MOSCOW, February 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's media and culture watchdog pledged Wednesday to take tough measures against any publications in the country insulting religious feelings.
"Measures envisaged in Russian legislation, including the cancellation [of a body's] registration, will be taken if some Russian media issue materials insulting religious feelings," the Federal Service for the Oversight of Legislation in Mass Communications and the Protection of Cultural Heritage said.
The service has taken the tough line against the backdrop of a wave of protests that have engulfed the Muslim world after satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed were published in a Danish newspaper September 30 and then reprinted by other media earlier this year.
Many Russian politicians and public figures, including President Vladimir Putin, have condemned the caricatures, while the spiritual leader of Russia's 20 million Muslims, Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin, has called for peace in the wake of worldwide disturbances after the publication.
Depictions of Mohammed are explicitly prohibited by Islamic law. Muslims of many countries took to the streets in protest against the publications, which led to ransacking the embassies of Denmark and some other Western countries and mass disturbances. Attacks on Danish and Norwegian peacekeepers took place in Afghanistan.
As many as 17 Arab countries have declared a boycott of Danish goods, and tension is growing in relations between a number of Islamic states and countries whose media reprinted the controversial caricatures. Egypt suspended deals with the currencies of Denmark and Norway.
EU High Commissioner for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana set off on a four-day trip about the Middle East Monday to meet with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian National Authority in a bid to alleviate tensions.
