Russia: Skinhead gang accused of killing 20 in Moscow

Russian prosecutors yesterday charged a skinhead gang led by two teenagers with the racist murders of 20 people during a series of brutal attacks in Moscow.

Prosecutors said they had charged nine people aged between 17 and 22 with the murders. They identified the ringleaders as Artur Ryno - an art student - and Pavel Skachevsky. One of the gang members was a 22-year-old woman, who allegedly videotaped an attack on one of the victims - a student from Azerbaijan who was severely beaten but survived.

The gang targeted victims from post-Soviet republics who were working and studying in Moscow. Ryno was arrested after allegedly stabbing to death an Armenian businessman in April 2007. He told police he had killed more than 30 people, adding "the city needed to be cleaned" of foreigners who "oppressed Russians".