Rashid Nurgaliyev said 220 extremist groups, comprising some 10,000 members, were identified in Russia last year.
"Some youth groups have shown a tendency to switch from protests and acts of hooliganism to terrorist activities, murders and robberies," Rashid Nurgaliyev said, adding that police solved 169 race-hate crimes last year, 27% more than in 2005.
Russian and foreign human rights groups have raised concerns over growing xenophobic sentiments in the country in recent years. Assaults on dark-skinned people, including fatal attacks on foreign students, and acts of vandalism in synagogues, have become widespread across the country, as have nationalist rallies.
The trend prompted the president to order enhanced measures to protect Russian citizens against exposure to extremism, nationalism, and religious intolerance when he outlined objectives for the Federal Security Service (FSB) in late January, which also included steps to curb economic crimes.
"It is important not only to enforce law and order, but also to protect society against attempts to impose ideologies of extremism, nationalism or religious hatred," Vladimir Putin said.
Growing drug trafficking, Nurgaliyev said, was a major factor influencing the crime rate in the country. He said over 11 metric tons of illicit drugs were seized and 48,000 drug-related crimes solved.
Citing more statistics, Nurgaliyev said the crime rate grew 27% compared with the 2005 figure, to 3,855,000 cases. But he said the figure was a result of measures to uncover "latent" crimes, and that over 70% of the crimes were not serious.
Terrorist attacks nearly halved last year compared with 2005, the minister said. In 2006, 112 crimes that qualified as terrorist acts were committed, and 83 of them solved.
Russian authorities have generally blamed terrorist attacks in the country on separatists from Chechnya.
Although Moscow has announced the end of the federal anti-terrorism campaign in its troubled North Caucasus republic, occasional fighting still occurs there, sometimes spilling over into neighboring southern Russian regions in the form of attacks on police precincts and officials.
Nurgaliyev said over 1,000 members of armed gangs and their accomplices were arrested.
He highlighted his ministry's success in tackling economic and financial crimes in Russia, which witnessed a series of high-profile corruption and money laundering cases.
"Considerable attention was focused on the protection of budget funds allocated on national [welfare] projects. Efforts in this sphere will remain a priority in 2007," the minister said.
