It was with great pain that the international community regarded the tragic events of August and September 2004 in the Russian Federation, which took the lives of innocent people as the result of explosions in passenger plans and by a metro station in Moscow, and the shooting of children taking hostage in Northern Ossetia.
The bloody practice of international terrorism, which chooses defenceless people as victims, making them the hostages of interests alien to them, is condemned by the peoples of the CIS countries, other nations, the UN Security Council, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Union, the Islamic Conference Organisation, NATO and other international organisations.
The cynical and brutal acts of terrorists which are incompatible with morality and humanity are intended to intimidate people, to paralyse their will, to alienate them and demoralise them in the face of danger. Terrorists who commit crimes against the Russian Federation represent an extremely serious danger to all the world’s countries without exception.
The heads of CIS member countries express their full solidarity with the Russian Federation in its war on terrorism, and are convinced that only a consolidation of the efforts of all civilised mankind in the war on international terrorism can prevent this evil from spreading, which has today become one of the main threats to international security and stability.
Having faced acts of international terrorism, CIS member countries confirm their firm resolve to oppose any forms of terrorism together, and call such acts criminal, without justification, for whatever reason, wherever they are committed and by whom.
The heads of CIS member countries support the appeal in the Statement by the Chairman of the UN Security Council of 1 September 2004 to all nations to work actively with the Russian authorities in their efforts to find and charge the perpetrators, organisers and sponsors of terrorist acts committed against the Russian Federation and its citizens. They confirm their firm resolve to wage an uncompromising, constant war on this deathly threat, in accordance with the obligations of their nations under the UN Charter.
Within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States, specific work is being carried out on uniting efforts in the war on international terrorism, and other contemporary challenges and threats. However, as recent events have shown, this has proved insufficient. It is now necessary above all to implement a comprehensive system of joint measures for fighting terrorism and the crimes that accompany it.
To oppose international terrorism effectively, and protect the rights and freedoms of our citizens, we must be able to anticipate every manifestation of terrorism and not just oppose it with unanimous condemnation from all our countries, but also with high professional of the special services, and also active use of all international legal tools developed in the framework of the UN, OSCE and CIS.
Heads of CIS member countries charge the appropriate national structures with completing work as fast as possible on preparing the Conception of cooperation between member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States in fighting terrorism and other violent manifestations of extremism, which determines the strategy and main priorities of the Commonwealth in this sphere.
At a national level, the heads of CIS member countries will do everything necessary to increase their contribution in the international community’s war on terrorism, with the central coordinating role of the UN, and in this context they put forward an initiative to hold another special meeting of the UN Security Council Anti-terrorist meeting with international, regional and sub-regional organisations together with CIS member countries.