Russia Urges Joint Action to Fight Child Porn

ISTANBUL, November 23 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Interior Ministry has called on police in over 50 countries to join an operation it launched to combat child pornography on the internet.

Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev told a meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) on Friday that "Operation Sornyak" ("Weed") aims to gather information about persons who disseminate child pornography materials over the internet.

“Criminal activity in the information sphere is on the rise, and the moral and material damage from these crimes has increased," he said. "We face cross-border activity by organized criminal groups more and more often.”

Some 1,500 internet users from 64 countries have been caught disseminating child pornography, Kolokoltsev said, stressing the need for an international law enforcement effort.