Moscow Can't Handle the Truth

by Adam Turner  •  Jul 8, 2010 at 5:03 pm

https://www.legal-project.org/blog/2010/07/moscow-cant-handle-the-truth

Lawmakers in Moscow have introduced legislation to ban the media from mentioning the nationality, race and religion of criminals. This is a reversal of the usual Russian policy of reinforcing and/or even demanding ethnic identifications (e.g., Russian passports have generally stated ethnicity.) One of the bill's sponsors, Moscow City Duma Deputy Aleksandr Semennikov, explained his reasons for introducing this new bill:

This kind of information often causes a stir in public opinion, especially among people that aren't very tolerant or aware of the consequences of their actions. There are groups that will call for revenge, said Semennikov.

At first blush, it might seem that the Russian oligarchy is on the side of angels by attempting to prevent racial violence and discrimination from afflicting non-Russian minorities. After all, no fair minded person would want an entire minority community to be blamed for the actions of (or even just the accusations against) one member.

But there are other, less altruistic, possibilities as well.

One, which might be suggested by the tenor of the language in the quote above, is that Moscow City Duma Deputy Semennikov and his allies are simply afraid of their Muslim community and are promoting this idea as a sop to them. The problem is this response rewards bad behavior. Moreover, the censorship proposed is even more radical than is the "defamation of religion" proposal pressed by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) at the UN. The OIC just wants to ban speech offensive to Islam. Russia wants to prohibit dissemination of basic demographic facts.

Another possibility, while admittedly more conspiratorial, is that the Russian oligarchy plans to use this legislation to hinder the media from reporting on the ongoing Islamic rebellion occurring in Chechnya and other Muslim areas. Islamic militants recently bombed the Moscow metro, killing 40 people. Russia is already passing legislation to help it crack down on these Islamic radicals and other opponents of the regime by allowing its FSB security service to summon people whom it believes are about to commit a crime and to threaten imprisonment for those who disobey its orders. The Moscow media ban legislation would enable the Russians to more easily hide an aggravated Muslim insurgency from the West, and perhaps more importantly, from its allies in the Islamic world. Once again, if this is true, then it is an unfortunate decision.

Regardless of why the Russians are promoting this legislation, it is a very bad idea. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, barring any discussion of ethnic and/or religious motivations for criminal conduct does not contribute to the lowering of tensions between various groups. Instead, the anger and suspicion on both sides is simply forced underground, where it can simmer for years until boiling over, often causing even greater injury.

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