Monday marks the Day of Solidarity in the Fight Against Terrorism in Russia.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd September, 2018) Monday marks the Day of Solidarity in the Fight Against Terrorism in Russia.
This day is celebrated on September 3 under the Russian federal law of July 21, 2005. The date is timed to the tragic events of September 1-4, 2004, when over 300 people, mainly women and children, were killed in an unprecedentedly cruel terror act in a school in the southern town of Beslan.
This day symbolizes the unity of the government and the public in countering such a horrible phenomenon as terrorism.
On September 3, Russian people honor the memory of thousands of their compatriots, who were killed by terrorists not only in Beslan, but in the Dubrovka theater hostage crisis in Moscow of 2002 (also known as the Nord-Ost siege), in the Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis of 1995, Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye terror act of 1996, residential houses blasts in Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk of 1999 and hundreds of other terror attacks.
The last major terrorist attack in Russia took place in April 2017 in the second largest city of St. Petersburg. In the afternoon of April 3, an explosion hit a metro train inside a tunnel between the Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations. Another explosion at the Ploshchad Vosstaniya station was thwarted as the law enforcement timely detected an improvised explosive device. The terror act left 16 people, including the perpetrator, killed and over 90 others wounded.
According to Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, the level of terrorist activity in Russia has fallen by over 30 times since 2010, while the number of terror attacks has decreased tenfold.
Alexander Bortnikov, the director of Russia's Federal Security Service, has said that the terrorists' tactics have also changed, explaining that leaders of international terrorist organizations have been encouraging their supporters to carry out the so-called "autonomous jihad." As a rule, the militants target civilians, law enforcement officers and infrastructure facilities, the official has noted.
Terrorists managed to carry out four terrorist attacks in Russia in 2017. However, some 68 terror-related crimes have been thwarted at the stage of preparation, including 25 terrorist attacks that were planned to be carried out in public places and important infrastructure facilities.
Moreover, the activities of over 50 clandestine terrorist cells have been ceased. Over 80 people, who had fallen under the influence of international terrorist organizations and planned to join the followers of the radical Muslim ideology, Wahhabism, in war zones, have been prevented from traveling abroad by the authorities.
Over 1,300 Russian citizens have been persuaded to abandon illicit activities in 2017, which surpasses the 2016 figures. The content of over 60,000 online resources was blocked and 68 extremist online resources run from abroad were shot down.
On September 3, federal and local authorities and NGOs hold socio-political, cultural and sports events in various Russian regions. These events are dedicated to the memory of the victims of terror attacks, as well as intelligence and law enforcement officers, who were killed by terrorists in the line of duty.
