MOSCOW, July 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's security agencies and police are taking heightened security measures ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's first visit to Moscow next week, a security official said on Friday.
All the country's security bodies, as well as the Army and Air Force, will be engaged in efforts to ensure the U.S. leader's safety on July 6-8, the unidentified official said.
"Several dozen jet fighters will be on high alert [on airfields near Moscow]. Airspace over the capital and nearby areas will be declared a no-fly zone," the official said.
"Measures normally taken during events like visits by heads of state have long been worked out by secret services, but this time additional steps, which will not be disclosed, are being taken," the official said.
Moscow police will step up passport checks and patrols on mass transport and in public places, with several thousand uniformed and plain-clothed officers to be engaged in the efforts. Additional police forces, including OMON special units, will be dispatched to Moscow from other regions.
The official said security services would try to keep disturbances for Moscow residents to a minimum, but urged understanding for inconveniences such as traffic restrictions along the presidential motorcade's routes,.
Obama's meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev, as well as with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, follows the leaders' pledge to "reset" relations, which plunged to a new Cold War low under the previous U.S. administration.
Medvedev and Obama are expected to outline a new arms control treaty to replace the START 1 pact, due to expire in December, and discuss a host of other international issues as part of the "reset" initiative.
