Violence shook the town of Kondopoga on the weekend after two people were killed earlier in the week in an apparent brawl at a restaurant allegedly owned by Chechens. Hundreds of locals gathered on Saturday to demand the expulsion of people from the North Caucasus before a mob torched the restaurant and ransacked a marketplace.
And regional head Sergei Katanandov, who had appealed for calm on the weekend, said unknown people were calling on young to take to the streets of the area's largest city, Petrozavodsk, which has a population of over 250,000 people.
"Somebody using the Internet and text messages is calling on young people to hit the streets," Katanandov told local school principals. "We must not let this happen because the situation in Petrozavodsk would be more serious [than in Kondopoga]."
The governor said that most of the detained in Kondopoga were people under the age of 20 and he urged local teachers to talk with most the problematic children so that they did not fall for provocations.
Katanandov also blamed media for distorting information in reports about events in Kondopoga.
"Everything was not as dramatic as some television channels showed," the governor said. "Everything was more prosaic. The police did not touch people and there were no incidents of young people suffering at the hands of the police."
Television pictures showed youths throwing missiles at riot police, the restaurant building going up in flames and smashed-up stalls at what was once the market. Katanandov added that the total damage from the unrest in Kondopoga was estimated only at 150,000 rubles ($5,600).
Police detained 109 people Sunday afternoon, and remanded about 25 in custody on charges of hooliganism.
Chechnya's prime minister said Monday that inaction by local authorities was to blame for the weekend violence.
"If the police in Kondopoga were able to stop at least serious crimes, including major brawls, then the current crisis would not have happened and nationalists would not have received new trump cards in their campaign," said Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's premier and the son of late president, Akhmad Kadyrov.
