Moscow readies for Hitler's birthday

Police gird for skinhead violence

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) - Moscow authorities and police are ready to tackle any threat of violence by extremist skinheads on April 20, Adolf Hitler's birthday, Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said Tuesday.

Luzhkov also warned skinheads that police had the names of possible instigators. "I don't recommend that skinheads organise any action whatsoever," he said.

The Moscow police announced they would step up security in the Russian capital on April 20, to prevent attacks on foreigners.

Some 10,000 Russians, mostly young people, are members of neo-Nazi groups, according to the Russian interior ministry.

Xenophobic attacks occur regularly in Moscow and other large Russian cities, with African students and diplomats and people from the Caucasus region among those most often targeted.

A Madagascan and a Kenyan diplomat were badly injured in recent attacks by swastika-wearing skinheads in the Russian capital while three people including an Indian died last October when around 300 skinheads attacked a Moscow market.

But the attacks have also targeted white foreigners. Some American schoolchildren recently were beaten up outside a subway station.