gave the following figures, which show a rapid growth in the number of such crimes over the past five years
According to his statistics, 130 extremist crimes were recorded in 2004, 460 in 2008, and 549 in 2009. As usual, the MVD stats did not distinguish between hate crimes and crimes connected to Islamic extremists, insurgents in Chechnya, or even peaceful opposition demonstrators, whom police are targeting with increasing frequency by abusing anti-extremism legislation. But General Kokov did say that there are 150 neo-fascist groups active in Russia.General Kokov admitted that his statistics are not 100% reliable. He also added that 549 extremist
crimes do not seem like much compared to the overall crime number for 2009 of 3,000,000. "Nevertheless," he said, "it ought to be pointed out that even one crime connected to the specific and delicate sphere of
inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations can drastically destabilize or even explode the situation, not only in one specific region, but in the entire state... That is the main danger presented by extremist incidents. Sometimes, a typical bar fight or night club brawl can lead to unpredictable consequences, including mass disorders on inter-ethnic or inter-religious grounds. It's enough to remember what happened in
Kondopoga, Salsk, Kalmykiya."
