African Moscow Residents 'Constantly Fear Attacks'

Nearly 60% of black and African people living in Russia's capital Moscow have been physically assaulted in racially motivated attacks, says a new study.

Africans working or studying in the city live in constant fear of attack, according to the report by the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy, cited by the BBC.

A quarter of 200 people surveyed said they had been assaulted more than once. Some 80% had been verbally abused.

But the number of assaults was down from the MPC's last survey in 2002.

Many of the African respondents said they: Avoided using the Moscow metro, were also careful to avoid crowded public places and did not go out on Russian national holidays or on days when there were football matches.

Many of the attacks on Africans were pre-meditated and extremely violent, the report found.