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Security chief warns foreign intelligence stepping up efforts to destabilize Russia

"The situation is exacerbated by increasing migration, especially illegal immigration from unstable countries in the Middle East," the Security Council chief says

© AP Photo/Alastair Grant

ASTRAKHAN, March 14. /TASS/. Foreign intelligence agencies have been taking active steps to destabilize the social and political situation in Russia, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said on Tuesday.

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"Foreign intelligence has stepped up subversive activity with the goal of destabilizing the social and political environment in Russia," Patrushev said at a meeting held in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan.

The Security Council chief recalled that Ukraine’s authorities had declared that they had carried out the acts of sabotage. "The situation (in the Southern Federal) District is characterized by an increased level of terrorist and extremist threats," the official highlighted.

Radical nationalist and religious groups pose a major threat as do extremist manifestations over the Internet, in addition to growing xenophobia among young people, Patrushev noted.

"The situation is exacerbated by increasing migration, especially illegal immigration from unstable countries in the Middle East," he noted. "It is possible that the citizens of the region, who fought on the side of illegal armed groups in Syria, may return to the country.".

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