09:26
Griffiths with Ali Nassor GRIFFITHS: Ali Nassor believes many politicians and police tacitly support the skinheads – and turn a blind eye to their crimes. 09:46
Super: Ali Nassor African Unity Ali Nassor: I’m afraid because these people are -- I mean fascists are stronger and more organised – they have even infiltrated themselves into political parties or these circles. 09:57
Dmitri and gang target shooting GRIFFITHS: Dmitri and his gang say they are a political force. They claim to have supporters both in government and police circles. 10:10
10:22
Dmitri: Glory to Russia! Glory to Russia 10:28
Dmitri Dmitri: You know, Hitler for me personally is like a teacher. He built his Germany for seven years. He made it a great state. That is his plus. His minus is that he attacked Russia in 1940. That is his minus. 10:33
Liliana walking Music 11:00
Liliana Liliana: My name is Liliana Sissoko. I am 10 years old. I live in Russia, in St. Petersburg. 11:09
Liliana walking GRIFFITHS: Lilian Sissoko has been forced to grow up quickly. She speaks with perfect composure about the day two young men followed her home. 11:23
Liliana Liliana: One was standing next to a tourist company, next to our house - the other was behind me. Then he said “which floor do you live on?” and I told him I don’t count the floors. Then he stabbed me with a knife or something. And they ran away. I went upstairs, home, to the third floor. I was running home. My mum was yelling -- well, it was tough for her and she was doing everything possible. She was sponging my blood with a towel. And then I vomited. Then my mum and dad called the ambulance three times. 11:36
Liliana shows scars GRIFFITHS: Lilian Sissoko freely shows us her horrific scar. She was stabbed in the throat and tongue. 12:15
Liliana: You’re not allowed to kill someone anywhere just because of the colour of the skin. If it wasn’t like this, I wouldn’t have to be here and I could enjoy my life with my mum. 12:23
Liliana on swing GRIFFITHS: Her attackers have never been caught. Lilian’s Russian mother has sent her to a children’s sanatorium 100 kilometres away – to keep her safe. She sees her about once a month –and Lilian’s father, who is from Mali in Africa, also sometimes visits. 12:37
Griffith with Ali Nassor GRIFFITHS: Ali Nassor says this attack – on another little girl – shows how the skinhead groups are acting with impunity. 12:59
Ali Nassor: She is Russian, she is Russian, she doesn’t have any other home, she was born here. It’s just because she is black. 13:09
St. Petersburg/Dimitri and Slav Union member at port Music 13:18
GRIFFITHS: Dmitri has no sympathy – not even for the smallest victims of St Petersburg’s bloodshed: not for Lilian and those like her who have been injured, nor for other children who have been killed. 13:24
Dmitri: You realise we are at war. There is no such thing as cruelty in war. 13:42
That’s our way of doing things. They’re our enemies. 13:58
Dmitri Yes, one might say in general that it is a pity that a child died. But who might this child become? In future, hell either become a terrorist, or an enemy. If it is a girl she will give birth to some more enemies. You see? I have no mercy, as such. 14:04
Music 14:21
St. Petersburg/Gang members GRIFFITHS: Millions of Russians died vanquishing the Nazi armies of Germany. Most Russians recoil at the thought of fascism making a comeback in their own country. 14:27
But there’s little to suggest that anything is being done to stunt its growth. The death toll from this new war in St Petersburg – and throughout Russia – is growing. 14:42
Music 14:52
Credits Reporter: Emma Griffiths Camera: Louie Eroglu ACS Editor: Garth Thomas Producer : Trevor Bormann Olga Pavlova 15:07