All news

Moscow police beef up efforts to prevent terrorism — official

The police made this decision following a series of deadly terrorist attacks in Belgian capital Brussels on Tuesday

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. The Moscow police have stepped up efforts to prevent terrorism in view of Tuesday's terrorist attacks in Belgium, head of the Russian Interior Ministry’s Moscow Main Department Anatoly Yakunin said on Wednesday.

"Manifestations of extremism, nationalism and xenophobia pose the greatest threat to such multi-ethnic city as Moscow. In September 2015, after the beginning of the active phase in the fight against the terrorist group in Syria, the level of terrorist threat in Moscow increased significantly. Patrol units were reinforced, work was in progress in places of foreign nationals’ stay. Taking into account yesterday’s terrorist attacks in Belgium, we have resumed this work," Yakunin told a meeting of the Moscow City Duma.

He noted that 56 persons had been detained together with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in 2015 alone within the framework of the probe into the involvement in the activities of the Islamic Liberation terrorist group.

A series of terrorist attacks rocked the Belgian capital on Tuesday. There were two explosions at the international airport of Brussels. Another explosion occurred in the Brussels subway. According to the latest reports, 34 people were killed in the attacks and 230 injured.