Thread: Interesting Article

Just read this today, thought I might share it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/25/world ... et%20Union

Russian Officials Say Arrests End Gang Accused of Racial Killings

By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: May 25, 2006

MOSCOW, May 24 — The authorities in St. Petersburg announced Wednesday that they had broken up an extremist group that had shocked Russia with a string of racially motivated killings, including that of an African student in April and of an expert on hate crimes nearly two years ago.

The authorities said they recently arrested five members of the loosely organized group. Two others appeared to have been arrested earlier on separate charges, while an eighth was shot to death as the police tried to arrest him last Thursday. The police seized weapons, explosives and neo-Nazi and other extremist literature in raids of the gang members' apartments, the authorities said.

Though no charges have been filed yet, let alone any trials held, the case amounted to a rare judicial success in Russia's fight against a deadly wave of racism and xenophobia that has resulted in at least 48 killings and scores of assaults across the country in the last year and a half.

Yet even as officials made the announcement they played down the scope of racially motivated crimes in Russia and in St. Petersburg, which has been the scene of some of the most grisly killings, including that of a 9-year-old Tajik girl in 2004. It is also President Vladimir V. Putin's hometown and the site of this year's meeting of the leaders of the Group of 8 industrialized nations in July.

St. Petersburg's prosecutor, Sergei P. Zaitsev, said the seven young men in custody were members of a small extremist group with no known name. One of its leaders, Aleksei Voyevodin, was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison in December on charges of inciting racial hatred. He was also a member of an extremist group called Mad Crowd, but it was not clear if that group was linked to the one said to have been broken up.

A second leader, Dmitri Borovikov, was shot to death as the police tried to arrest him last Thursday in what appeared to be a wave of arrests. Mr. Zaitsev did not say when the other arrests had occurred, though Russian news reports said it was last week. Mr. Zaitsev said the police continued to search for at least five other members of the group.

The group's members are accused of killing Lamzar Samba, a 28-year-old student from Senegal, who was shot in the neck as he left a St. Petersburg nightclub on April 7. Although foreigners and Russians of non-Slavic ancestry routinely face violent assaults, his death was believed to be the first racially motivated killing involving a firearm.

Mr. Zaitsev went on to accuse the group of killing an Armenian and a Korean, as well as two of its own members. Without elaborating, he said the group was also involved in the killing of Nikolai M. Girenko, a Russian anthropologist who became an expert on neo-Nazis, skinheads and other extremist movements.

Racially tinged violence is routine here, with attacks occurring almost daily. Many more are believed to remain unreported by immigrants who fear police retaliation or abuse.

The Sova Center, a research organization in Moscow that tracks hate crimes, said at least 17 racially motivated killings had already occurred in Russia this year, a pace that would yield a total well in excess of the 31 reported last year. The center has tallied at least 104 violent assaults. Most of the victims are visitors from Asia or Africa or members of Russia's myriad ethnic groups.

The violence has prompted sharp criticism at home and abroad. In a report released this month titled "Violent Racism Out of Control," Amnesty International called the response by the authorities "grossly inadequate," despite public denunciations of racism by Mr. Putin.

As for the town I live I think that the situation with attacks based on national hatred is better now than it was in 90s. I remember how drunk десантники beaten Caucasian-looking sellers in the bazar. It was realy intimidating: sellers abandoned their kiosks and frantically ran away. Ground was littered with trampled tomatoes, plums, grapes, beated-up boxes and crates. It looked like a scene from an action movie when a truck runs through a marketplace. As for consumers they tried to take a chance of this turmoil to steal a peace of meat or a head of cabbage. Then cops came and most of десантники were arrested. Now Caucasian-origin and local people are more friendly to each other. Some people from Caucasus left a town others settled here and try to integrate themselves in local society.

А что же такие "десантники"? Статья из Лингво говорилась "paratrooper?" Ну, наверное есть еще значение(я)?

Originally Posted by Barmaley

А кто же такие "десантники"? Статья из Лингво говорилась "paratrooper?" Ну, наверное есть еще значение(я)?

