Gosha Makarov is a teenager in Russia's second city of Saint Petersburg who shaves his head, wears heavy boots and abides by a simple motto -- "Russia for Russians."
The 16-year-old belongs to a skinhead gang in the city where racist attacks have increased during the past several years, prompting soul-searching in the former imperial capital that considers itself the country's liberal intellectual center.
In the latest attack, a 9-year-old girl from Tajikistan was stabbed to death in the center of the city last week as she walked home with her father and an 11-year-old cousin. The police have blamed the incident on skinheads.
"The blacks," as people from the former Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia are derisively called in Russia, are most often the target of skinheads like Makarov.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/02/17/2003099090