Moscow, August 19, Interfax – The Russian Orthodox Church believes it is vital for Russia to pursue anti-extremist campaign and develop a sustainable strategy.
“Both prohibitive measures and conflict resolution efforts seem inadequate. There is a need to pursue strategic preventive efforts to settle conflicts among nations and confessions,” head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said Friday at a meeting of the multiagency anti-extremism committee.
According to him, such preventive measures would be lost, unless we give young people “real work to do, something related to fighting sins and crimes which have been defiling our social life.”
“If we give illegal immigrants more jobs and a chance to become more aware of the Russian culture, this will fix the problem from the one hand. If we allow skinheads to legally prevent crime and immoral behavior, we may bring such young people out of the extremist focus and let them start a new meaningful life, and, thus, meet the challenge from the other hand,” Father Vsevolod believes.
He stressed, “it’s vital to Russia to fight extremism because there are powers seeking to put Russia down on its knees by dividing it and striking its citizens on national, religious, social and political matters.”
