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Top security official warns transport remains highly vulnerable to terrorist attacks

At a meeting in Tyumen, Nikolai Patrushev highlighted the factors driving down auto transportation safety in the Urals, in particular, poor roads, illegal transportation providers, worn-out vehicles

Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev Mikhail Metzel/TASS

Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

TYUMEN, February 19. /TASS/. Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev said that transportation facilities’ vulnerability to terrorist threats remains high.

"Given the ongoing terror threats and the high level of vulnerability that transportation infrastructure and vehicles face, ensuring the public’s transportation safety is a key priority not only for security and law enforcement agencies, but also for the owners of transport infrastructure and vehicles," he said in a meeting in Tyumen. Speaking about the problems the Ural Region has confronted on this matter, Patrushev pointed to the failure to comply with the legal requirements on transport security as a key issue. Particularly, owners often fail to meet the technical requirements for infrastructure and vehicles, don’t do hazard analyses in addition to being negligent on ensuring safety.

"Often in the pursuit of cutting costs, mandatory competency tests for all security employees are ignored, and their special training is all written down on paper," the Russian Security Council chief noted. "The existing practice of employing private security companies to guarantee safety on transport does not allow them to fully perform their antiterrorist tasks as their competence is restricted by law," he pointed out.

Patrushev highlighted the factors driving down auto transportation safety in the Ural Region: poor roads, illegal transportation providers and worn-out vehicles. As far as air transportation is concerned, "there are cases of funds being misused that were received as part of fees charged for aviation security," he stressed.

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