Forty teenagers in Moscow, Moscow region committed suicide in 2017 after visiting suicide websites - Bastrykin
MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax) - Forty teenagers in Moscow and the Moscow region committed suicide in 2017 after visiting websites that contained destructive content, Russian Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin said.
"There are suicide websites. Last year alone, 40 underage citizens in Moscow and the Moscow region committed suicide after visiting these websites," Bastrykin said in Moscow on Tuesday at a meeting of the Investigative Committee's board dedicated to a review of the agency's work in 2017.
"How many more underage citizens have to die before we address this problem seriously?" he said.
The Investigative Committee earlier came up with an initiative to introduce a procedure that would allow the authorities to unilaterally (without a court order) block access to websites that promote terrorist and extremist ideologies, Bastrykin said.
"We're talking about a balanced approach without extremes, but an important and rational approach. Today the Internet has become a place where a struggle is being waged for our youth, for the path they will take," Bastrykin said.