Police in Russia’s Urals city of Chelyabinsk have requested information on North Caucasus pupils in a local school that could be part of an unfolding campaign against ethnic crimes.
Two weeks ago, Chelyabinsk police sent a request to the principal of the local physics and math school demanding to provide a list with the names of North Caucasus natives studying there.
Alexander Popov, the school’s principal, responded that the only single nationality they had in school were mathemeticians.
The police’s request is seen a part of the campaign against ethnic crimes, announced by the newly appointed Interior Minister, Vladimir Kolokoltsev.
Kolokoltsev, who headed the Moscow police before taking up his ministerial post, views the fight with ethnic crimes as one of his main tasks, Russian RBC daily reported on Wednesday.
Popov, who said that other Chelyabinsk schools have also received similar requests, also added: “Others just keep silent, but I cannot. I remember the times when there were job bans for Jews and Germans also had difficulties. It is vulgar and unworthy of a modern person… It is disgusting to receive such requests.”
Popov also told the Izvestia daily that the police had not bothered the school after they received an official refusal to provide the lists.