The region, usually called the Russian North, according to a number of researchers, occupies a special place in the religious life of modern Russia [1] . This article attempts to analyze the confessional policy in the Arkhangelsk region in the last 15 years.

On March 5, Rossiyskaya Gazeta published a transcript of a meeting of the "Council of Experts" (in fact, a round table that the newspaper is holding on seemingly topical issues) regarding Valery Komissarov's legislative initiative to limit television coverage of victims of terrorist attacks .

The Society for the Revival of Domestic Traditions addressed an open letter to President V. Putin. The reason for this appeal was the destruction by unknown persons of the exhibition of “interactive icons” by O. Yanushevsky in St. Petersburg on February 21.

The Government of the Russian Federation will donate to the Russian Orthodox Church several buildings of the Troitse-Lykovo estate now in federal ownership in Moscow at 24 Odintsovskaya Street. The order to this effect was signed by Prime Minister M.E. reports Fradkov, Sedmitsa.ru with reference to RIA Novosti. Sources The Government of the Russian Federation handed over to the Moscow Patriarchate several buildings of the estate "Troitse-Lykovo" // Week.ru. March 9, 2004

On March 4, 2004, the Rossiya newspaper published an article in which it tries to substantiate the thesis that the defeat of the SPS and Yabloko in the last Duma elections is a defeat not of parties, but of ideas. Firstly, the newspaper once again repeats that in Russia the traditional notions of right/left have been shifted, and these parties are not right. (However, in our opinion, this has long been the subject not of discussion, but of the political tradition of post-Soviet Russia).

On March 3, 2004, Izvestia continued the discussion begun by Mikhail Leontiev's article on the topic "Russia without Putin." In addition to a selection of replicas by experts and readers who, to one degree or another, agree with the points of view of M. Leontiev and L. Shevtsova, an article by State Duma deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov was published.

On the evening of March 5 - on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Purim - an explosion occurred in Moscow in a building belonging to the Institute for the Study of Judaism in the CIS on Goncharnaya Embankment. The reason was the operation of a shellless explosive device. Currently, the building is empty, so there were no casualties, but the blast knocked out the windows on the first six floors of a nearby nine-story residential building.

On March 5, 2004, another article by M. Leontiev was published, in which he tries to respond to criticism of his previous article . He believes that all the reproaches against Putin are in fact a condemnation of Putin's struggle with the oligarchs, which M. Leontiev fully approves (while condemning "Americanoid common people" ), substantiating a number of theses. Putin is not curtailing democratic freedoms because there was no democracy in Russia.

In the program "To the barrier!" March 4, 2004 Vladimir Zhirinovsky, as best he could, advertised Oleg Malyshkin: * Zhirinovsky : Malyshkin is the only candidate who was not in the CPSU. The only purely Russian... Solovyov : "Purely Russian" - does this mean that he was washed? Zhirinovsky : No, the fact that he is really from the people ... Solovyov : So they checked the genotype? Zhirinovsky : Yes!* To the barrier! // NTV. 2003. March 4.

In Kursk, the Arbitration Court made a decision obliging the regional Committee for Culture to transfer to the local diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church the premises in the western part of the Upper Trinity Church of the Holy Trinity Convent, currently occupied by a library for the blind. In 1992, the administration of the Kursk region, returning the main part of the church to the diocese, promised to eventually vacate the rest of the premises.

According to the Sedmitsa.ru website , with reference to RIA Novosti , the Moscow Department of Economic Policy and Development will allocate funds for the restoration of the fence and the building of the Old Believer Intercession-Assumption Church - an architectural monument. The church is currently in disrepair.

Introductory note

An "Interreligious Council of Traditional Confessions" of the region has been created in Kalmykia. Its founders were the association of Buddhists of Kalmykia, the Elista and Kalmyk eparchies of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, and the Spiritual Muslim Board of Kalmykia. The purpose of the Council is to develop cooperation between confessions, prevent religious conflicts, promote the establishment of "traditional spiritual values" in society.

On March 4, the Vremya Novostei newspaper published an article entitled "The Temptation of Orthodoxy," in which Alexander Morozov, a columnist for the Religion and Mass Media portal, analyzes V. Putin's policy towards the Russian Orthodox Church. According to A. Morozov, before V. Putin came to power, relations between officials and the Patriarchate were built on the principle of "bargaining": "The Patriarchate developed a "sense of guilt" in the authorities for the past.

website The Sedmitsa.ru , citing ITAR-TASS, reports that four Turkish citizens were expelled from the territory of Bashkiria for extremist activities. The authorities accuse them of belonging to the Turkish religious-nationalist organization "Nurcular", whose goal is to overthrow the secular government of Turkey and replace it with Sharia. The report also says that Nurcular is related to another well-known Turkish extremist organization, the Gray Wolves.