Twenty-five terror attacks prevented in Russia in 2017 - NAC
MOSCOW. Feb 28 (Interfax) - Over two dozen terror attacks were prevented in Russia in 2017, the first deputy head of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC)'s administration, Igor Kulyagin, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
"Twenty-five terror attacks were prevented in our country last year," Kulyagin said.
"This preemptive work is carried out continuously," he said.
A member of an international terrorist organization plotting a terror attack in Nizhny Novgorod was neutralized on January 31, 2018, and an explosive device, weapons, and ammunition were seized, Kulyagin said.
A foreigner was detained in St. Petersburg on February 22, and components for making improvised explosives were found in his home, Kulyagin said.
"The detainee confessed to investigators that he was plotting a terrorist explosion in a public area," Kulyagin said.
Members and followers of international terrorist organizations use a variety of channels, including labor migration, to cross into Russia and create a network of secret terrorist cells, he said.
"Some of those people were trained or participated in hostilities in Syria and Iraq," Kulyagin said.
Security services and law enforcement agencies are working to prevent them from coming to Russia, he said.