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Kremlin slams Charlie Hebdo cartoons on Egypt crash as ‘sacrilege’

“It is pure blasphemy”, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

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Cynical cartoons published by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo of the Russian plane crash in Egypt have sparked a hashtag campaign #JeNeSuisPasCharlie (I am Not Charlie), in opposition to the original show of empathy to those killed in the January attack in Paris, this time lashing out at the outrageous mocking of the aircraft tragedy.

One cartoon shows debris and human remains raining down on an armed Isis militant, with the caption: “IS: Russian aviation is intensifying bombardments”, a reference to its air strikes in Syria.

In the other, a skull and body parts of victims are depicted. “This has no relation to either democracy or freedom of expression”, Peskov said.

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The Internet has given its verdict on Charlie Hebdo’s insulting cartoons on Russian air crash in Egypt, which took the lives of 224 people: 217 passengers and 7 crew members.

The magazine has a history of controversial satire and has been accused previously of insensitivity.

Lawmakers at the Russian State Duma called on the government to blacklist the French magazine as extremist literature.

Both United Kingdom and U.S. authorities have said they suspect a bomb was responsible for the downing of Metrojet Flight 9268 on Saturday. One said Russian journalists seen in a photo wearing the now-iconic “Je Suis Charlie” shirts in the wake of the shooting were committing “treason”. The caption reads: “Russia is stepping up bombings of the Islamic State”.

Writing on Twitter, the lower house of parliament’s worldwide affairs chief Alexei Pushkov said: “Is there any limit to Russophobia on the pages of Western media?”

“As the whole world condoles with us, Charlie Hebdo preaches its vile right to sacrilege”.

In an interview with the Russian-language branch of French radio station Rfi on Friday, Charlie Hebdo editor Gerard Briar seemed unfazed.

“It is impermissible to mock the crash that happened on Sinai”.

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Russian Kogalymavia’s A321 plane, en-route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, crashed in the early morning of October 31 just a few 20 minutes after its takeoff.

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