MOSCOW, July 24 (Interfax-Moscow) -- The law on freedom of conscience and religious associations must protect society from anti-humanitarian sects, Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov told Interfax Thursday. However Luzhkov said he saw "nothing tragic" in President Boris Yeltsin's refusal to sign the bill approved by both the Russian State Duma and the Federation Council, the two houses of parliament. The situation with the law is "very, very complicated," Luzhkov said.

"On the one hand, our traditional confessions must be protected from various sects. We do need neither sects nor their members as we have heard enough of the 'White Fraternity' and other organizations preaching inhuman goals," he said. On the other hand, "it makes sense to improve the text of the law and its legal definitions," he said. "In my opinion, the president's refusal to sign the law is an invitation to work more on it to protect society from inhuman sects," he said. The relations between different religious confessions in Moscow are stable, he said. Representatives of 27 religions peacefully coexist in Moscow, Luzhkov said. The Moscow government "treats equally all confessions, though the majority of the city population belongs to the Orthodox Church," he said. "Peace exists among them thanks to the efforts of the Russian Orthodox Church," Luzhkov said.

The mayor expressed gratitude to Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Aleksiy II for "pursuing the wise policy of uniting the churches preaching virtue." "Not only the leaders of religious confessions express the will for accord. Ugly disputes between representatives of different religions have not surfaced in Moscow," he said.

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Johnson's Russia List

#1086

26 July 1997

djohnson@cdi.org (info@cdi.org)