Putin urges crackdown on extremism

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for a clampdown on all manifestations of extremism during his annual Q&A session on Thursday.

"We cannot tar everyone with the same brush. It is necessary to crack down on any extremist acts," Putin said, RIA Novosti reported.

The Russian capital saw its biggest public disturbances for almost a decade on Saturday when a 5,000-strong crowd of nationalists and football hooligans clashed with police near Red Square over the death of a Spartak Moscow supporter in a brawl with migrants from the North Caucasus. Rioters attacked people from the country's North Caucasus region during the disorder.

Putin also stressed that Russia was a "multi-ethnic" state.

"A person from the Caucasus should not be afraid to go out in the streets of Moscow, and our ethnic Slavic citizens should be afraid to live in North Caucasus republics," he added.