Mick Hartley

Meanwhile, in Russia:

A Russian sushi company has offered a public apology for an advertisement that featured a black man after its owner received death threats from hardline nationalists.

Konstantin Zimen, the head of the Yobidoyobi company, said the threats began when the online advert was sharply criticised by the leader of a nationalist movement called Male State.

While the company initially insisted that it would not give in to pressure, it removed the advert on Saturday. “We would like to apologise to the Russian nation for having hurt Russians with our photographs,” Yobidoyobi said in a post on VKontakte, a popular social media website.

The advert showed the man and three young women eating noodles and seafood. Zimen said that he was accused of “the propaganda of multiculturalism”.

Only 17 per cent of Russians think that black people should be allowed to live in Russia, according to a survey published last year. Only 6 per cent said they would be willing to have a black person as a neighbour. The Kremlin has said that it does not believe that Russia has a xenophobia problem.