Question about sects in TV debates

On November 24, in a debate on RTR, the question of the main Russian "anti-cultist" Alexander Dvorkin was voiced - should all sects be "banned"?

The question was raised after the leader of the Unity Conceptual Party, General Petrov, explained that his party is supported by the new religious movement Anastasia, that he personally sees an appeal to Satan in the Our Father, that the Russian Orthodox Church is a sect, and astrology should be returned "to the bosom of mathematical sciences" (for other details of the religious self-determination of the "Unity" party - see here ).

Naturally, Petrov answered the question in the negative.

Liberal Andrey Nechaev (Finance Minister in 1992), representing the Entrepreneurship Development Party, said that only those sects that harm the health of their members should be banned.

And Nikolai Dizhur, representing the People's Party, in response to Dvorkin's question, said that the position of his party "has no alternative." From further pathetic speech, one could understand that the People's Party had no alternative - for the ban on new religious movements.

Television debates // RTR. November 24, 2003