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Taiwanese warned about Russian skinhead threat

Taiwanese visiting or residing in Russia have been cautioned to avoid local skinheads, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.

Tseng Ching-yuan (曾慶源), director of MOFA's West Asian Affairs Department, said that the nation's representative office in Moscow advised Taiwanese in Russia to be vigilant about their personal safety following an attack by skinheads on a Taiwanese student residing in St. Petersburg.

The student was not seriously injured in the attack.

Tseng said skinheads are radical groups in Russia who do not welcome the presence of foreigners. Most skinheads are shaven-headed, street-wandering youngsters who attack foreigners, but they mostly do not belong to any specific gang.

He said the US ambassador to Russia and other countries' envoys jointly expressed their concern to the Russian foreign ministry in 2004 about skinheads' violently xenophobic behavior.

The skinhead problem seems to be less serious in Moscow due to frequent police patrols, but they sometimes still attack foreigners in other cities, Tseng said.

He added that as the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birth falls on April 20 and Vladimir Lenin's falls on April 22, skinhead activities are more frequent during this month.
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