Russia calls for global extremism watchdog

Russia's national security chief has called for the creation of a global watchdog to monitor violent extremism and terrorism. Speaking at a security conference in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, Nikolai Patrushev, head of Russia's Security Council, said it was "advisable to organize global monitoring of the threat of extremism," and called for a global database of extremist organizations. Special emphasis must be placed on "stemming the spread of extremist ideas on the Internet," Patrushev said. He also suggested that the definition of "extremism" be agreed on. Russian law currently describes as extremist any attempt to subvert the state, take power by force or carry out terrorist activities. Russia has introduced a series of laws designed to combat extremism in a bid to fight terrorist attacks in the North Caucasus, but civil rights lobbyists claim such measures can be misused by the state to crack down on free expression. In June, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev set up a government commission to tackle extremism. There has been an upsurge in extremist violence in Russia recently against migrants from the southern parts of the former Soviet Union. The death of an ethnic Russian football fan in a fight with a group of men from the North Caucasus in December last year prompted race riots in Moscow and other cities. Medvedev said such violence "threatened the very stability of the state."