The Centre for Combating Extremism (russian: Главное управление по противодействию экстремизму МВД России, Glavnoye upravleniye po protivodeystviyu ekstremizmu MVD Rossii), also known as Centre E (russian: Центр «Э») is a unit within the
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
The unit was established by decree No. 1316 of the
President of the Russian Federation
The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...
on 16 September 2008.
The unit has been especially active in the
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...
and also in
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...
following its
annexation in 2014.
Their official focus is the suppression of extremism. The Centre E has been widely accused of prosecuting and harassing opposition groups, anti-regime bloggers, environmentalists and other civic activists.
One example of their work is the suppression of the
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved ...
in Russia.
References
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Law enforcement agencies of Russia