According to the study "Attitude of Russian Youth to the Russian Orthodox Church" conducted by the Sociological Department of the Orthodox St. Tikhon Humanitarian University, 50.7% of young Russian citizens define the "important" role of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russian history. The study also touched upon a number of other issues, Interfax reports . 48.1% of all respondents highly appreciate the moral level of the clergy and believe that the clergy are attentive to their parishioners.

On October 5, 2008 in Pushkin (St. Petersburg) a funeral ceremony was held at the monument "Formula of Sorrow". These are traditional mourning events dedicated to the memory of the Jews of the city of Pushkin - victims of the Holocaust in 1941. The Formula of Sorrow monument, created by the sculptor Vadim Sidur, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, was erected in Pushkin in October 1991 on the initiative of the St. Petersburg Catastrophe Research Group.

The authorities of Kamensk-Uralsky (Sverdlovsk region) decided to rename the central square, named after October 25, into Cathedral Square. This decision was made at the request of the Yekaterinburg diocese. A survey of local residents was also conducted, said the head of the press service of the mayor, Elena Sheremet. According to her, two-thirds of the respondents (65.7%) were in favor of renaming the square, while 28.8% were against.

The Information and Analytical Center "SOVA" took part in the annual OSCE conference on the human dimension in Warsaw. Galina Kozhevnikova, deputy director of the Center, spoke at the plenary session of the session "Tolerance and non-discrimination II" on October 6, 2008. Speech by G. Kozhevnikova Dear Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen!

On October 6, another rally was held in support of the defrocked Bishop Diomede. A group of parishioners of the Church of St. Nicholas on Bersenevka, led by Galina Simonova, the former director of the newspaper Spirit of a Christian, banned by the Synod, gathered in Chisty Lane, Interfax reports.

On October 6, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to defrock Bishop Diomede of Chukotka. Thus, the Synod finally approved the decision of the Council of Bishops to defrock Bishop Diomede for his disobedience to the hierarchy and attempts to organize a schism in the Church. The Synod also decided to defrock several clergy of the Chukotka diocese who supported Bishop Diomede.

On October 5, 2008, in Khabarovsk, local anti-fascists held a youth action to paint swastikas and Nazi slogans on the walls of the city. The action was organized by an informal youth association: Punks Unity;, they were joined by activists from SotsSopr. First of all, the anti-fascists cleared the walls of the sports club from Nazi symbols and slogans.

At the beginning of October 2008, a training was held in Tambov on the safe behavior of foreign students on the streets. "The training turned out to be all the more relevant because the manifestations of racial intolerance and extremism in the Tambov region are not isolated, and local courts have already passed convictions against participants in attacks on foreigners," the event's press release says.

The SOVA Center for Information and Analysis took part in the 2008 OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw.

The SOVA Center for Information and Analysis took part in the 2008 OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw. We publish the text of the intervention made on October 1, 2008, by Alexander Verkhovsky at the working session "Tolerance and Non-Discrimination." Recommendations To OSCE: Create more unified guidelines for state monitoring of occurrences of racism and discrimination.

came into force . On October 6, 2008, the verdict passed by the Boksitogorsk City Court of the Leningrad Region against Alexander Smirnov, the former district police officer of the Pikalevsky police department of the city department of internal affairs, Recall that A. Smirnov was found guilty under Part 1 of Art.

On October 6, 2008, conference on the human dimension in Warsaw.

On October 3, a picket was held on Pushkin Square in Moscow against the introduction of the subject of studying Orthodoxy in schools and the abolition of the national component in education. The rally was organized by members of the Vatan People's Democratic Party.