http://www.vremya.ru/news/1010688.htmlThe strangest part is the 'Russian government' representative named 'Steven Tall. That's got to be a typo, the Russian constitution plainly states that all surnames must have at least 3 consonants in a row.
The Chechen government has forbidden the work of a Danish humanitarian mission
The government of Chechnya stopped the activity of the humanitarian organization "Danish council for the affairs of refugees" in the territory of the republic. As reported in RIA News, this was discussed in the text of an official information statement directed to Steven Tall, chief of the Russian government's directorate for coordinating UN humanitarian problems.
Signed by the Chechen Vice Premier for Social Problems, Halid Vaykhanov, it noted that this decision was made for "the purposes of providing appropriate security assurances for the colleagues" of the humanitarian mission after publication in a Danish newspaper of caricatures of the prophet of Mohammed, which caused angry protests in the Moslem world.
In the text of document also indicated that the publication of caricatures "can cause irreversible consequences to the complex social and political situation in the Chechen republic."
On February 6th, the acting head of the Chechen government, Ramzan Kadyrov, promised not to allow anymore organizations from Denmark into Chechnya due to the publication of caricatures of the prophet of Mohammed by a Danish newspaper. "Everything that comes from there we are forbidding, and they not will be present in our republic," stated Kadyrov.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the Russian Parliament Boris Gryzlov advised Kadyrov to be more restrained in his statements, and called them an expression of Kadyrov's personal point of view.
Freedom of speech has nothing to do with "the blackening of the messenger of Allah," he argued.
"The majority of comments use the wrong emphasis in assessing the Muslim reaction. It would have been exactly the same if the issue centered on Christ, Moses, Abraham, or Solomon, because every Muslim reveres, recognizes and respects them," Mirzayev said.
"If freedom of speech, Danish style, enables a single person to insult more than one billion people, provoke upheavals throughout the world, and cause the death of citizens of many countries, I cannot understand this kind of democracy," he said.
Chechen mufti urges UN, Europe to be tougher on cartoon row - "Representatives of the Council of Europe and the UN should immediately intervene and assume a tougher position on the issue," Mirzayev said.