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MOSCOW, May 17 (RIA Novosti) - Some 6,000 young people under the age of 18 are involved in extremist activities in Russia, the interior minister said Wednesday.
Extremism in Russia has been in the spotlight recently, following a series of attacks on non-white foreigners across the country and the publication of a report by Amnesty International that slammed the government for not doing enough to combat the problem.
"Six thousand minors [aged under 18] are involved in extremist activities in Russia, and are registered with Interior Ministry bodies," Rashid Nurgaliyev told the lower house of parliament during "a government hour".
Most of the teenagers live in the European part of Russia, namely Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Rostov and Samara, he said.
St. Petersburg and Voronezh in particular have seen a spate of apparent race hate crimes in recent months, and over a thousand protestors took to the streets of St. Petersburg - President Vladimir Putin's hometown - on April 11 in the wake of the slaying of Lamzer Samba, a fifth-year student from Senegal studying at the city's State Telecommunications University.
Voronezh has seen at least seven apparently racially motivated killings by skinheads and young gangs over the past six years, including the murder of a Peruvian student in October last year.
Nurgaliyev blamed some electronic media for promoting extremist ideas, and cited the testimony of detained teenagers who said they had gotten extremist ideas from television programs and Internet sites.
The controversial Nationalist Bolshevik Party has repeatedly been denied registration as an official party on the grounds that it discriminates on the basis of race and that its regional groups include people aged under 18, which is illegal.
He said the Public Chamber, a body set up as a bridge between the government and the public, should work out ways to deal with the problem.
"The Public Chamber could discuss the problem of minors' involvement in extremist activities and provide recommendations," Nurgaliyev said, adding that extremism was an acute issue that posed a serious threat to the country.
Nurgaliyev said over 100,000 underage drug addicts and alcoholics were on the black list of interior ministry bodies.
"Nearly 75,000 of them are chronic alcoholics and drug addicts," Nurgaliyev said, adding that the number of gamblers among teenagers was also increasing.
"A large amount of crimes are committed by minors looking for money to gamble," he said.
Nurgaliyev said families and schools should help address the problem, and added that his ministry was also working hard to stem the trend.
The ministry oversees 46 schools.
"In these schools, there are virtually no drugs and alcohol, and no crimes or violations are committed," Nurgaliyev said.
