Putin calls for int'l cooperation in fighting terrorism

MOSCOW, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called on the country's security services to boost cooperation with its foreign counterparts in fighting terrorism.

"No matter how our current relations with certain countries evolve, Russia will always be open to (combat) international terrorism, a common challenge to all humanity," Putin said at a meeting of senior officials of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).

Russian security services should primarily coordinate efforts with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Putin said.

The president praised the success of the FSB in preventing crimes by terrorist networks and groups.

The number of terrorist incidents declined to nine in 2018 from 997 ten years earlier while the number of prevented terrorist attacks remained high at around 20 per year in the last three years, Putin said.

Russian security forces must therefore use new methods of uncovering terrorist threats, identify the recruiters and accomplices of terrorists, block their supply of weapons and money, and halt the propaganda activities of radicals and extremists on the Internet.

At the meeting, Putin stressed the importance of increasing the security of national information resources and promptly eliminating cyber attacks on government institutions, state corporations, telecom operators and large companies.

He also praised the work of the Russian counterintelligence agencies, which ended the activities of 129 staff of foreign intelligence services and 465 recruited agents.