By BBC Moscow correspondent Andrew Harding

President Yeltsin has issued a blunt warning about the emergence of far-right extremism and racism in Russia.

Speaking on television on the 57th anniversary of the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany, Mr Yeltsin said he was worried that not everyone in Russia was aware of how real the threat was.

(In Russian) President Yeltsin: warned that "fascism is raising its head and stupefying young people"

The president said young people were being charmed by war-like symbols and by the ideas of national supremacy and anti-semitism.

He was worried, he said, that not everyone appreciated the real threat posed by extremism in Russia.

A number of far-right groups have sprung up here since the collapse of Communism.

Rising unemployment, declining living standards and rampant crime, have helped to create an under-class of disaffected youths.

Many blame ethnic and religious minorities for Russia's problems and call for a strong hand to restore order.

Skinhead groups are becoming more active and human rights organisations say the number of attacks on foreigners is growing.

Last month, a bomb exploded at an Orthodox synagogue in Moscow.

Earlier on Monday, President Yeltsin laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near Red Square. The Soviet Union lost more than 25 million people in the Second World War.