US Commission on Religious Freedom in the World has finished its weeklong visit to Russia. The reason for the visit was the publication of a draft report elaborated by a working group headed by Akhmad Kadyrov in the Gazeta newspaper (No. 226 and No. 228 of December, 5 and 9 2002). The report focused on religious extremism was written for a sitting of the Security Council and the State Council of Russia, scheduled for January 2003. The report defined Catholics, Protestants, members of sects and Muslims as religious extremists for "having connections abroad".
In the last two months the scandal around the publication of the draft report gained an international character. According to Gazeta, US State Secretary Colin Powell was informed about the unprecedented document on January 14. Meanwhile, Russian authorities deny that such document exists. In December Premier Mikhail Kasyanov assured head of the Polish Seym that such report did not exist, while already on December 9 Vladimir Zorin, Nationalities Affairs Minister and deputy head of Kadyrov’s working group told Gazeta in an interview that the working group has elaborated the draft report.
"Ãàçåòà", 27 ÿíâàðÿ 2003 [âñÿ ñòàòüÿ]
