Over the years I have met some pretty hardened Russian men on my travels. Muscular guys, able to handle their drink, and most importantly - fond of a joke.
But rather like the ice in a Siberian winter, there are those who take a far colder, harsher view on life.
They call themselves skinheads - although shaven heads are no longer mandatory.
In recent years skinheads have been held responsible for many of the far right attacks on immigrants across Russia. Many of the perpetrators have been locked up. Some have since been freed.
Maxim is one such former convict. We meet in the garden of a Moscow burger restaurant. We sit not far from the sizzle of beef on a grill, surrounded by the yelping and chanting of children, hyperactive after sugary drinks.
It was not, perhaps, the most appropriate place to meet a notorious ultra-nationalist, one who has done time for incitement of racial hatred. Especially one whose nickname, Tesak, means machete.
Munching on his burger, he made it clear to me that he was angry, fearful and by the looks of his two young, well-built henchmen, possibly quite dangerous.
"I think immigrants should be housed in separate workers' villages," he told me. He went on to explain how he felt they were sponging off society and putting Russian women in danger of attack.
Then he got out his knife. » | Tom Esslemont, BBC News, Russia | Saturday, September 01, 2012
