In Nurgaliev’s words, incoming evidence about growing social tension will be analyzed.  If economic factors are responsible for the increase, police will inform local officials and the Government.

“If the solution to the problem lies within the jurisdiction of regional leaders, we will make them aware,” Nurgaliev said.

Preventative methods will be taken together with the relevant ministers and local agencies.  In such a way, police hope to keep rising levels of unrest under control, Nurgaliev said.

Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was in the midsts of reducing its number of troop subdivisions, scrapped the plan in February.  Gennady Gudkov, a deputy in Russia’s State Duma and the deputy chairman of the Duma Security Committee, said police were preparing for a wave of social protest in line with rising levels of unemployment.

In a related story, police in the Moscow suburbs were forming an elite brigade named “Avant-garde,” which will specialize in maintaining public order during large-scale demonstrations.  The force is prepared to deploy across the country on short notice.

Nurgaliev called on the Ministry of Justice, the Federal Security Service (FBS) and the Interior Ministry to lobby for such a law “with all the resulting legal consequences for owners of subversive sites.”

Speaking at the first session of a government committee on preventative measures against crime, Nurgaliev said it was necessary “to protect the youth from xenophobia, extremist attitudes, legal nihilism and the criminal subculture.” He said it was becoming necessary to criminalize the dissemination of certain information online, including terrorist ideas, advice on how to make bombs and other illegal activities. “Here is where the responsibility of mass-media outlets is great, particularly those oriented toward the youth,” he continued.

Nurgaliev’s proposal is the latest suggestion by lawmakers and law enforcement officials to regulate the internet. In February 2008, Federation Council Senator Vladimir Slutsker proposed registering any website with more than 1000 daily visitors as a mass-media outlet. In March, the Prosecutor-General’s office asked lawmakers to hold internet providers responsible for the content they host. In April, the Public Chamber, an advisory body to the Parliament, backed proposed restrictions to the web.

It is worth noting that in 2004, Russia’s Deputy Minister of IT and Communications, Dmitri Milovantsev, adamantly spoke against classifying websites as mass-media outlets. “Personal websites in the internet can be compared with, for instance, a school’s wall newspaper [(where students are given a poster to decorate and hang in the school-building)].”

“So it turns out the wall newspaper must be included as a mass-media outlet?” Milovantsev said.

As of today, Milovantsev is no longer around to speak out for internet freedom. The Deputy Minister tendered his resignation in June 2008.

Rashid Nurgaliev, the Minister of Internal Affairs, explained the agency’s plans:

“The militsiya always works for pre-emption. That’s why measures will be taken, so that there won’t be mass disorders or any kind of confrontations.”

Nurgaliev noted that the extra measures will correspond with established laws. “Everything must be within the framework of the Constitution and the country’s applicable legislation.”

This year, the Jewish Passover holiday happens to fall on the same date. As a response, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FEOR) plans to institute stricter security at synagogues and community centers, according to the Fontanka.ru online newspaper.

For more than 20 years, starting at the end of the 1980s, radical nationalist and neo-nazi groups have used Hitler’s birthday as an excuse to lead public demonstrations. Every year, the day is marked by widespread attacks by skinheads on foreign citizens, as well as migrants from the Caucasus region and Central Asia. The neo-fascists also target Jewish sites and monuments.

Rising levels of hate crimes in recent years have led some community leaders to conclude that the police have turned a blind eye to their concerns. After a recent spate of ethnically motivated murders in February, a Moscow town meeting concluded that both the militsiya and the judicial system were dealing too lightly with skinheads and neo-nazis.