Russia’s Nationalist Riots Rattle Putin

July 15 (Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin hadlittle trouble subduing the liberal, middle-class Muscovites wholed mass demonstrations against his government last year. He mayhave a harder time dealing with the country’s nationalists.

Xenophobic fervor erupted earlier this month in the smalltown of Pugachev, about 600 miles southeast of Moscow. The townis named after the storied Cossack rebel Yemelyan Pugachev, who,in the late 18th century, claimed he was Emperor Peter III andmanaged to take a few towns and fortresses before he wascaptured and beheaded on orders of Catherine the Great.