Governor wants ethnic antagonists punished in southern Russia

Interfax news agency, Moscow
6 Apr 05

Krasnodar, 6 April: Krasnodar Territory governor Aleksandr Tkachev
has demanded that the people who provoked the ethnic clash between
Cossacks and Armenians that took place in Novorossiysk be punished,
the territorial administration’s press service told Interfax.

“Over a hundred nationalities work and live peacefully in our territory
and we must do all we can to preserve peace and stability. It is easy
to provoke an ethnic conflict, but it is much more difficult to restore
peace later. The people who provoked the incident must be punished
no matter who they are. Crime does not have a nationality,” the press
service said quoting Tkachev’s statement on the results of his meeting
with law-enforcement agency heads that took place on Tuesday [5 April].

Tkachev stressed that any conflict should be resolved within the
limits of the law. “Nobody is allowed to replace law-enforcement
bodies and administer mob law,” he said.

On 21 March a fight between local Cossacks and the Armenian diaspora
took place at a Novorossiysk cafe. The fight ended only after police
intervened.