MOSCOW, November 10 (RAPSI) - Over the first six months this year, Russian law enforcement agencies opened 540 child pornography cases, TASS reports on Monday, citing The Safe Internet League, a nonprofit group fighting harmful content on the internet.

The data was provided by the Russian Interior Ministry at the request of the group.

Some 190 offenses were revealed by Cyberguard, one of the Safe Internet League’s projects. According to the Interior Ministry, the majority of cases concern the distribution of pornographic content.

Offenders can face prison time of between two and eight years.

The majority of child pornography offenses were committed in the Central, Siberian, Volga and Northwestern federal districts, by various categories of the public, from students to pensioners, who otherwise do not attract much attention to themselves online or in general.

The executive director for the Safe Internet League, Denis Davydov, says collaboration between law enforcement agencies and public organizations such as Cyberguard is very important. Members of Cyberguard are constantly monitoring the Internet, various forums, social media, photo and video banks, and report any suspicious content.

The Cyberguard movement has over 20,000 volunteers from across Russia, the CIS, Eastern and Western Europe.