MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS/. Amid the pandemic terrorist organizations have stepped up their activity, the Deputy Secretary of Russia's Security Council, Yuri Kokov, told the government-published Rossiyskaya Gazeta in an interview.
"For instance, in the social networks they (emissaries of terrorist organizations) have started discrediting local authorities' efforts in the struggle against the pandemic and breeding a feeling of confusion and uncertainty among the people. Also, the recruitment activity on the Internet has grown," Kokov said.
Sociological polls in the US, he said, have found that during the period of massive lockdowns "there was an upsurge in demand for extremist content on the Internet, particularly, from the young audience."
"It is obvious that this process expands the radicals' social base they can use for extremist and terrorist purposes," Kokov said.
Also, he believes that in the context of booming cyber technologies considerable risks of the virtual space being used as a weapon are likely. Negative effects of such activity may pose far greater threats to society and exceed by far the harm from terrorist attacks staged by customary means.
"Unauthorized interference in the operation of control systems of potentially hazardous and critically important facilities, such as transport and fuel and energy infrastructure, is capable of triggering technogenic disasters entailing heavy casualties, as well as major economic and ecological damage," Kokov said.
He recalled that the Iranian authorities interpreted as such an attack the breakdown of the power distribution grid at the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.
"In the process of developing and introducing advanced technologies the new risks that emerge in the process should by no means be underestimated," Kokov concluded.