MOSCOW, January 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Chiefs of law enforcement agencies and security services will be invited to attend a plenary session in State Duma lower house of parliament in February to debate first reading of anti-terrorism bills submitted on Wednesday, State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin told reporters after a meeting of the State Duma Council on Thursday.
“In fact, a package of bills on counteraction to terrorism was submitted yesterday,” the parliamentary speaker told Itar-Tass. “I believe that we will consider these bills in first reading in February,” he said.
Naryshkin also noted that he had proposed to fellow lawmakers at a meeting of the State Duma Council on Thursday “to invite chiefs of law enforcement agencies and security services for the debates over these bills.”
For his part, First Vice-Speaker from Communist faction Ivan Melnikov noted that anti-terrorism bills can be debated “at one of first plenary meetings in February.” In his words, chiefs of the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service will be invited for a plenary meeting, as the latter will deliver their reports on the terrorist acts in southern Russia’s Volgograd.
On Wednesday, a group of deputies from all four State Duma factions submitted in the lower house bills that vest the Federal Security Service with broader powers in the fight against terrorism and introduce tougher punishment for terrorism, including in the Internet.