Africans 'under siege' in Moscow

Nearly 60% of black and African people living in Russia's capital Moscow have been physically assaulted in racially motivated attacks, says a new study.  According to reports, Africans working or studying in the city live in constant fear of attack.  A quarter of 200 people interviewed said they have been assaulted more than once and 80 percent have been verbally abused.

Many of the African respondents said they have avoided using the Moscow metro and crowded public places.  The respondents said they do not go out on Russian holidays or on days when there were football matches because many of the attacks on Africans were pre-meditated  and extremely violent during such  times.  

One Nigerian immigrant said he has been stabbed repeatedly in  the back and then shot.  Another man said his attacker had attempted to remove his scalp.  Meanwhile there are some ten thousand Africans living in Moscow but far more are believed to live there illegally, nay as economic migrants who live in a state of virtual siege.