'Racist' Russian TV advert investigated

[emad]

Tom Parfitt in Moscow
Thursday November 10, 2005
The Guardian


Russian prosecutors are investigating a TV advert produced by a Kremlin-linked political party which suggests that dark-skinned Caucasians should be purged from Moscow's streets. The ad was produced by Rodina, an ultra-nationalist party set up by President Vladimir Putin's allies two years ago to leach votes from the Communist party.

In the advert two party members approach a small group of swarthy men who are eating melon in a park. The rinds that the men discard foul the wheels of a pram pushed by a slavic-looking Russian woman. The Rodina leader, Dmitry Rogozin, demands the men - who are played by actors - pick up their litter, but he receives no reply. His sidekick then claps a hand on the shoulder of one man and asks, "Do you understand Russian?" Finally, a slogan appears on the screen saying: "Let's clean our city of rubbish!"

The advert plays on strong anti-immigrant feeling in the capital, ahead of city parliament elections next month. Melon sellers in Moscow are often from Azerbaijan or Russia's southern republics.
The Moscow prosecutor's office said yesterday it was launching an investigation into whether the advert incited violence against ethnic minorities.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,1638816,00.html

[JuniorPlankton]

1. Oh, yes

that's Russia I know and remember!