Kommersant: The Council of Legislators enters Manezh Square

Kommersant: The Council of Legislators enters Manezh Square

Published: 16 December, 2010, 07:56

Russia’s Deputy Prosecutor General, Aleksandr Buksman, while speaking yesterday at a joint meeting of the Council of Legislators and the Federation Council’s Joint Commission for Nationalities, said that “the events in Moscow started from an ordinary fight”. The deputy prosecutor general blamed regional and municipal authorities, as well as law enforcement agencies, which “poorly prevent crime”, for the violent clashes. At the end of the discussion, the meeting’s participants decided to turn to the Russian president with a proposal to recreate the Ministry of Nationalities.

While speaking before the Federation Council yesterday, Aleksandr Buksman said that the extremist crime rates in Russia “continue to increase from one year to the next”. In 2010, it rose by 23%. According to the deputy prosecutor general, this is a result of “incompetent work of the regional and municipal authorities, as well as the law enforcement agencies”. “They are used to criminal law measures: prosecute a person and relax,” he said. “Meanwhile, their preventative measures are weak.” Other reasons for extremism, cited by the deputy prosecutor general, were social inequality, unemployment, schools, that “don’t filter” children’s access to extremist websites, and the lack of youth policies. Hence the ethnic-fueled violence, he said, and noted that the events in Moscow “started with an ordinary dispute – the young people got into an argument over a cab” (Kommersant reported on the murder of the Spartak fan, Yegor Sviridov, on December 8). To the question of the Speaker of the Federation Council, Sergey Mironov, of whether or not the prosecution had investigated how and why Yegor Sviridov’s killer, Aslan Cherkessov, was released, Mr. Buksman responded that this decision was made by the interregional investigation department (read Kommersant’s December 14 issue).      

In turn, the speaker of the Federation Council cited “the lack of action by the management and employees of the law enforcement structures”, as well as the lack of information, as the reason for the December 12 violence on Manezh Square. “Everything that happened – is a form of social protest, the result of heightened social tensions, the growing poverty rate, the lack of social safety nets,” said Mr. Mironov. “And the best cure, today, is the truth – no matter how painful it may be.” The speaker of the Federation Council believes that a special office for nationality affairs needs to be created, the legislation on counteraction to ethnic strife needs to be perfected, and a culture of inter-ethnic relations needs to be created. In particular, he proposed introducing “a mandatory class in schools on the four religions in the RF”, as well as making the rules for the sale of arms more rigid and introducing “changes to the technical specifications of traumatic weapons” in order to reduce the number of fatalities.    

The idea to form a nationality affairs office was supported by the speakers of the regional parliaments, ROC spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin and Deputy Chairman of the Russian Council of Muftis, Khariz Saubyanov. According to the speaker of the Chechen parliament, Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, “this office must be self-sufficient, in terms of funding and staff”. He was even more direct when commenting on the weapons issue: “The sale of arms needs to be banned. Let the law enforcement agencies protect us”. According to the Chechen speaker, the prosecution ought to have said that this was an ordinary fight from the very beginning, “then we could have avoided mass violence in Moscow”.  

Head of the State Council of Tatarstan, Farid Mukhametshin, pointed to “harsh exploitation of the youth”. “During their election campaigns, parties make various proposals to the youth,” he explained. “And they are lost without being able to find guidance in the midst of the incoherent proposals.” Meanwhile, in reality, he believes that no one is concerned about the youth – United Russia, A Just Russia, the Communist Party, have all created youth wings and stopped at that. After expressing support for the idea to create an office for nationality issues, Mr. Mukhametshin noted that it should be headed by a person with the rank of deputy prime minister. In addition to that, he suggested adopting a framework law, which will outline the basic positions of the nationality policy, and a federal law on youth.   

In the end, the meeting’s participants recommended intensifying criminal liability for organization of an extremist community and crimes related with incitement of hatred and enmity, as well as tightening regulations governing the activity of non-official youth organizations. Moreover, members of the Council of Legislators and the Federation Council’s Joint Commission for Nationalities decided to turn to the president with a proposal to reestablish a ministry, responsible for the nationality policies in the country.

December 16, 2010 11:50

Kyrgyz murder suspects describe themselves as 'skinheads' – source

MOSCOW. Dec 16 (Interfax) - A 14-year-old suspected of killing a native of Kyrgyzstan in Moscow last Sunday has described himself as a skinhead, according to a law enforcement source.

The Kyrgyz citizen, born 1973, was killed on Sudostroitelnaya Street in southern Moscow on December 12, a day after a massive violent riot involving nationalists and football fans, who chanted "Russia for Russians," broke out close to the Kremlin.

The 14-year-old and two others have been detained on suspicion of committing the crime.

"The detained individuals claim to be Spartak Moscow football fans and supporters of the skinhead movement," the source said.

The 14-year-old teenager confessed to the murder, the source said. "The suspect is a student and said he is a Spartak fan nicknamed Scout," the source said.

The other suspect is a school student and calls himself a skinhead nicknamed Grizzly. The third detained individual is a university student who claimed to be a Spartak fan and a skinhead nicknamed Hector.

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