African migrants in Russia describe ’hell on Earth’ - LA Times
►http://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-russia-africans-20141102-story.html#page=1
Some Africans say that after arriving here, they heard the Russian word “obezyana” directed at them so often that they initially thought it meant “black person.” It means “monkey.”
The situation has improved for blacks somewhat in recent years partly because members of extremist groups, such as skinheads and neo-Nazis, are being prosecuted more often and because the aggressors are targeting other minority groups, such as people from Central Asia and the Caucasus, rights activists said.
The brutality Africans face is a far cry from the welcome they received during the Soviet era, when students from the continent were lured in large numbers by offers of a free education, particularly those from newly independent nations that were “building communism.”
Thousands of Africans pursued degrees in the Soviet Union, in fields such as international law and animal husbandry. But with the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. in 1991, much of the funding dried up and most African students returned home, academics said.
Today the African ranks are growing again, fueled by asylum seekers, refugees and economic migrants.