That's almost true. The correct term would be just trooper. (From the word "десант" - landing party)

There are several arms in russian land military forces and ВДВ "Воздушно-десантные войска" (Airborne forces) is one of them.
So десантник is either a serviceman or has a military service background in the Airborne forces.

There are also slang names for:
Десантура = Десантник = Trooper
Морпех = Морской пехотинец = Marine
ПВОшник = from Противо-Воздушная Оборона (Air Defence forces)
Подводник = a man who served on submarine
Погранец = from Пограничник = Border guard

Originally Posted by Ramil

Originally Posted by Barmaley

А кто же такие "десантники"? Статья из Лингво говорилась "paratrooper?" Ну, наверное есть еще значение(я)?

That's almost true. The correct term would be just trooper. (From the word "десант" - landing party)

There are several arms in russian land military forces and ВДВ "Воздушно-десантные войска" (Airborne forces) is one of them.
So десантник is either a serviceman or has a military service background in the Airborne forces.
There is an official date "День десантника" or to be correct "День воздушно-десантных войск" which is being celebrated on August 2.
On this day all men who has an airborne forces background piously get roaring drunk and go bathing in municipal fountains. Some ugly incidents are very common.

There are also slang names for:
Десантура = Десантник = Trooper
Морпех = Морской пехотинец = Marine
ПВОшник = from Противо-Воздушная Оборона (Air Defence forces)
Подводник = a man who served on submarine
Погранец = from Пограничник = Border guard

A sad world we live in....


It's not only Russia, BTW. Last week a young feller here went out, bought a gun, and shot three people: a Turkish woman, a black woman, and the white child she was nanny'ing, as it had "also been contaminated".
He didn't know these people, they were just coloured.

Спасибо Ramil. Твое объяснение -- очень полезное. But (reverting to English for better understand here) why would "troopers" go around beating up people? Surely the state didn't issue orders saying "Every soldier is hereby ordered to go beat up at least 3 Chechens today." Was it just because they were bored/drunk at the barracks or is "troopers" just used here as a broad label for хулиганы in general -- anyone fighting these guys was considered to be a "trooper."

Originally Posted by Barmaley

Спасибо Ramil. Твое объяснение -- очень полезное. But (reverting to English for better understand here) why would "troopers" go around beating up people? Surely the state didn't issue orders saying "Every soldier is hereby ordered to go beat up at least 3 Chechens today." Was it just because they were bored/drunk at the barracks or is "troopers" just used here as a broad label for хулиганы in general -- anyone fighting these guys was considered to be a "trooper."

No, десантник means not only a soldier on active military duty but every man who has ever served in Airborne forces. It's a custom of theirs to wear the uniform when they meet to recall "the good old time" (especially on the "Trooper's day"). So every man who wears their uniform (blue beret and striped vest under the soldier's blouse are the most noticeable distinctions) is considered to be one of them.

The word десантники, in its most common sense, does mean "paratroopers", so Lingvo is correct. The word "десант" means troops that landed or were dispatched by sea or by air or by some other means to the enemy's territory. "Морской десант" means a sea landing party, "воздушный десант" means paratroopers.

When we say just "десантники" or "десантура", we almost always mean members of воздушно-десантные войска, i.e. paratroopers.

The word "troopers" has several definitions in English, most of which have nothing to do with "десантники".

As to why paratroopers were beating up people in the market, I guess it could only happen on August 2, which is their "professional" holiday (День воздушно-десантных войск). On this day, every year, former paratroopers get together to talk, get drunk (or get high), sing their songs and generally have a good time. For many of them, the idea of a good time includes having a good fight. August 2 is always a great pain in the erm... neck for local authorites and cops.

One thing that should be noted is that paratroopers are perhaps the single most active combat force in the Russian (and Soviet, for that matter) military. A soldier of an infantry division, for example, can serve his 2 years without seeing any combat duty, even when Russia is involved in armed conflicts. Paratroopers, on the other hand, are usually the first to be sent to any "hot spot." For example, paratroopers were very actively used in Afganistan and in Chechnya. They saw oriental-looking people kill their friends.

You can easily imagine the rest.

