View settings

Font size:
Site colours:
Images

Settings

Official website of the President of Russia

News   /

In Russia, fighting the threat of terrorism truly means fighting for the unity of the country

September 29, 2004

At a meeting of the Presidential Council for coordination with religious organisations, President Vladimir Putin stressed the necessity for religious organisations and the state to work together in the interests of solving national tasks.

The war on terror is above all a war for people’s minds. Extremists exploit national and religious intolerance for their own criminal goals, and their speculations are based on a distortion of cultural and spiritual traditions of peoples, and ignorance of religion, the President said.

It is wrong to be swayed by terrorists and vent anger towards terrorists on people of different beliefs and ethnicities, and in a country like Russia with its diversity of religions and ethnicities, this is absolutely destructive.

September 29, 2004