There are plans to establish several centers of
religious tolerance in ten big Russian cities, which would work
as an information platform aimed at strengthening civil tolerance,
the Ministry of Regional Development of Russia said.
"These centers will be organized in the cities of St. Petersburg,
Omsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk, Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don,
Samara, Nizhny Novgorod and Irkutsk," the statement reads.
The centers will provide assistance to the populations of these cities
in the development of culture and social and inter-ethnic and
inter-religious cooperation. Their work will focus on the promotion of
respect for the feelings of believers and 'individuality, tolerance for
vulnerable groups of society and prevention of
xenophobia among citizens, "especially among young people."
Creating centers was planned in the federal target program
"Strengthening the unity of the Russian nation and the ethnic and
cultural development of the peoples of Russia", the federal program
developed by Ministry of Regional Development for the period from 2014
to 2018, RIA Novosti reports.
