Spiritual leaders call for inter-ethnic peace

A press conference devoted to inter-ethnic relations has been held in Moscow. Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Committee for Public Relations Vsevolod Chaplin, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Council of Muftis Kharis Saubyanov, Vice President of the Congress of Jewish Communities Rabbi Zinovy Kogan and Permanent Representative of the Buddhist Community in Moscow Sanzhay Lama Andrey Balzhirov attended the event.

According to Vsevolod Chaplin, recent developments threaten inter-ethnic peace in the country. It's essential to preserve peaceful and friendly relations between different ethnic groups, he believes.

His opinion is shared by Kharis Saubyanov. According to him, extremist forces within Russia are trying to sabotage inter-ethnic peace and society should combat these extremist tendencies.

The representatives of the Jewish and Buddhist communities paid special attention to social and economic issues, underlining that it's crucial to combat social injustice and corruption and respect Russian law.