From the Reuters wire:

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Racist attacks happen with shocking regularity in Russia and the government is shirking its responsibilities and failing to confront the problem, Amnesty International said in a report on Thursday. Anyone who does not look ethnically Russian is at risk, the report said, be they an African studying in St Petersburg or somebody from the Caucasus trying to earn a living in Moscow.

Young Tajik children have also been targeted by gangs of young men -- and women -- with neo-fascist beliefs. Attacks on Jews also seem to be on the rise, it said.

Anti-racism campaigners and even fans of rap or reggae music have also suffered, Amnesty said, because the "skinheads", as those with racist views are called in Russia, think they are "traitors".

The report may make uncomfortable reading for President Vladimir Putin as he prepares to host leaders of Group of Eight rich nations in St Petersburg this July to showcase Russia's credentials as a responsible, modern state.

"Russia's record on racism is incompatible with the country's place on the international stage and undermines its standing in the world," Irene Khan, Amnesty International's Secretary General, said in a statement.

UNCERTAINTY AND ANGER

The chaos that followed the fall of the Soviet Union bred uncertainty about Russia's place in the world and anger at the perceived threat from immigration. Racist groups sprang up.

Russia's northern city of St Petersburg is especially notorious for attacks. Last month a Senegalese student, coming out of a night club with a group of friends, was killed with a shotgun emblazoned with a Nazi swastika. Barely a week goes by without news of another act of racist violence. This week in Moscow teenagers wielding chains beat a Russian man as he tried to protect his half-African nephews.

The report said that the authorities had failed, until recently, to publicly recognize the attacks as a problem, with politicians ignoring the issue and the police either failing to investigate attacks at all, or investigating them inadequately.

People are starting to fight back, holding peaceful demonstrations to condemn racists and commemorate the dead.

"These violent attacks are one of the most visible manifestations of deep-seated intolerance and xenophobia in many parts of Russian society," Khan added.

"Yet turning a blind eye to race hate crimes has encouraged the growth of extreme xenophobia and neo-fascism in the country."