MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. More than 3,000 sites have been blocked in Russia for publishing or distributing extremist content and also for recruiting members of radical organizations, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev told the ministry’s board meeting on Thursday.

"Monitoring is in progress of the content being placed on various sites in the Internet with the aim to expose extremist items and take the applicable law enforcement measures. Joint actions have allowed for blocking more than 3,000 internet resources that contained calls for racial and religious hatred and recruited members of radical organizations," he said.

Kolokoltsev recalled that 13 organizations were recognized as extremist and their activity outlawed in Russia.

"Special attention was paid to exposing the recruiters of Russian citizens into terrorist organizations involved in armed conflicts," Kolokoltsev said.

Law enforcement agencies have been taking measures to prevent all manifestations of extremism - from plain xenophobia to separatism and terrorism.

"A total of 1,450 extremism-related crimes were exposed last year. Nearly one thousand crimes have been investigated and handed over to courts of law," Kolokoltsev said.