Russia is opening a new front in its battle with the West over last month's fighting in neighboring Georgia: a move to ban the Western holidays of Halloween and Valentine's Day as bad influences on the nation's youth.
The State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, will consider a measure this month to guard students from what the government considers destructive Western influences, such as the two festive celebrations that are growing more popular in Russia.
Maxim Mishchenko, a Duma member, says he is pushing the bill to guard the "moral and spiritual upbringing" of the nation's youth and to promote traditional Russian culture and values rather than those imported from the West.
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