Moscow, Russia - The Moscow Prosecutor's Office has warned the Russian Newsweek magazine that publishing stories instigating ethnic and religious hatred is illegal and unacceptable.
The warning was issued to the editor-in-chief following an inquiry conducted by the prosecutor's office of Moscow's North-?astern District, the Moscow Prosecutor's Office said.
"Issue 40 of September 29 to October 5 2008 carried two stories entitled "He Who Comes with the Mosque" (a play on the phrase "He who comes to Russia with the sword will perish by the sword" and "Mosque Carriers," in which Muslims and Christians are in opposition," the prosecutor's office said.
"The articles in question have captions satirizing the Prophet Muhammad, taken, among other photos, from the Danish newspaper Jullands-Posten, which provoked mass ethnic and religious disturbances in Europe back in 2005. The way the information was presented, as well as the illustrations and photographs attached, can sound insulting and humiliating for social groups professing Islam, shape a negative image of Muslims, and picture the Muslim and Christian cultures as opposed to one another," the prosecutors said.