MOSCOW, March 9 (RAPSI) – Over 3,000 Internet resources of an extremist nature have been blocked in Russia in 2016, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev announced on Thursday.

Monitoring of information distributed by different websites is being conducted in order to find extremist materials and apply legally provided response measures, Kolokoltsev said during the Interior Ministry’s annual extended session. As a result, websites distributing calls to racial and religious enmity and recruiting new members of extremist organizations were closed, the minister added.

According to Kolokoltsev, Russian law enforcement officers revealed 200 facts of facilitating a terrorist activity in 2016.

The blacklist of websites was launched in Russia on November 1, 2012.

The respective law envisages that websites may be blacklisted by the Federal Service for Drug Control, the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Protection and Welfare (suicide-related content) and the Federal Agency for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (child pornography). Starting February 1, 2014, the register also includes websites promoting extremism and mass riots.