A Syktyvkar (Komi Republic) newspaper Zyryanskaja zhizn has attracted attention of Rosohrankultura, a Ministry of Culture and Mass media department which controls the legislation observance. It's regional department has brought an action against the newspaper for a publication which, in it's opinion, incites ethnic and religious enmity and calls to violence. However, the situation seems to be much more complicated.

The publication in question is an interview with a local Ombudsman Leonid Vokuev. The reporter in one of his questions quotes two songs as probable examples of extremism. The cited words are: "Patriotism simply means killing a person of a different religion", and "Kill a Jew!" ("Ubej zhida!"). Besides, the title of the article "Leonid Vokuev: "A Jew is a Jew, even in Africa'" ("Zhid - on i v Afrike zhid") is, in fact, the exact quotation of the Ombudsman's answer to this question of the reporter.

Leaving alone some absurdity of accusing of extremism a publication which was supposed to be an anti-xenophobic one, and the fact, that the first quotation incites enmity not to people of different religion, as it is said in the expertise, but to "patriots", it is rather strange that it is the newspaper which must be punished for that and not the Ombudsman or the authors of the songs (who's words were actually taken out of context).

In summer 2006 it was a warning issued against Zyryanskaya Zhizn for publication of "extremist materials" (the propriety of such an attribution of that materials is called into question by the observers), and as a result, the publishers decided to stop printing the newspaper which continued to exist only on the Internet. If Zyryanskaya zhizn is found guilty of violating anti-extremist legislation again, it will be deprived of the registration. The trial begins on February 20, 2007.

Besides, on February 13, 2007, an organization managing the internet site of Zyryanskaya zhizn was unlawfully imposed a 20 thousand ruble fine (approximately 580 Euro) for not having a mass media registration. This contradicts Russian legislation which doesn't oblige any Internet resource to be registered as mass media.