Internet sites in Russia should be censored to combat extremist material, a senior legal official says, the business daily Kommersant reported Friday, June 22.
“Changes need to be made to the current laws. As experience shows there is often room on the Internet for the spread of material of an extremist nature,” Deputy Prosecutor General Ivan Sydoruk was quoted as saying by Kommersant.

“Therefore it is necessary to draft an effective control system so that material published there corresponds to legal requirements,” he said at a law-enforcement meeting in the southern Russian city of Rostov on Thursday, Kommersant said.

The federal prosecutor’s office said Sydoruk was expressing his personal opinion and that no censorship law is being prepared, the daily said.

Russia already has strict anti-extremism laws officially aimed at curbing a steady rise in racist and neo-Nazi activity.

Critics say the laws are also used to stifle political opponents of President Vladimir Putin and to prevent the airing of opposition views on sensitive subjects such as the conflict in Chechnya.

Television is almost entirely controlled by the authorities and only a handful of newspapers, which reach limited audiences, are considered independent.

In April a criminal investigation was opened against a blogger who vented rage at the police, saying they should be ritually burned on public squares. The case is believed to be the first of its kind in Rusisa.

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