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Putin says nearly half of crimes in Russia remain unsolved

The Russian president noted that the number of grave and extremely serious crimes declined in Russia last year

MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the Russian Interior Ministry is not using its potential to solve crimes to the full extent. "Nearly half of all crimes remain unsolved, as before," he told a meeting of the Interior Ministry board. "The ministry’s potential is not used to the full extent."

Putin noted that the issue at hand is such sensitive areas as combating corruption, protecting citizens, their property and businesses from criminal offenses.

At the same time, Putin noted that the number of grave and extremely serious crimes declined in Russia last year.

"Focusing on the results, I will mark that in 2016 a tendency towards a decline in the number of grave and especially serious crimes persisted, and the number of road accident also dropped," he said, also noting a positive trend in preventive work with minors.

Addressing a session of the Interior Ministry Board, Putin said these figures were achieved owing to the activity of neighborhood police inspectors, officers of the criminal investigation department, road police and other units, as well as through more efficient coordinated work of the Interior Ministry with other agencies.

Tougher punishment for inducing minors to suicide

Putin has supported the idea of tougher punishment for inducing minors to suicide via Internet sites and social networks.

As he addressed the Interior Ministry’s board meeting on Thursday, Putin said that in the cyberspace "there has emerged another threat - the growing number of pro-suicide websites."

"Those criminals - and this is the right name for these people (it might be possible to use another term, if this were not a public address; at least they are criminals) are targeted first and foremost at the teenage and youth audience, at minors with fragile mentality or those who have found themselves in some trouble in life," Putin said.

"With this in mind I support the initiative of State Duma members for complementing legislation with a special rule expanding the list of actions that entail criminal punishment for inducing people to suicide," Putin said.

He stated that this would make it possible "to bring to justice the owners, designers and administrators of such websites and terminate their destructive activities."