Russian President Vladimir Putin during his annual news conference on Thursday said that insulting Prophet Muhammad does not count as freedom of expression.
Insults to the prophet are a “violation of religious freedom and the violation of the sacred feelings of people who profess Islam,” said Putin, according to the Russian News Agency TASS.
He also criticised the photos of Nazis on websites such as Immortal Regiment, dedicated to Russians that died in World War Two.
Putin explained that such acts give rise to retaliation by extremists like the attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris after it published cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. While he appreciated artistic freedom, he warned that it has its limits and said that it should not infringe on other freedoms.
He said that Russians must respect each other’s traditions claiming that the country has evolved as a “multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state”, unlike other countries.