“Radical Measures”

In Moscow the words “radical measures” seem to be on every politician’s lips this week as they seek solutions to the ethnic tensions that exploded into violence again last Sunday. Thousands of Russians took to the streets in Moscow’s Biriulevo district to ransack a market and stores where undocumented migrants work. For most of the day the police stood by and watched before finally making a handful of arrests. Then on Monday the police were out in force, arresting, not the rioters, but an estimated 1200 of their victims.

The solution to ethnic tensions? “Radical measures,” said Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobianin. “Radical measures” said the leader of the United Russia Party Vladimir Vasiliev. “Radical measures” said Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party. No one has yet fleshed out the details of what constitutes “radical,” though Zhironovsky, decrying what he called “internal colonization” from Russia’s southern borderlands, demanded that the government “push them all out, every migrant.”

Sunday’s riot grew out of a conflict between a Russian (Egor Shcherbakov) and an Azeri migrant worker named Orkhan Zeynalov. Zeynalov allegedly stabbed and killed Shcehrbakov. On Wednesday Zeynalov was arrested in the city of Kolomna by an elite riot police unit.

Video of Zeynalov being arrested, roughed up, paraded through the streets, and flown by helicopter back to Moscow appeared on Russian TV Wednesday night, providing a clue to what “radical measures” might look like in practice.

What all this means about Putin’s government is difficult to say. He no doubt sympathizes with the anti-migrant sentiments of the mob, and as his middle class support has eroded over the last three years he has increasingly relied on working class Muscovites like those who took part in the riot. On the other hand, the riots hardly reflect good governance. The last thing Putin wants just a few months before the Sochi Olympics is yet another reminder of how ineffective the Russian police are. While TV news stations are playing video of Zeynalov’s arrest, Moscow newspapers are reporting more quiet investigations of how things got out of control Sunday, and how police can get a grip on the ultra-nationalists. On Tuesday the Ministry of Internal Affairs fired the Chief of Police for Biriulevo District. On Thursday Moscow Police Chief Anatolii Yakunin tried to redirect the blame to migrant workers, saying that his force would check “every apartment in Moscow” for illegal migrants.

This is a dangerous game for Putin, and it hints at the shaky foundations of his control in Russia. He needs the mob, so he can’t just suppress it. He needs the police, so he can’t publicly criticize them. He needs to avoid international criticism on the eve of the Olympics, and this week both the mob and the police brought international criticism. But where else can he turn for support?