17/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Network Against Racism (ENAR) has expressed concern about the rise in violent racist crimes in Russia, and calls on the European Union to approach the Russian authorities to take a more energetic stance to resolve this problem. On 24 December 2005, a 28-year old Cameroonian student was killed by skinheads in Saint Petersburg, a town where, as ENAR points out, a dozen or more Africans and Asians have reportedly been killed in the past two years alone. ENAR cites “several sociological surveys” indicating that, early 2005, the percentage of Russians supporting xenophobic viewpoints fluctuated between 50 and 60%. “In recent months, the situation seems only to have worsened, but the Russian public authorities have shown little initiative in counteracting these violent racist crimes and racism in general”, ENAR states in a press release, stressing: “The EU has a responsibility to urge the Russian authorities to take concrete action to address all the manifestations of racism in Russian society”. The next regular EU/Russia consultation on human rights (a forum created in November 2004) is scheduled to take place this spring and should tackle the problem of racism, ENAR says.