How to watch

The number of extremist crimes in Russia has approximately tripled over the past four years, reported First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Alexander Chekalin, according to Interfax.
“In 2004, 130 such crimes were committed, in 2005 - 152, in 2006 - 263, in 2007 - 356,” said A. Chekalin at a scientific conference at the Academy of Military Sciences on national security issues. He clarified that “mostly these are crimes committed on national or religious grounds.”
A. Chekalin cited data according to which nationalist sentiments among the Russian population are estimated at 4.6%. “Among young people this figure is higher and amounts to 15%,” he added.

Experts have different assessments of this news. Some agree that extremism is on the rise. Others believe that our law enforcement agencies simply began to pay more attention to such crimes.