President Vladimir Putin: Today, on September 11, as the world speaks about and remembers last year’s tragedy in the US and the thousands of innocent people who died in the terrorist attacks, and we in Russia remember the hundreds of our fellow countrymen who became the victims of terrorists as a result of bombings and other crimes, it is particularly appropriate and timely to have another look at the situation in the national security sphere. For a long time the source of extremism and terrorism in our country has been the Chechen Republic where international terrorist organisations, including notorious al-Qaeda, unfolded their activities on a full scale.
Of course, there are still many outstanding political and social problems in Chechnya today. The terrorists are still able to be active and deliver hit-and-run strikes. But their units have suffered a powerful and tangible blow. All the infrastructures of international terrorism there have been destroyed.
One of the things that complicates the effective fight against terrorism is the survival of enclaves in some parts of the world that are not under national governmental control because for various reasons the governments are unable or unwilling to confront the terrorist threat.
One such place where the situation is causing particular concern to Russia is the Pankisi Gorge and other places along the state border between Georgia and Russia. The situation in that region has for a long time been poisoning our relations with Georgia, with whose people we have not only a shared history and moral values, but a feeling of mutual sympathy and respect. Had it been otherwise hundreds of thousands of Georgians wouldn’t be living and working here permanently, in practically all the regions of Russia.
Starting in 1999, we offered the Georgian Government to participate in joint actions to prevent Chechen militants from infiltrating into Georgia. Russia has been persistently and patiently trying to establish interaction with Tbilisi’s authorities on the issues of the fight against terrorism. During that period the views and approaches of our Georgian colleagues have significantly changed: from the total and flat denial of the presence of international terrorists on their territory to the total and unqualified admission of that fact.
Today, no one can deny, and we know for sure, and that is confirmed by foreign information sources, that Georgian territory has been chosen as a haven by those who were complicit in planning the terrorist attacks in the US a year ago and those who blew up houses in the Russian Federation. We demand their immediate extradition. But Georgia refuses to extradite not only these people, but even the terrorists who have been detained by the Georgian authorities after their failed attempt to cross the border into Russia in late July of this year.
We have also patiently awaited the results of the so-called anti-criminal operation.
The presence of hundreds of terrorists and illegal armed groups on Georgian territory, which include, by the way, citizens of various countries, is not denied. The need to carry out special operations to restore order is recognised. But no terrorists have been stopped, no militants have been detained and put on trial or extradited or at least deported from Georgia. The legitimate question arises: where are they?
The answer is known: they have spread out to other regions of Georgia along the border with Russia and are preparing to commit new crimes.
Russia firmly adheres to its international obligations and respects the sovereignty and integrity of other states, but it expects to be treated in a similar way.
If the Georgian leadership is unable to create a security zone in the area of the Georgian-Russia border, continues to ignore the UN Security Council Resolution 1373 of September 28, 2001, and does not put an end to the terrorist groups and their attacks on the neighbouring regions of Russia, we reserve the right to proceed in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter which gives every UN member state the inalienable right to individual or collective self-defence.
In connection with this, I ask the Director of the Federal Border Service, the Defence Minister and the Director of the FSB to report back on the execution of my previous directives on the strengthening of the southern borders of Russia. I ask you to work out and propose measures for additional protection of the state border. The Defence Ministry jointly with the other security agencies is to submit proposals on planned special operations to eliminate the units of militants if terrorists try again to break through into our territory.
I ask the General Staff to submit proposals on the feasibility of delivering strikes on known terrorist bases in the course of hot pursuit.
The Foreign Ministry will be instructed to convey our concerns about Georgia’s violation of the counter-terrorist resolutions of the UN Security Council to the Secretary General of that organisation, the permanent Security Council members and our partners in the counter-terrorist coalition.
I will also ask the speakers of the two houses of the Federal Assembly to carry out the relevant work with parliaments, above all as part of inter-parliamentary links with Georgia.
I very much hope that we will be able to work out concrete joint measures to combat terrorism at our forthcoming meeting with the Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze in Chisinau in early October of this year.
And the last thing. None of the above will be needed, no measures or special operations will be needed if the Georgian leadership really controls its own territory, abides by its international obligations in the fight against international terrorism and prevents possible attacks being launched by international terrorists from its territory against the territory of the Russian Federation.