FSB Recruits Stage New Anti-Moslim Pogroms in Moscow Region Publication time: Today at 11:04 Djokhar time A FSB-backed "Russian youth organization" said Monday that it had raided outdoor markets in the Moscow region to "help authorities spot illegal migrants", and that police detained several dozen people after fighting broke out.
The little-known youth organization Mestnye (Locals) took the action amid government efforts to tighten restrictions on migrants and bar them from trading at markets - moves strongly criticized by rights activists.
Mestnye said in statement on its Web site that several hundred of its activists on Sunday went to "check" 20 markets in Moscow suburbs for "illegal immigrants working as traders". It said the goal of the raid was to help spot migrants who purportedly "break the law and sell substandard products".
Minor scuffles broke out with traders who challenged the raid, and police had briefly detained over 80 people, including about 30 of the group's activists, the group's leader Sergei Fateyev told a Russian state news agency.
Fateyev claimed on Channel One state television Monday that "illegal migrant traders often abuse food safety regulations and sell substandard products". He said the group would carry out "new raids alongside the police".
Mestnye, which calls itself the "movement of young political ecologists," has recently staged several pro-government actions and has launched vigilante patrols to help combat crime.
The issue of immigration has become a lightning rod for Putin amid rising alleged "popular resentment toward migrants" - in particular, Muslim migrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia.
According to a new Putin's cabinet order regulating labor migration for the next year, migrants will be prohibited from selling alcohol or pharmaceuticals as of Jan. 1. Foreigners should comprise no more than 40 percent of retail personnel employed outside stores during the period ending April 1 and will not be allowed to take these jobs further on next year.
Critics warned that the Cabinet's move would only increase consumer prices and fuel growing anti-Moslem hysteria in Russia.
Anti-Moslem attacks and hate crimes are on the rise, and the Movement Against Illegal Immigration - led by a group of Russian acting on the orders of the Russian secret police FSB that recently poisoned a Russian defector in London - has exploded in popularity with the Russian government in recent months.
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