Russians in Germany have been the victim of hundreds of attacks since Ukraine was invaded in late February.
German police have reported that hundreds of criminal incidents against Russian-heritage individuals have been reported in Germany since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine last month.
While even insults on the internet are included in this figure as being of criminal importance, officials within the Federal Republic have also said that incidents of threats and vandalism have also been reported.
According to a report by Die Welt, 318 criminally relevant incidents have been reported to the police since February 24, with 86 reported as occurring in Berlin alone.
“Some people no longer dare to speak Russian on the street,” Reem Alabali-Radovan, who serves as Germany’s anti-racism commissioner, is reported as saying. “That worries me a lot.”
“There were also attacks on Russian food markets, and children are insulted at school,” she continued. “We cannot tolerate that.”
Meanwhile, the former head of a Protestant church organisation in Germany called out anti-Russian sentiment in an opinion article published on Saturday.
“We are all shocked by the pictures from Ukraine,” the theologian Margot Käßmann wrote in Bild. “But that must not lead to hatred of people who come from Russia”
“The fact that children are harassed and that restaurants do not want to serve Russian guests is not at all acceptable,” she continued, giving the example of one young girl who was harassed at school for being Russian.
“The family has lived in Germany for decades. She was very happy when she was able to leave Russia,” Käßmann also said. “Anna was born here, I baptized her. Her parents both work, as do her siblings. They are Germans!”
Germany is not the only place where Russians are allegedly being targeted in reprisal incidents for what is happening in Ukraine.
According to a Washington Post article, the Russian owner of one London restaurant, Alexei Zimin, has seen his business’ voice-mail inbox filled up with messages such as “Russians are killers” and “You’re Putin’s Russians”.
This is despite Zimin being an extremely vocal opponent of the ongoing war in Ukraine, even committing part of his restaurant’s revenue to the Red Cross’ mission to help refugees.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, has been forced to denounce attacks against Russian schoolkids in his nation’s primary schools.
Ireland has also seen certain levels of anti-Russian incidents, while one priest in the country reportedly suggested that anti-war protesters should consider burning down the Russian embassy in Dublin over the ongoing conflict.
“It needs to be an option while they are still here,” Fr Fergal MacDonagh is reported as saying, the man having previously doused the front of the embassy in red paint.