NALCHIK, April 13. /TASS/. Western intelligence services are activating sleeper cells of terrorists, nationalists and radicals in the North Caucasus, and militants are stepping up propaganda and recruitment efforts in the area, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said on Thursday.

"International extremist and terrorist organizations are stepping up propaganda and recruitment activity in the regions. Clandestine cells of terrorist, nationalist and radical religious organizations controlled by Western special services are intensifying," Patrushev told a meeting on security in the North Caucasus Federal District in Nalchik.

The residents of the North Caucasus know perfectly well what this activity may lead to, Patrushev stressed.

"Suffice it to recall the tragic events of October 2005, when an armed attempt was made to seize the city of Nalchik, where we are now," he went on to say.

"Recently, a group of militants attacked law enforcement officers in the Republic of Ingushetia," the security chief added.