Russia

   The 2002 Census for the Russian Republic recorded 183,000 Gypsies, which may be closer to the real figure than earlier estimates of 400,000. There are two main dialects of Romani spoken in Russia: Haladitko, the dialect that was used in the education program of the 1930s in the Soviet Union, and Servi in southern Russia. A contemporary poet writing under the pen name

   Sandor uses the latter dialect. Toward the end of the 19th century, there was an influx of Vlah Romanies. The overwhelming majority of Roma in Russia are Orthodox; a small group of Crimean Roma are Muslims.

   The first record of Gypsies in territory that would later become part of Russia dates from around 1500. They entered from Wallachia but are distinct from the later arrivals of Vlah Gypsies. On the whole, there was less persecution under the tsars than in western Europe. In 1759 a law promulgated by Empress Elizabeth prohibited nomadic Gypsies from entering St. Petersburg. Passports were imposed in an attempt to control nomadism in 1775. In 1783 Gypsies were given equal rights as citizens, and in 1856 a decree confirmed that they were liable to military service.

   Many musicians were adopted by nobles and made a good living, as Gypsy music and songs were much appreciated. Count Orlov set up one of many Gypsy choirs formed from families living and working on the large estates at the beginning of the 19th century, and the Tolstoy family, among others, patronized these choirs. Leo Tolstoy's brother and son (Sergei) both married Gypsies. Aleksei N. Apukhtin wrote The Old Gypsies in 1870 to commemorate the growing love between Sergei Tolstoy and Maria Shishkin. In 1919, when the tsarist government collapsed, some Gypsy singers accompanied their patrons to the west. One of these was V. Dimitrova. A record of hers was pessimistically, though not realistically, entitled La dernière des voix tsiganes [The Last of the Gypsy Voices].

   After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent civil war, Russia became part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics until 1991. Information on this period will be found under the SOVIET UNION entry.

   Following the political changes in 1991 and the breakup of the USSR, the social situation slowly became worse for Gypsies in Russia as the curbs on open expression of racial hatred disappeared. Under Mikhail Gorbachev, right-wing and nationalist groups were still kept under control, but after the succession of Boris Yeltsin, the hatred toward minorities came into the open. Anti-Gypsy pogroms have been reported from Nyevil, Ostrov, Safornovo, and Yeroslavni, in the Urals, and near Moscow. Among many reported incidents, in

   September 2003 a group of skinhead teenagers attacked a family of Gypsies from the Lyuli clan in St. Petersburg with knives and chains, killing a six-year-old girl. The attackers were given light prison sentences while the police detained all the residents of the Gypsy camp and expelled them from the town. In June 2004 Roma had to leave Pskov after threats from skinhead gangs. The remaining Roma left the town of Iskitim (Novosibirsk region) after a series of attacks culminating in November 2005 when a child died as a result of an arson attack on two houses.

   However, the overall political situation has gradually improved, and in 1999 the Russian government granted the Romany Association (Romano Kher) full cultural autonomy. The president of the association is Prof. George Demeter. There are currently some 16 branches of the association in different regions and cities of Russia, organized by Alexander Bariyev. There is also an influential Romany council of elders headed by Gen. Yan Rechetnikov. It deals with disputes between Roma and the authorities and operates throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Baltic States. Moscow holds an annual international festival of Romany music and dance, run by Y. Mauer and Georgi Tsvetkov, and there are numerous local competitions, concerts, festivals, and fairs. Roma from Russia helped to establish the International Union of the Roma of the Baltic States and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

   Some cultural activity has taken place in Russia since the political changes. For example, a dictionary of the Kalderash dialect has been published.