Up to 158 militants, including 25 gang leaders, killed in North Caucasus in 2014 - FSB chief
MAGAS. Aug 12 (Interfax) - As many as 158 militants have been killed as a result of counter-terrorism operations in the North Caucasus since the beginning of the year, Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) director Alexander Bortnikov has said.
"All in all, 158 active members of militant groups, including 25 leaders, have been eliminated. A total of 328 gang members and their accomplices have been detained, and 35 terrorism-related crimes have been prevented," he said at a meeting of the National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC) in Magas, the capital of the Republic of Ingushetia, on Tuesday.
However, the threat of sabotage and terrorist acts remains high in the North Caucasus, he said.
"The inflow of new recruits and supplies of the required resources to gangs are being provided by accomplices, persons who support the ideas of terrorism, as well as people who are helping gang members," Bortnikov said.
The district's counter-terrorism commissions and security services have been taking regular preventive measures, which helped persuade 68 gang members and their accomplices to turn themselves in to police in 2013-2014, he said.
Vigorous efforts are being made in Ingushetia to help former militants return to a peaceful life, Bortnikov said.
Gangs are taking advantage of the slow pace of measures to tackle socioeconomic problems, unemployment among young people and the wide scope of corruption to promote terrorist ideas among the youth and persuade them to join militant groups, Bortnikov said.
He reiterated the need to make this preventive work more active and "targeted" because the problem of gangs receiving fresh human resources cannot be resolved by methods of force alone.
"If we want to increase the efficiency of preventive measures with regard to accomplices, it is necessary to make wider use of the potential of relatives and other close connections of people from the so-called high-risk group, including those working in the local administration," Bortnikov said.
This year, the region's counter-terrorism commission should continue to vigorously and consistently implement all programs aimed at exterminating the ideology of terrorism in Russia, he said.
Bortnikov asked regional heads to arrange "targeted" funding for counter-terrorism operations from the regions' budgets and oversee their spending.
An Interfax correspondent has reported that the heads of the regions in Russia's North Caucasus Federal District and security service chiefs are attending the NAC session in Magas to discuss ways to further combat terrorism in the North Caucasus and additional measures to cut off funding for local gangs.
