


	Remember me on this computer
	Forgot your password?
	Register

MT news

The Moscow Times Moscow Guide – Winter 2008

Since the middle of autumn one of the most important topics of discussion, could only be … no, not the financial crisis… New Year! The winter issue of The Moscow Times Moscow Guide is entirely devoted to New Years celebrations. Seven great ideas for celebrating the “Night of Nights” will help readers finalise their plans and choose how and where to party, give fresh ideas and lots of practical advice.

And don’t forget – problems will come by themselves, but happiness and luck need an invitation. That why the more cheerful and light-hearted your celebration of the coming holiday is, the happier and more successful 2009 will be for you.

The Crisis: Signs of a Kremlin Fearful Of Unrest
Sociologist Yevgeny Gontmakher has painted a disturbing picture of what might emerge from the financial crisis, forecasting continued unemployment, huge protests and spreading violence.

Market Matters: Huge Grain Harvest No Boon for Farmers
This year Russia is enjoying the biggest grain harvest it has ever seen -- and farmers couldn't be more worried.



Tuesday, January 06, 2009 Updated at 31 December 2008 22:36 Moscow Time.

The Moscow Times » Issue 4000 » News

Anti-Extremism Agency Proposed

01 October 2008By Natalya Krainova / Staff WriterThe Prosecutor General's Office on Tuesday proposed creating a separate law enforcement agency to battle extremism.

Addressing the State Duma in hearings on extremism Tuesday, Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Grin said such an agency is needed because federal and local authorities have been "ineffective" in preventing hate crimes in recent years.

There were 356 extremist crimes registered last year, up from 130 in 2004, Grin said, Interfax reported. Through the first six months of this year, authorities registered 250 extremist crime, 73 of which were committed in Moscow, he said.

The jump is due to an increasing number of hate crimes, even as the number of terrorist acts is falling, he said. From January through June, there were 19 religiously or racially motivated killings in Russia, all but two of which were committed in Moscow, he said.

Grin said the Internet and computer games are being used to promote terrorism and hate crimes. The Internet offers instructions on making explosives and blowing up buildings, while popular computer games promote racially motivated violence, he said.

Duma deputies issued a statement following the hearings calling the spike in hate crimes "a real threat to the foundations of the constitutional system" that "undermines social stability."

It was unclear whether the Prosecutor General's Office had formulated a concrete plan for the proposed agency. A spokeswoman there declined immediate comment Tuesday.

Lawmakers and human rights activists were skeptical about the effectiveness of a new agency to fight extremism.

"This is simply harmful," said Gennady Gudkov, a member of the Duma's Security Committee. "We would be relieving those who should be fighting extremism of their constitutional responsibility."

Galina Kozhevnikova, deputy head of the Sova Center, which tracks hate crimes, said she feared that the proposed agency would be "directed toward the political opposition" and be "a corruption machine."

The actual number of hate crimes in the country is much higher than the figures provided by authorities, Kozhevnikova said.

President Dmitry Medvedev, meanwhile, told Interior Ministry officials in the Kremlin on Tuesday that they must "step up the fight against extremism and ultranationalism."