All news

Russia, USA should jointly confront spreading terrorism - minister

Kolokoltsev underlined that Russian law-enforcement bodies have accumulated considerable experience in preventing terrorist attacks, including attacks on the transport

NEW YORK, May 21 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said Russia and the USA should jointly confront the threat of the spreading of terrorism, as terrorists do not divide their victims by nationality and pose a threat to the whole international community. Kolokoltsev said so at a meeting with New York police chief Raymond Kelly.

"Often, pro-extremist youths go to terrorist camps, mostly located in the East, for training. They return from such camps with the intention to stage acts of terror in Russia and abroad. The Russian government wishes to consolidate efforts with the USA in joint counteraction against this threat," the Russian minister noted.

He underlined that Russian law-enforcement bodies have accumulated considerable experience in preventing terrorist attacks, including attacks on the transport.

"We've examined various preventive technologies, including international ones. Practice shows that the main thing is to prevent a terrorist from accessing a public place. For example, the use of sniffer dogs at entrances to subway stations proved to be very effective. Also, Russia is a participant in the project to develop a sensor which detects explosives on passengers.

Moscow intends to set up an emergency operations center which will amass information from various CCTV cameras linked in one network.

"Thus, we'll have a complex solution of the video monitoring problems at all the key facilities. We're now studying the experience gained by New York and Israel, as a possible model for the operation of our center," Kolokoltsev said.

After the meeting with Kelly, the Russian official visited the emergency operations center located at the New York police headquarters.

The Russian Interior Minister is on a working visit to the USA. He will travel to New York and Washington, and meet with officials from a number of U.S. law-enforcement agencies, including Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Kolokoltsev plans to hold talks with UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman. During these meetings, the parties will discuss issues of combating terrorism, extremism, corruption and drug trafficking.