Russian racist attacker: 'Envy' behind stabbings

Russian prosecutors said Friday a young man accused of attacking worshippers at a Moscow synagogue has been charged with racially motivated attempted murder, assault and actions aimed at humiliating national or religious groups.

The Moscow prosecutors' office said Alexander Koptsev, 20, had said during interrogation that he had committed the crime "out of envy toward them, since they live better," and that he had been inspired by books and Internet sites. He also told investigators that one of his motivations was "my desire to die," it said.

Koptsev told police investigators: "Russia has foreign intruders: Blacks, Chinese, and Jews."

He said he "couldn't deal with the situation, but I tried to bring the public's attention to the problem with this attack."

He added that "he did the right thing, and prepared for his act."

Koptsev said he also  wanted to attack a mosque. He said he hated people from the Caucus region and was ready to carry out an attack on a mosque, but was deterred because he thought he could not harm enough Muslim worshippers, since they carry cold weapons, and would have resisted immediately.

Koptsev added he chose to target a synagogue because he thought it was less well guarded..

He said he planned to commit suicide after the attack, but Jewish worshippers in the synagogue tackled him to the floor. Proof of his suicidal plan may be found in a cut he inflicted om himself.

Koptsev denied being a member of a neo-Nazi group, but was sympathetic towards them.

Koptsev said in televised comments that he was retracting a statement he made in custody, but he appeared to be referring to an earlier statement - not the one made public by prosecutors.

"After I was detained, I made statements. I retract them," he said from behind the bars of a courtroom cage in televised footage, his hair very short and his face marked with cuts and bruises. "The next day, an investigator came. I had myself more or less under control, and I made a normal statement."

Release request rejected

The Moscow prosecutors' office could not be reached for comment, but its news release said Koptsev's statements about his motives came in the presence of a lawyer. In Friday's hearing, a judge ordered that Koptsev be held in custody, rejecting a defense request that he be released provided he sign a pledge not to leave Moscow.

Koptsev stabbed and wounded eight men at a central Moscow synagogue on Wednesday evening.

A million Jews live in Russia, according to the Federation of Jewish Communities, and the Jewish community now is experiencing a revival after a wave of emigration to Israel

and other countries.

Russia's rising racism

Rising xenophobia in recent years has seen hundreds of racially motivated attacks on targets

including dark-skinned immigrants from former Soviet Central Asia and the Caucasus Mountains region.

Rights activists say hate groups are emboldened by authorities' mild approach to prosecuting hate crimes and complain that literature from Nazis and other extremists is sold freely.

In the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, an intoxicated young man shouting anti-Semitic slogans was detained as he tried to enter a synagogue Friday and was jailed for five days for hooliganism, regional police spokesman Sergei Sidorov said.

He denied a report that the man threatened people with the neck of a broken bottle.

The lower house of parliament's legislative committee has prepared a package of bills to strengthen anti-extremist legislation, committee head Pavel Krasheninnikov said Friday, according to the Interfax news agency.

Jewish leaders, however, have demanded that authorities push for better enforcement of existing laws.

U.S. Ambassador William Burns visited the synagogue on Friday morning.

"The United States welcomes Russian government statements condemning the attack and Prosecutor General (Vladimir) Ustinov's intent to oversee personally the criminal case," Burns said in a statement at the synagogue.

"We urge the Russian authorities to use all legal means to prosecute the perpetrator of this crime, and stop any such attacks in the future. It is crucially important to fight extremism in all its forms," Burns said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report