Putin calls for clampdown on xenophobia following street clashes

[pampango]

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1606100.php/Putin-calls-for-clampdown-on-xenophobia-following-street-clashes

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for a tough response to xenophobia on Thursday - a day after another set of violent clashes between ultra-nationalists and immigrant groups shook Moscow.

'There has to be order,' Putin said during a television broadcast. Every form of radicalism has to be prevented, the premier added. Street battles unfolded across the capital and in other cities on Wednesday, leading to the arrests of 1,700 people across the country.

Tensions had been rising in Russia for days, after suspects stemming from the Caucasus were alleged to have recently shot a Russian football fan. In the capital alone, 1,300 people were detained on Wednesday by thousands of security forces deployed to counter the skirmishes between extreme right-wing groups and Caucasian nationals.

Putin called for an end to the violence. 'We all are children of one country,' he said. It is important 'that Caucasians are not afraid to go onto the streets of Moscow, and that citizens of Slavic nationality are not scared of living in the North Caucasus,' he added.

[Democracyinkind]

1. Which is rather ironic considering that Putin's own party is neo-fascistic and ultra-nationalist.

Could it be that Mr. Putin has chained his meteoric rise to certain dark forces that now threaten to break up Russia along ethnic lines?

Many people think so. Personally, I believe this is all show: He's perfectly happy with the way things are. This is the Russia they were producing the last couple of years.