Moscow hosts roundtable on interethnic relations

Yesterday, on February 17, Moscow held an extended discussion of the problems of interethnic relations in modern Russia at the background of recent nationalist actions in Moscow and other Russian cities.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that the roundtable, which was held at the RIA "Novosti", was called "Interethnic Relations in Current Russia: from 'Unreasonable Khazars' to Manege Square". In the course of the event, representatives of scientific and business circles expressed their views on possible ways to prevent outbreaks of intolerance in the Russian society against different nationals, cultures and religions.

The participants of the roundtable offered to consider the ways of conflict-free interaction between people in a multinational on the historical example of the Khazar Kaganate (Empire). This topic was presented by the authors of the collection "Khazars: Myth and History", prepared by the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Foundation "Interaction of Civilizations", who were organizers of the event.

Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, Chairman of the Synodal Division for Interrelations of Church and Society, has condemned the nationalist actions held in recent time in Moscow and other Russian cities and said that riots stem not from nationalism but from social problems of the society.

In the course of the debates, an opinion was also announced that frequently elementary ignorance of the history of the country leads to manifestations of nationalism in Russia.

The event was attended by workers of Russian and foreign media and representatives of various religious and scientific organizations of Russia and abroad.