6 Mar 2019 18:23

Number of terrorist crimes dips from 997 to 9 in Russia over decade - Putin

MOSCOW. March 6 (Interfax) - Russia has seen an almost 99% decline in the terrorist crime rate over the past decade, and many terror attacks are being prevented, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Federal Security Service (FSB)'s board on Wednesday.

"The number of terrorist crimes has been on decline. The rate has reduced manifold in the country over the past ten years, from 997 to nine last year. Please note that the number of prevented terror attacks remains high - about 20 per year," Putin said.

He stressed that such a level had remained for the past three years. "But you and I, we know how sensitive and important it is, every missed strike costs a lot," Putin said.

The FSB's proactive efforts and disruption of terrorist plans has yielded results, he said. "But, at the same time, the data and figures show that terrorists still have the potential to plot terror attacks, as is also shown by the situation both here and other countries, both organized gangs and brainwashed lone fanatics could be behind these crimes," Putin said.

It is necessary to find new forms and methods of countering such threats and work preventively to detect terrorist recruiters and abettors, he said.

"The supply of guns and cash must be cut off and radical and extremist propaganda on the Internet suppressed," Putin said. "The leadership of the National Antiterrorism Committee must keep these issues under constant control."