The portal "Interfax-religion" reports that the Samara diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church and the council of rectors of universities in the Samara region have concluded an agreement on the creation of a department of interuniversity theology (probably an interuniversity department of theology. - Ed. ). "Based on the developments that are in a number of departments of universities in Samara, a single concept for teaching theology will be developed.

On September 17, 2006, a mass brawl between anti-fascists and activists of the Movement Against Illegal Migration (DPNI) took place in St. Petersburg, who were holding a sanctioned rally in connection with the events in Kondopoga. In total, about 30 people participated in the rally organized by DPNI.

On September 18, the Tagansky Court of Moscow began hearings in the case of Grigory Grabovoi, who is accused of fraud on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). At the first meeting, G.

On July 31, 2006, in Moscow, the musician of the neo-Nazi group National Aggression was sentenced. He was sentenced to five and a half years in a strict regime. Unfortunately, whether the motive of national hatred was taken into account in the verdict is unknown. Recall that he was detained for an attack in April 2006 on a guest worker (it was an attempted robbery, but the group's fans claim that the right-wing radical convictions of the attacker served as the motive for the attack).

Islam.Ru, citing Rosbalt news agency, reports that Ismail Berdiev, head of the Coordinating Center for Muslims of the North Caucasus, Mufti of Karachay-Cherkessia and Stavropol, demands the closure of a sex shop in Cherkessk. On this occasion, he turned to the local administration and TV channels. “Now people are preparing for the holy fast in the month of Ramadan, and on TV they are offering fun from the sex shop with might and main.

More than 70 graves were damaged by vandals at the city cemetery of Novy Urengoy (Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug). “In the middle of last week, the duty unit of the Novy Urengoy Internal Affairs Directorate received a statement that graves had been destroyed and grave crosses had been overturned on the territory of the city cemetery,” Interfax quotes a representative of the press service of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the YNAO. group.

September 17, 2006 in a subway car approaching the station. metro station "Komsomolskaya", two Nazi skinheads (a young man and a girl) attacked a man and a woman of non-Slavic appearance, while shouting racist (anti-Chinese) slogans. The victims were beaten with a belt with metal inserts. After the train stopped, the criminals tried run away, but were detained by the police. The crime became known only in 2008, from reports about the trial of members of the group.

On September 17, 2006, at the Salsk bus station, police officers detained a car with 5 residents of the city of Rostov. During the inspection of the car, literature, posters and leaflets of a nationalist nature were found. In these leaflets, the texts of DPNI were accompanied by nationalist and skinhead graffiti. DPNI leader A. Belov states that his organization has nothing to do with the seized materials. The detained Rostovites were released on bail.

The speech of Pope Benedict XVI on September 12 at the University of Regensburg, during which the pontiff quoted the sharply negative statement of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos about Islam, was officially reacted by the Council of Muftis of Russia. On September 16, the RMC press service issued a statement on this matter.

The latest annual report on the observance of religious freedoms in the world was published by the US State Department. As always, one of the sections is devoted to the situation in Russia . The document, in particular, notes: “The Constitution (of the Russian Federation - Ed. ) guarantees freedom of religion, and the government in practice generally respected this right; however, in a number of cases, the authorities imposed restrictions on the activities of some religious associations.