Moscow, April 25: Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev called for the urgent task to eliminate rebels in the much-troubled North Caucasus.
”There is yet much to be done to strengthen law and order in the North Caucasus. Wiping out rebels is priority,” Mr Nurgaliyev said at a meeting of high-ranking police officials in the Chechen capital of Grozny.
”We should admit that on the whole, the situation in the North Caucasus remains complex, and the level of the terrorist threat does not decline,” the Minister added.
At the same time, he noted positive changes in anti-terrorism efforts in Chechnya, which he said, ”has become one of the most stable republics in the North Caucasus”.
The counter-terrorist operation ended in Chechnya a year ago.
”Not even one terrorist act has occurred in Chechnya this year,” Mr Nurgaliyev claimed. ”I am confident that the peaceful work of people in Chechnya is protected properly,” he added.
He urged law enforcement agencies to be ”mobilised as much as possible in order to respond to extremists’ actions at any moment”.
To this end, Chechen law enforcement agencies will be put on alert from April 28 to May 10, he said, stressing that during this period ”it is necessary to optimise the use of law enforcement capabilities for ensuring law, order and public security”.
He also called for harsher administrative and security measures at government, transport, energy, industrial and vital facilities, and in public places.
”In addition, it is necessary to analyse the current situation in detail in order to forecast its development and work out a set of preventive measures,” he said.
”You should respond to possible terrorist threats promptly, effectively and professionally,” he told his senior officers.
—Agencies