Prosecutor of the Leninsky district of Ivanovo: “There are skinheads in the city...”

On June 27, 2007, a round table devoted to the national question was held in Ivanovo. The reason for the meeting was the attack on members of the Jewish community of the city on June 11, 2007. The event was attended by: Mayor of Ivanovo Alexander Fomin, Deputy Governor Yulia Zhukovskaya, members of the Jewish community headed by Erwin Kirshtein, head of the regional department of public relations Maxim Polyakov, chairman of the Assembly of Peoples of Russia Vladimir Evseev, as well as representatives of the regional prosecutor's office, the prosecutor's office of the Leninsky district, the Department of Internal Affairs and the FSB of the Ivanovo region, Chief Rabbi of the Central Federal District Zeev Wagner.

The mayor of the city said that "Ivanovo can serve as a model of tolerance in the national question . " A. Fomin added that the situation with the attack was immediately taken under control by the city and regional authorities, as well as law enforcement agencies. In his opinion, the media were not adequate in their assessments of what was happening.

When asked by members of the Ivanovo Jewish community about the presence of skinheads in Ivanovo, Leninsky district prosecutor Vladimir Everstov replied that "there are skinheads in the city, although there are few such organizations . "

V. Everstov also stressed that "The case of the attack on members of the Jewish community was initiated under Article 282 ("inciting national hatred"), and not under Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("hooliganism"). We call a spade a spade. that the case of the attack was transferred from the district prosecutor's office to the regional prosecutor's office indicates a great deal of attention to this issue . The prosecutor added: "Ivanovo cannot be compared with Voronezh or Kondopoga, this is incorrect . "

According to A. Fomin, in Ivanovo, as in other cities of Russia and the world, "the national question was, is and will be. But the fact that such events rarely occur in our city testifies to the great work that is being done in this direction" .

FSB spokesman Pavel Koblov recalled the conflicts among the Chechen, Azerbaijani, Dagestan and other diasporas.

According to Pavel Koblov (UFSB of the Ivanovo region), a lot of measures are being taken in Ivanovo to prevent conflicts motivated by ethnic hatred. "Thanks to the work of the operational units, many conflicts on ethnic grounds did not happen in the city. A joint investigation team of prosecutors and the FSB works in the region, and all materials on national issues are sent to the regional prosecutor's office," P. Koblov noted.

The participants of the "round table" were unanimous in their opinion that in order to prevent conflicts, the assistance of committees for youth affairs, the promotion of tolerance in schools, secondary and higher educational institutions is necessary. The head of the regional department of public relations, M. Polyakov, stressed that the difficulties are also connected with the absence of a law on national policy.

Sources

• The national question will always be in Ivanovo // Private trader (Ivanovo). 2007. June 27.
• There are skinheads in Ivanovo // Private trader (Ivanovo). 2007. June 27.