Several criminal cases of extremism were opened in St. Petersburg in connection with the conflict in Artsakh

The St. Petersburg police opened several criminal cases for inciting hatred or enmity against the backdrop of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. This was reported by Interfax with reference to Yury Popov, senior detective for especially important cases at the Center for Combating Extremism of the local Ministry of Internal Affairs.

It is noted that police officers have been additionally mobilized in St. Petersburg to prevent cases of interethnic hatred.

Details of the criminal cases were not reported. According to Interfax, one case under article 282 of the Criminal Code was initiated back in July against a representative of the Azerbaijani diaspora. This happened after the police attended a meeting of about 40 Azerbaijanis, where a future meeting with Armenians was discussed.

On November 8, in the center of St. Petersburg, several people staged a rally with the flags of Turkey and Azerbaijan. After that, two participants in the trip were found guilty of organizing an uncoordinated action (part 2 of article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). One of them was sentenced to 5 days of arrest, the other was fined.

In addition, the Kuibyshevsky District Court of St. Petersburg on November 9 registered and considered 12 administrative cases against people who chanted “Karabakh” on Nevsky Prospekt on November 6. Six were given a day of arrest under the article on participation in an event that interfered with the operation of infrastructure, including transport (part 6.1 of article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).

• On September 27, hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh resumed. These events are monitored by Mediazona. On the evening of November 9, the heads of state, with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, signed an agreement according to which most of the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh goes to Azerbaijan, and Russia sends peacekeepers to the region.