PETROZAVODSK, July 31. /TASS/. Foreign special services are seeking to promote separatist attitudes among the youth to destabilize the situation in Russia’s northwestern republic of Karelia, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev said on Monday.

"In order to stabilize the socio-political situation in the Republic of Karelia and instigate riots, foreign special services have invigorated efforts to foment separatist moods, first of all, among the youth," he said at a meeting on Karelia’s security.

"Extremist calls are being disseminated via social networks in Karelia, as well as reports about plans to set up a Karelian nationalist battalion involving Finnish citizens," he added.