Mos
News
Friday, January 19, 2007
Russian anti-terrorism chiefs have stood down security forces
from a state of high alert imposed earlier this week over reports
of an imminent attack, an official said on Friday.
State security chief Nikolai Patrushev ordered police, army and
security forces to return to normal duties from 0600 (0300 GMT)
on Friday, the agency quoted the state National Anti-Terrorism
Committee as saying.
The nationwide security alert was introduced late on Tuesday.
Officials said they had received information from foreign partners
of a possible attack. Russia said two days later it had found
nothing to back up the warning.
The decision to lift the alert, “was taken today at six
in the morning” said Anti-Terrorism Committee spokesman
Nikolai Sintsov.
The committee said in a statement: “A whole package of
anti-terrorist forces and measures was put into action to check
the information received from our foreign partners. In the course
of this work ... we received no information which would require
further attention.”
The warning was the first national alert to be made public since
the creation of the anti-terrorism committee last year. President
Vladimir Putin established the body to coordinate Russia’s
response to security threats.
The authorities did not specify who might be behind this week’s
threatened attack.
Separatists fighting Moscow’s rule in the southern region
of Chechnya have mounted dozens of attacks and killed hundreds
of civilians. It has been two years since the last big attack
causing major civilian loss of life.
Some commentators were scathing about the alert, saying the authorities
were needlessly alarming the Russian public.
One newspaper said an atmosphere of fear in society would play
into the hands of some hawkish factions in the Kremlin who are
jostling for influence after Putin steps down in 2008.
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