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Russia bolsters security after attack warning

17 Jan 2007 10:19:21 GMT
Source: Reuters

MOSCOW, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Russia upped security at military bases, oil pipelines and the Moscow metro system on Wednesday after a top spy chief warned of a possible attack.

Officials rushed to assure the public that security had been tightened after FSB Security Chief Nikolai Patrushev said intelligence services from an unidentified foreign country had warned Russia that an attack could be being planned.

"Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov immediately issued instructions to appropriate city services and to the city police and emergency situations department to step up security," the Moscow mayor's office said in a statement.

Security was also raised at military bases, pipelines, airports, hydro-electric power stations and railway stations.

Moscow has been the target of many attacks, including a 2002 theatre siege that left at least 129 hostages dead and Moscow metro bombings that killed dozens of people in 2004.

Patrushev, who heads the domestic security service known in Russia as the FSB, said on Tuesday that attackers could target public transport systems.

Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said security around military bases had been tightened and police were shown on national television checking people's documents on the street.

"The Defence Ministry has taken additional measures to protect vital military facilities and state and government infrastructure," Interfax news agency quoted Ivanov as saying.

Focus on who would attack Russia turned to Chechnya, where separatists have fought two wars against Russia since 1994.

Chechen rebels also took hundreds of children hostage at a school in Beslan, in the southern Russian republic of North Ossetia, in 2004. Over 300 people, mainly children, died in the siege after Russian forces stormed the school.

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Last updated:Wed Jan 17 10:21:47 2007