MOSCOW. Feb 28 (Interfax) - Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has urged the Prosecutor General's Office and the Russian Investigative Committee to be more active in using the existent juridical mechanisms to contain Russophobia and noted that the number of Russophobia complaints from fellow citizens has grown four times over the past year.
"The number of applications from fellow citizens received by me as the human rights commissioner has soared by practically four times since the previous year. It is not just those who file appeals, a tiny share of people, because most people have either united in this struggle or are afraid to unite, but they think like us and we need to create every condition in Russia for their unhampered return to the country, which is ready to defend them," Moskalkova said at an expanded meeting of the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights' standing commission for international cooperation.
"Our Criminal Code envisages criminal responsibility for racial discrimination. The phenomenon we are facing every day, which has been called Russophobia, has been formalized in the legal field. It is necessary - and I am calling on the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee - to more actively use the available instruments and, perhaps, add a special article, a special formal element of a crime, because these actions truly pose a high social danger," she said.
It is also necessary "to stimulate the public, people's tribunal backed by Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov. [...] Not just the crimes and torture but also facts of Russophobia. Yes, we should give them public punishment," Moskalkova said.
Head of the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights Valery Fadeyev said earlier on Tuesday that it was necessary to define the notion of Russophobia at the legislative level and to designate or draft an article of the Russian Criminal Code to punish those manifesting it.