A tragic incident unfolded in the village of Gorki-2 in the Odintsovo district of Moscow region, where a 15-year-old boy attacked students at his school with a knife. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the attacker struck a school security guard and one of the students.
The student who was attacked succumbed to his injuries. The Moscow Regional Police Department confirmed that the deceased was a 10-year-old boy.
A video of the attack, published by the Telegram channel Mash, shows the young assailant approaching a group of students with a knife and asking, "What’s your nationality?" The security guard attempts to intervene, but the attacker sprays pepper spray in his face and proceeds to stab him. The attacker then turns his knife on the children, fatally injuring the boy.
The Telegram channel Ostorozhno, Novosti reported that the victim was from a Tajik family, and the Telegram channel 112 identified the boy as Kobiljon A.
Russian media outlets have indicated that the assailant had carefully planned the crime. Just before the attack, he told one of the teachers, “I’m going to prison soon.” Initially, the teenager had planned to target his math teacher, Maria Dmitriyevna, but she was not present at the time.
After the murder, the teenager barricaded himself in a classroom, where he was eventually apprehended by law enforcement.
According to TASS, the suspect admitted his guilt.
"The interrogation is ongoing. Preliminary reports suggest that he is admitting to the crime," said Olga Vradiy, a spokewoman for the Investigative Committee's Office in Moscow Oblast.
Russian media have reported that the attack was likely motivated by xenophobia. Just before the incident, the suspect had shared a “manifesto” with other students — a neo-Nazi document titled "My Rage," in which he expressed hostility toward Jews, Muslims, anti-fascists, and liberals.
Racism in Russia mainly appears in the form of negative attitudes towards non-ethnic Russian citizens, immigrants or tourists and negative actions against them by some Russians. Traditionally, Russian racism includes antisemitism and Tatarophobia, as well as hostility towards the various peoples of the Caucasus, Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia and Africa.
Some sources say tens of thousands of people joined neo-Nazi groups inside Russia in the 2000s. Racism is reportedly a significant problem in Russia.
