Russian govt's change of tactics to turn tables on terrorists
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Instead of catching Russian law enforcement and civilians off balance, rebels and terrorists may soon find themselves caught off guard while in action.
In the wake of two successive bombing attacks, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered a change of tactics in his country's fight against these perpetrators.
The president has instructed the country's security forces to resort to more preventive actions as well as more punitive measures in their future battles.
"The list of anti-terror measures should be expanded, should be not only effective, but also tough, severe and preventive," Medvedev said during a blitz visit to Dagestan's capital Makhachkala on Thursday.
The president has vowed to track down and punish all those responsible for the most recent terror attacks in Moscow and Dagestan.
Two female suicide bombers killed 39 in attacks at the Moscow subway system on Monday, which the authorities have linked to militants from the North Caucasus.
Two days later, another 12 people, including nine police officers, were killed in two blasts in the Dagestani town of Kizlyar.
"We have twisted the heads off the most hateful bandits. But this is not enough, by all accounts. Anyway, we will track down and punish all of them. This is the only way we will act," Medvedev told a conference grouping heads of the North Caucasian republics, the territorial units of the Federal Security Service and the Interior Ministry.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has also earlier issued his warning.
The prime minister has vowed to "drag out of the sewer" those behind the suicide bombing attacks against the Moscow metro system.
The tough words from both the president and prime minister have demonstrated the hardened government stance toward terrorists.
The Russian government has been resorting to a policy which emphasizes developing the impoverished region in the North Caucasus, where most of the country's rebels and terrorists come from and where the government waged two wars on terror since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The North Caucasus includes such regions as Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia.
In a quick show of determination, security forces have doubled their presence at major subway stations, airports, railway stations, hospitals, theaters, schools and underpasses.
Police forces have erected roadblocks along highways leading up to Moscow.
Closer surveillance is being paid to migrants from southern provinces of the country.
Within a year from now, special security facilities will equip the country's major public transport hubs, and before 2014, a complex transport security system will be established nationwide to better cope with the terror threats.
In the North Caucasus, however, the Russian government still uses economic development as a preventive measure in its fight against terrorism there.
The Russian president has insisted on including improvement of the socio-economic situation in the North Caucasus and emphasis on moral values in the government's overall strategy for the region.
President Medvedev decided in January to establish a special federal district in the North Caucasus with a special governor who acts as his personal envoy to the region.
The move was designed to help lift the region out of its economic backwardness and rid it of rampant militant violence often caused by clan rivalry, entrenched unemployment and bureaucratic corruption.
Some of these development measures have already begun to see results in promoting the region's economic and social development.
The Russian president has also called upon enterprises in the North Caucasus to help develop the region.
"Everyone who cares about the future of this country and has money must do that," said the president, urging major enterprises to pay their "dues" in the region.
Their contributions will assist in the development and creation of jobs in the region, he added.
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