The recent race-hate riots in Moscow were a result of negligence on the part of the authorities over the murder of football fan, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
Yegor Sviridov, 28, was killed in a brawl in northern Moscow between football fans and migrants from the North Caucasus. The death provoked race-hate riots and attacks on migrants in Moscow and St. Petersburg over the weekend. In Moscow, a 5,000-strong crowd of nationalists and football hooligans clashed with police near Red Square.
"The government did not responded properly [to Sviridov's death] and this triggered [the disorders]," Putin said during his annual televised Q&A session. "The people involved in the murder were freed, but this did not give anyone the right to break the law."
Fans criticized the release of five of the six suspects in the killing, accusing the police of being unable to bring those responsible to justice. Following Saturday's riots Moscow police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev promised to re-arrest all of the suspects.
The premier said the government should continue to clamp down hard on any attempts to stage race riots.
MOSCOW, December 16 (RIA Novosti)
