Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said that all social problems in the country can be resolved by promotion of tolerance and mutual respect, Russia TV reports.
The minister expressed regret that Soviet institutions enforcing interethnic peace no longer existed. The problem cannot be resolved using force or administrative methods only, he notes.
Kolokoltsev said that police officers violating the law will undergo severe punishments. He added that the ministry wants to recruit devoted police officers, but lacks volunteers.
Russian Speaker of Parliament Sergey Naryshkin discussed ethnic issues in Moscow on October 18. He noted that migration policy needs close ties with the Russian strategy on the CIS space and social policy. The speaker added that interethnic conflicts are caused by native population and migrants.
Leokardia Drobijeva, a member of the presidential council for interethnic issues and head of the Center for Studies of Interethnic Relations of the Institute for Sociology of the RAS, said that interethnic aggression is aggravating in the public. The number of Russian nationalistic groups and organizations grows. 68% of the population expresses hatred to foreigners, 45% approve aggression for the sake of justice.
Svetlana Gannushkina, head of the Civil Assistance Committee, noted that social integration of migrants, national self-identification of Russians should not be associated with aggression. The expert proposed focusing of state efforts to resolve problems of the Russian population , including compatriots that returned from foreign states.
