Youth activists will patrol Moscow on Wednesday in a bid to prevent attacks by neo-Nazi groups celebrating the 122nd anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birth, officials said.

Rosmolodezh - Russian Federal Agency of Youth Affairs - said that some 750 people from the country's "Volunteer Brigade" - an organization with close links to law enforcement bodies - and representatives of ethnic minority groups would "take under special control" squares, train stations and other public places.

April 20 has traditionally seen an increase attacks on ethnic minorities in Moscow and other Russian cities.

Ethnic tensions exploded in Moscow late last year after the killing of a football fan by a native of the country's mainly Muslim North Caucasus. Some 5,000 football hooligans and nationalists subsequently rioted near Red Square and clashes between ethnic Russians and internal migrants were reported across the country.

MOSCOW, April 19 (RIA Novosti)