The head of Russia’s Security Council has added satanists to a litany of bad influences that young Russians should be protected against.
Young people played a leading role in nationwide anti-government rallies over the past year, leading senior Russian politicians to put forward legislature criminalizing the recruitment of underage Russians in protests.
“Attempts to involve minors in illegal public events and destructive organizations, including religious organizations, totalitarian sects professing the ideas of neopaganism, occultism and satanism should be strictly suppressed,” Russian Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev was cited as saying by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency Tuesday.
Last month, Patrushev suggested creating volunteer “internet brigades” of popular Russian bloggers to instill patriotism and spiritual values to among Russian youth.
Meanwhile, the ruling political party’s youth wing has said it plans to create battalions “to destroy the myth that the opposition controls the street.”
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