ATTACK ON "ETHNIC CRIME".

Russia’s internal affairs ministry recently conducted a country-wide operation against what it calls "ethnic crime," a leading Russian weekly Kontinent reports. The two-week operation is said to have netted 1,500 alleged criminals and claimed to have solved 20,000 crimes. The operation was billed as prevention against "terrorist actions by ethnic criminal groups." The ministry plans "to conduct such operations regularly." (3) The ministry officials quoted in the article failed to provide a clear definition of "ethnic crime." Many non-Russians will see such ventures as selectively targeting them as inherently suspect.

Chechnya Roundup.