During the first quarter of 2007 a rise is being noticed among incidents on the ground of xenophobia compared with the same period of past years, Director of Human Rights Moscow Bureau Alexander Brod stated to a press conference on Monday. "According to our monitoring, 49 cases on the ground of xenophobia have been registered in the first quarter of 2007. 13 people were killed and 50 were wounded," Brod said. He told during the same period in 2005, 22 attacks were registered, and 19 - in 2006; two people died and 30 were wounded. Such figures show that crimes on the ground of xenophobia have increased in Russia this year.

Brod underlined by number of crimes "in general large Russian cities are leaders, among which are Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Nizhni Novgorod, Voronezh and Yaroslavl". And generally immigrants from Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Georgia, North Korea and representatives of African states become targets for nationalistic attacks.

He said, in 2007 "nationalistic parties" have started to actively prepare for participation in elections. "Xenophobia resource is being actively used and has been used during regional elections on March this year, and it will be used during elections scheduled for December 2007," he stated. According to Brod, literature of xenophobia character is being published like before. Three such books have been already published this year, and currently they undergo an examination, Interfax reports.