On 5 June 2006 a few dozen young Armenians and representatives of Civil Society assembled outside the Russian Embassy in Yerevan to protest against an unprecedented number of attacks against Armenians and other nationalities in Russia. After handing in a petition and distributing leaflets that also criticized the Russian authorities for failing to take action against those nationalist and racist groups believed to be responsible for the attacks, the protestors then marched to stage a demonstration outside the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Armenia. The text of the leaflets handed out read as follows:

Statement

The repeated occurrence of virulent racism and xenophobia in Russia in recent years is of great concern. In 2005 alone, 28 persons from ethnic groups other than Russian were murdered and another 402 such persons were assaulted and battered by racist groups. Targeted predominantly are persons who come from the Caucasus and Central Asia, with Armenians constituting a large number among those. Nationalist groups make anti-Armenian pronouncements. They committed ethnic hostility-motivated murders of six young Armenian young men in 2006 in Moscow alone. Yevgeny Baghdasarian, Hayk Dolukhanian, Harutiun Galstian, Robert Feroyan and Vigen Abrahamiants were among their victims as was Arthur Sardarian, the most recent victim murdered on May 25. 

The fact that racist and fascist groups operate in an unimpeded fashion and that criminal acts and murders go for the most part unpunished gives grounds to believe that the said groups operate under the patronage of certain State structures of the Russian Federation. We, the representatives of the Armenian non-governmental organizations and the citizens of Armenia, condemn strongly the actions of the racist group raging in Russia and inadequate steps taken with respect to them and demand that the Russian Federation authorities should take prompt action to detain the murderers and bring them to justice. 

Helsinki Committee of Armenia, NGO 
For Science Development Initiative Group 
Collaboration for Democracy, NGO 
Free Forum for Civil Initiatives, NGO 
Legal Center Forum, NGO 
Citadel, NGO 
Hope, NGO 
Student Council of American University of Armenia 
Yeritac Youth, NGO 
Word Independent Youth Union, NGO

Photos by Onnik Krikorian