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Kremlin Warns of the Evils of the Internet After School Attacks

Dmitry Peskov / Kremlin Press Service

The Kremlin has warned about the evils of the Internet after dozens of children were wounded in two separate attacks in Russian schools this week. 

On Friday morning, a ninth-grader wounded a teacher and six students in an axe and firebomb attack in Russia’s Far East republic of Buryatia. The attack came days after a similar incident in the city of Perm, where 14 schoolchildren were injured by a classmate armed with a knife on Monday.

“The Internet carries a lot of good, but we cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that the Internet carries evil too,” the RBC business portal cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as telling reporters Friday. 

“This is open for discussion,” he said. 

Russia’s Communications and Press Ministry pledged to block social media pages propagating violence after reports suggested that Friday’s suspect may have been a member of a private online community that promotes “mass anti-social behavior,” the state-run TASS news agency reported

Russian media have reported that the two students behind Monday’s attack were members of a social network group dedicated to the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.

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