Dmitry Nikulinsky was killed in an apparently race-hate attack near his home Saturday morning in one of the districts of St. Petersburg.
"We expect from the law-enforcement bodies to give their version of the murder. However, the available information generates serious suspicions that the murder was ethnically motivated. The victim received numerous knife wounds but nothing was stolen," Lazar said.
Russian and foreign human rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns over growing xenophobic sentiments in the country in recent years.
People with non-Slavic features have repeatedly been attacked in apparently racially motivated crimes in Moscow, St. Petersburg and in many cases in the Central Russian city of Voronezh, home to many universities with foreign students.
The Russian president highlighted the importance of fighting hate crime at a meeting with Federal Security Service officials earlier this year. Days later, the interior minister reported a 27% rise in the number of solved race attacks in the past year.
