Excerpt:
Recently-appointed Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has called for an end to "bloody and provocative displays" of animal sacrifice to commemorate the Muslim festival of Eid-al-Adha.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of sheep are slaughtered during one of the most important celebrations in Islam. Although Moscow officially banned these sacrifices from public places in 2006, this year the Russian media has published hundreds of photographs of animals being killed, and sometimes left to rot on the streets.
"I think that neither the Muslim clergy, nor the Muslims themselves want the current situation to continue. I think this is simply a matter of better organization," said the Moscow mayor on Sunday.