TASHKENT, September 4. /TASS/. Nearly 200 terrorist attacks were attempted in CIS countries in 2023, with most of them prevented, head of the CIS Anti-Terror Center (ATC) Yevgeny Sysoyev said at a joint Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) conference on countering terrorism and extremism in Tashkent.

"<...> more than 300 terrorist offenses were attempted in Commonwealth countries in 2023, with 195 of them being terrorist attacks," Sysoyev reported. "The overwhelming majority of them were foiled by the competent authorities at the preparation stage, which prevented numerous victims and minimized material damage." More than 2,100 criminals have been prosecuted for terrorist offenses in CIS countries.

Nevertheless, he noted, "international terrorist organizations show resistance," making terrorism one of the most dangerous public threats. "This was once again confirmed by the tragic events that took place this year in Russia (terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall on March 22, terrorist attacks in Derbent and Makhachkala on June 23), foiled attempts to commit terrorist and extremist crimes in Armenia (terrorist attack on March 24 in Yerevan) and Kyrgyzstan (prevention of an extremist rebellion to seize the power on July 5)," the ATC head recalled. "Virtually no countries in the world are unaffected by terrorist attacks," he stated.

The official also cited some statistics. Thus, "we see that last year over 3,000 terrorist attacks were committed worldwide, killing more than 8,000 people. These are the highest losses in recent years." "One in five people are victims of terrorism by ISIS (Islamic State, IS, recognized as terrorist in Russia - TASS)," Sysoyev recalled. Meanwhile, more than 90% of attacks occurred in countries involved in armed conflicts, accounting for 98% of victims. "The epicenter of terrorism has moved beyond the Middle East, south of the Sahara. The level of terrorist activity in Iraq and Afghanistan has noticeably decreased," he added.