"The lessons of history show how lethally dangerous any interethnic and civil conflicts can be and what grave wounds injustice and mutual enmity can inflict," the premier said in his speech at a forum of the nationalities of southern Russia, Interfax news agency reported.

Southern Russia "fully partook in the horrors of civil war, deportation and terrorism", he said. "We need to preserve the memories of the past and the lessons we learned. It is also important to restore the truth and cement the unity of the nationalities of Russia and the unity of national self-identity, which is crucial for the life of the people and the country's development," Putin said. When the Russian people felt united, the country always surmounted difficulties and turmoil, he added.

He recalled the 1990s when people "struggled to preserve the integrity of our state". "Terrorists received a crushing blow then. Neither handouts from abroad, nor instructions or ideological support, nor the fooling of our citizens helped them - all that proved to be useless in the face of the heroism, courage and wisdom of the peoples of Russia," Putin said.
"Those who do not want to be slaves will never be put on their knees. The people of southern Russia resisted the prospect of living in an atmosphere of intimidation, violence, poverty and isolation," he said.

Any attempts to stoke interethnic and inter-religious strife are a betrayal of those people's memories, "a betrayal on the part of those who dare to act as parasites on ethnicity issues, fueling separatist or nationalistic moods. The goals they pursue are clear and have nothing in common either with the actual resolution of interethnic problems or Russia's development or the interests of our citizens," the prime minister said.

Interethnic conflicts erupt where there is a power or law vacuum, where "officials and law enforcers ignore or fail to protect the law, often creating paid privileges for some individuals or communities".

"Clans and the merger of officials and law enforcement agencies with crime groups is a problem not only for southern Russia or the North Caucasus but for a considerable part of Russian territories," Putin said.

He pinpointed the need to uproot the fundamental causes generating corruption and to ensure irreversible that punishment for any instance of corruption. "We, on our part, will continue to improve the work of law enforcement bodies, courts and power bodies at all levels. Public and human rights organizations and mass media should react to any case of bribery, abuse of office or extortion," the prime minister said.