Russian Police Last Year Prevented ‘More than 100’ Ethnic and Religious Incidents from Becoming Major Conflicts, Interior Minister Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 21 – Russian interior minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev says that the Russian police, acting on intelligence collected by themselves and by the Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs were able to intervene in a timely manner and prevent “more than 100” ethnic and religious incidents from growing into major conflicts.

            On the one hand, Kolokotsev’s words, reported by TASS, are little more than boosterism for his ministry and the police and a suggestion that close monitoring of the population and the early intervention of the authorities can prevent the emergence of serious problems (tass.ru/obschestvo/17316921).

            But on the other, this report is significant for at least three reasons: it highlights just how attentive Moscow is to even the smallest sign of ethnic and religious conflict, it suggests that the authorities want to be engaged in even closer monitoring of the population, and it is a reminder of just how much ethnic and religious tension there in fact is in Putin’s Russia.