Originally Posted by translations.nm.ru

The word десантники, in its most common sense, does mean "paratroopers", so Lingvo is correct. The word "десант" means troops that landed or were dispatched by sea or by air or by some other means to the enemy's territory. "Морской десант" means a sea landing party, "воздушный десант" means paratroopers.

When we say just "десантники" or "десантура", we almost always mean members of воздушно-десантные войска, i.e. paratroopers.

The word "troopers" has several definitions in English, most of which have nothing to do with "десантники".

As to why paratroopers were beating up people in the market, I guess it could only happen on August 2, which is their "professional" holiday (День воздушно-десантных войск). On this day, every year, former paratroopers get together to talk, get drunk (or get high), sing their songs and generally have a good time. For many of them, the idea of a good time includes having a good fight. August 2 is always a great pain in the erm... neck for local authorites and cops.

One thing that should be noted is that paratroopers are perhaps the single most active combat force in the Russian (and Soviet, for that matter) military. A soldier of an infantry division, for example, can serve his 2 years without seeing any combat duty, even when Russia is involved in armed conflicts. Paratroopers, on the other hand, are usually the first to be sent to any "hot spot." For example, paratroopers were very actively used in Afganistan and in Chechnya. They saw oriental-looking people kill their friends.

You can easily imagine the rest.

That's true but "paratroopers" are not the single combat force in Russia. You're forgetting the Interior Ministry Forces and that same units of ОМОН (Отряды Милиции Особого Назначения) and СОБР (Сводные отряды Быстрого Реагирования). Unlike "Airborne Forces" who are subordinate to the Defence Ministry these units are under the command of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and in some cases to Federal Security Service (FSB, the former KGB).

Originally Posted by Ramil

That's true but "paratroopers" are not the single combat force in Russia. You're forgetting the Interior Ministry Forces and that same units of ОМОН (Отряды Милиции Особого Назначения) and СОБР (Сводные отряды Быстрого Реагирования). Unlike "Airborne Forces" who are subordinate to the Defence Ministry these units are under the command of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and in some cases to Federal Security Service (FSB, the former KGB).

They are not "десантники", are they?

Originally Posted by Ramil

That's true but "paratroopers" are not the single combat force in Russia.

I never said they are.

Originally Posted by Ramil

You're forgetting the Interior Ministry Forces and that same units of ОМОН (Отряды Милиции Особого Назначения) and СОБР (Сводные отряды Быстрого Реагирования). Unlike "Airborne Forces" who are subordinate to the Defence Ministry these units are under the command of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and in some cases to Federal Security Service (FSB, the former KGB).

And what does all this have to do with my post?

Originally Posted by Vesh

Originally Posted by Ramil

That's true but "paratroopers" are not the single combat force in Russia. You're forgetting the Interior Ministry Forces and that same units of ОМОН (Отряды Милиции Особого Назначения) and СОБР (Сводные отряды Быстрого Реагирования). Unlike "Airborne Forces" who are subordinate to the Defence Ministry these units are under the command of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and in some cases to Federal Security Service (FSB, the former KGB).

They are not "десантники", are they?

They are not. But they may be easily confused with "десантники" by some unsophisticated observer like a journalist, for example.

Originally Posted by translations.nm.ru

And what does all this have to do with my post?

That's why:

Originally Posted by translations.nm.ru

One thing that should be noted is that paratroopers are perhaps the single most active combat force in the Russian (and Soviet, for that matter) military.

That needed clarification that's all.

[quote=Ramil]

Originally Posted by translations.nm.ru

And what does all this have to do with my post?

That's why:

Originally Posted by "translations.nm.ru":3uj0xdnx

One thing that should be noted is that paratroopers are perhaps the single most active combat force in the Russian (and Soviet, for that matter) military.

That needed clarification that's all.[/quote:3uj0xdnx]

1) "the single most active combat force in the Russian military" and "the single combat force" are two very different statements.

Try reading more carefully

Originally Posted by translations.nm.ru

That needed clarification that's all.

1) "the single most active combat force in the Russian military" and "the single combat force" are two very different statements.

Try reading more carefully [/quote]

I did that. That's why I wanted to clear off the vagueness you've given birth to, you Chaos Agent!