NEW BODY TO ADDRESS RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM.

In an article entitled “Akhmad Kadyrov Has Been charged with Destroying Terrorism in Its Lair,” the September 26 issue of Kommersant reported that, on the previous day, at the offices of the Russian presidential administration in Moscow, a closed session had been held by officials from the presidium of the Russian State Council on the issue of counteracting manifestations of religious extremism in Russia. In accord with instructions from President Putin, a working group had been formed to deal with the question of religious extremism in Russia. Akhmad Kadyrov, the pro-Moscow civilian leader of Chechnya, had been named the head of this group, and he was to have three deputies: “the Minister for National Policy of Russia, Vladimir Zorin, the first deputy head of the Main Administration for Internal Policy of the President of Russia, Sergei Abramov, and the deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, Valentin Sobolev.” The next meeting of this new body was to take place on October 9.