Insulting the Prophet Muhammad and posting pictures of Nazis on the "Immortal Regiment" website is not freedom of creation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"Putting Hitler or Himmler on the site of the "Immortal Regiment" is freedom of creation? Let's think about this side of the case. <...> Insulting the Prophet Muhammad - what is this? Is it freedom of creation? I believe it is not. This is a violation of freedom of religion and a violation of the sacred feelings of people who practice Islam," the head of state said Thursday at the annual press conference.
Putin noted that such behavior "gives rise to other, even more violent extremist manifestations," citing as an example the attack on the editorial office of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris after the publication of the caricatures.
The president stressed the importance of freedom of creation and freedom in general. "Without freedom there is no doubt there is no movement forward, we are in for a sad future, very dim and unpromising. But we must understand that this freedom comes into certain contradictions with the goals for which we develop it, when it collides with the freedom of another person. <...> Freedom has to be inside and it has to come from respect for everyone who is touched by these or those actions," he remarked.
"Russia was formed as a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state, and we are used to fundamentally respecting the interests and traditions of another. This, indeed, is a fundamental basis for the existence of Russia as a multinational state," said the president. - "It is felt that in other countries we are witnessing a deficit of this culture of communication. So why should we carry this deficit to our environment, to our society, like an immunodeficiency?"
Putin advocated the formation of an "internal constraint." "Here we have gathered the heads and owners of our largest networks, the creators of the public organization and adopted certain internal rules, how to build their work so as not to harm people, not to harm teenagers, children and so on. It seems to me that this is the way to go," he explained.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS