MOSCOW, June 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's antiterrorism committee said Tuesday it had evidence that terrorists were trying to gain access to weapons of mass destruction and to technology needed to produce them, a top security official said.
"The National Anti-Terrorism Committee is receiving information, including from our foreign partners, on terrorists' endeavors to obtain access to weapons of mass destruction and technologies for their production," Nikolai Patrushev, who heads the committee and the Federal Security Service, said at the launch of a regular committee session.
Patrushev said the committee would evaluate measures in place to secure key defense, nuclear, space and industrial facilities.
The official said that following the joint statement on a global initiative to counter nuclear terrorism acts adopted by the presidents of Russia and the United States after the Group of Eight summit in July 2006 in St. Petersburg, the security issue has risen to the top of the agenda.
Patrushev said that under the initiative, the two countries will physically protect nuclear facilities and improve measures to prevent terrorists from accessing nuclear materials and radioactive substances.
The head of the antiterrorism committee noted that the number of terrorist attacks in Russia last year almost halved.
"Counter-terrorist measures adopted in Russia in recent years have somewhat reduced terrorist activity on the country's territory," he said, citing joint action on all levels of government, security agencies, and civil society as a key factor in this.
Patrushev said nationalism, separatism, religious and political extremism were at the core of terrorist ideology. These phenomena usually appear where there are "serious interethnic, territorial and social-economic problems," he added.
Russia has seen a surge in ultra-nationalism in recent years, with routine attacks by gangs on foreigners and people with non-Slavic features. But authorities have been generally reluctant to treat the attacks as race-hate crimes, portraying them instead as acts of hooliganism.
The FSB director expressed his concern over the uncontrolled distribution of extremist and terrorist materials in the Internet. "There are currently about 5,000 sites actively used by extremist organizations and groups who distribute practical guides on organizing underground activities, making improvised explosive devices, and choosing facilities and tactical maneuvers for terrorist attacks," Patrushev said.
