The President stressed the need to continue exposing, arresting and, if necessary, killing militants involved in a series of terrorist attacks in the North Caucasus and other parts of the nation.
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Director of the Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov: Mr President, I would like to report on the situation unfolding in the North Caucasus and the work we have been doing recently in that region, particularly in the Stavropol Territory.
”We need to continue work to expose, arrest and, if necessary, kill militants… We must make their life as hard as possible, so that they do not feel calm, so that they can never rest or relax; instead, they should know and remember that national security agencies and other law enforcement bodies are after them.“
On October 26, an operation was carried out against a militant group consisting of individuals from the North Caucasus region who planned to conduct a terrorist attack in Pyatigorsk that same day, October 26. As a result of the measures taken, during the special operation two militants were killed and four have been captured. Also, we seized more than 22 kilograms of explosives and improvised explosive device (IED) components, and practically uncovered an underground workshop where these were made.
We have established that this gang was involved in terrorist attacks in Pyatigorsk on August 17, when a large number of civilians were killed, and in plotting a terrorist attack on Stavropol on September 30. That particular attack failed thanks to local residents’ vigilance. We were able to defuse a car bomb and one more improvised explosive device, which allowed us to prevent this terrorist attack.
The militants and the material evidence have been handed over to the Investigative Committee, and work is underway on the criminal cases initiated just now and those opened before. The militants have been transported to a detention facility in Moscow. We are carrying out the necessary investigative and operational search actions.
President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: All of this proves that in the end anyone engaged in such activities, anyone linked to a bandit underground will end up being arrested or destroyed. I’m glad that you were able to do this and prevent a terrorist attack. Everyone who participated in preparing and conducting this operation deserves the highest words of praise and awards from the state, so please prepare the necessary documents.
We need to continue work to expose, arrest and, if necessary, kill militants involved in the series of attacks in the North Caucasus and other regions of our nation. We must make their life as hard as possible, so that they do not feel calm, so that they can never rest or relax; instead, they should know and remember that national security agencies and other law enforcement bodies are after them.
Alexander Bortnikov: Mr President, we continue to work very actively, and we have some very promising groundwork that, I am absolutely certain, we will be able to use very soon; indeed, some of it concerns high-profile cases that we have reported on before.