Police arrested over 1,700 people on Wednesday in a bid to prevent unauthorized riots in ten Russian regions, First Deputy Interior Minister Mikhail Sukhodolsky said.
Race-hate riots and clashes between nationalist groups and migrants from Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus region were warded off in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, Novosibirsk, Vladimir, Belgorod, Samara region and Udmurtia.
The official said police acted effectively and decisively to prevent an escalation of violence.
Over 1,300 people were arrested in Moscow alone and hundreds of weapons were seized.
The unrest follows mass public disturbances in Moscow and St. Petersburg on Saturday. A 5,000-strong crowd of nationalists and football hooligans clashed with police near Red Square in Moscow after an unsanctioned protest over the shooting of a football fan by a migrant got out of hand.
MOSCOW, December 16 (RIA Novosti)
