reports with reference to ITAR-TASS It is planned to start teaching the course "Fundamentals of Islam" in the general education schools of Chechnya from the new academic year, the website "NEWSru.com" . The new subject is designed to weaken the influence of the ideologists of Wahhabism on young people. According to the Deputy Mufti of Chechnya, Khamzat Odaev, this decision was coordinated with the Republican Ministry of Education.

At the end of March 2004, the head of the Federation Council Committee on Legal and Judicial Affairs, Stanislav Vavilov, announced that a bill was being developed in the upper house of parliament on the confiscation of property from persons who violated the law. According to the senator, he considers the withdrawal of the rule on confiscation of property "an unfortunate oversight that must be eliminated . " This initiative is also supported by the Prosecutor General's Office.

On March 31, 2004, the State Duma adopted in the first reading the law "On Meetings, Rallies, Demonstrations, Marches and Pickets", which prohibits holding rallies and pickets near administrative buildings.

On April 5, 2004, on the holiday of Pesach, a swastika and sayings were painted on the building of the Jewish community: "Jews, get out ...!" . The damage amounted to 150 thousand rubles. This fact became known from an article about the press conference of the Jewish community in Yoshkar-Ola. Sources Smirnov S. Ordinary fascism // Mariskaya Pravda. 2004. July 28

At the end of March, controversy around the Russian Criminal Code intensified. On March 24, 2004, Rossiyskaya Gazeta published a comment by lawyers on proposals to tighten criminal legislation. In particular, Tamara Morshchakova, a former judge of the Constitutional Court of Russia, believes that critics of the current criminal legislation, who claim that it unleashes the hands of organized crime, "are essentially lying ... defending the criminal law of the Middle Ages . " In particular, Art.

On April 5, 2004, the investigator of the Soviet Central Internal Affairs Directorate, Solovyov, sent an official decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case on an attack on a group of foreign students in Nizhny Novgorod, due to the impossibility "to identify eyewitnesses and persons who committed this act . " Information provided by NROO "Center for Interethnic Interaction "DIALOGUE".

The Novosibirsk Regional Court granted the request of the regional prosecutor Vladimir Tokarev to close the local newspaper Russkaya Sibir. The materials of this edition are recognized as extremist and anti-Semitic. Previously, the prosecutor's office and the Ministry of Press repeatedly issued warnings to the newspaper in connection with the publication of calls to commit violent acts against Jews.

On April 5, 2004, it became known that skinhead posters appeared in Yoshkar-Ola with the image of a "shaved guy with a knife and a flying eagle" on them , calling "not just to love your homeland, but also to fight for it" . Sources Skinhead posters appeared on the streets of Yoshkar-Ola // Antisemitismu.net. April 5, 2004

On the night of March 31 to April 1 in the village. Mezenskoye, Beloyarsky district, Sverdlovsk region, the St. Nicholas Church was set on fire. The interior of the church burned out almost completely, although some of the utensils and the bell were saved. Temple officials reject the suggestion that the fire could have been caused by a short circuit in the electrical wiring, and insist on the version of arson.

According to the information channel "Islam.Ru" , the Muslims of Dagestan are protesting against the planned arrival of B. Moiseev in the republic. According to Magomed Hajiyev, editor-in-chief of the local newspaper Nur-ul Islam, mosque imams declared that any attempt to present homosexuality as a natural phenomenon is unacceptable. They believe that the tour of B. Moiseev will negatively affect the moral foundations of the Dagestan society.

According to a sociological survey conducted by the Yuri Levada Analytical Center (sample size - 1,600 people; March), 3% of Russians strictly observe Great Lent. 4% are going to fast completely only in the last week before Easter; 12% intend to do it partially - limiting themselves in food and giving up alcohol. 80% of respondents do not adhere to the fast.

The administration of the city of Sosnovy Bor (Leningrad Region) refused to grant a local organization of Jehovah's Witnesses a land plot for a temple. This was done on the basis of the results of the referendum held on March 14 - simultaneously with the presidential elections: more than 90% of the townspeople were against the construction. The mayor of the city, Valery Nekrasov, canceled the earlier decision on the allocation of the site.

Kaluga deputies exempted "religious institutions engaged in non-religious activities" from property tax. In this case, we are talking about monastic bakeries, the Regions.ru website reports , citing the Kaluga Crossroads weekly. Sources Sargsyan O. Kaluga region. Monastic bakeries are exempt from paying property tax // Regions.ru. 2004. April 5.