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TV screens in Moscow display images of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during his annual TV marathon question-and-answer at a shop Thursday. Photo: AFP Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Thursday called extremism a "virus" and vowed to fight all its forms, in a bid to avert the return of racism-fueled riots that have rocked Moscow in recent days. "Russia must suppress all manifestations of extremism, on all sides, wherever they may come from," Putin said in a regular question-and-answer session with the Russian people, according to AFP. "We should not be painting people from the Caucasus, or people of other nationalities, with the same broad strokes." Putin's remarks came a day after police arrested more than 1,300 people in Moscow and other cities in a nationwide security sweep aimed at staving off ethnic riots from erupting following the deadly shooting of a football fan by a Muslim suspect on Saturday. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned that such violence threatens the stability of the entire state. The incidents underscore the delicate state of the country's ethnic relations and the numerous problems that it faces as it comes under the international spotlight ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2018 World Cup, AFP said. Putin stressed that every country has ethnic problems and that Russia's were no different from those of anyone else. He argued that Russia was a young country that was still learning how to handle problems as sensitive as race issues. "This bacillus, it is always present in society – just like viruses exist in everyone organisms," Putin said. "If a person has good immunity, these viruses never develop. And the same thing with society – if society's immune system is strong, if society is mature, then these bacilli of nationalism, radicalism – they will just sit there quietly, at the cellular level, and not stick their necks out." Russian security officials' heavy-handed handling of previous demonstrations has come under heavy criticism. But Putin insisted that tough police action was imperative to stemming extremism, saying "liberal" criticism of the government threatened stability. "It's necessary to harshly suppress displays of extremism from all quarters," Putin said, according to Reuters. "Society, including liberal society, must understand that there must be order and one must support the government now in power in order to support the interests of the majority." Vladislav Surkov, the Kremlin’s first deputy chief of staff, told the Izvestia newspaper that Russia’s fractured liberal opposition was rocking the boat and encouraging violence. "It is the ostensibly 'liberal' public that brings illegal protests into vogue, and these Nazis and lunatics keep up with the fashion," he told the newspaper. Agencies |
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