Russia considers terror alerts
2010-03-31 19:33
Moscow - Russia is mulling over a new system of colour-coded terror alerts after the Moscow metro attacks that killed 39 people, officials said on Wednesday.
"Indeed this is being worked upon," the spokesperson for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.
"This topic has been discussed at the Anti-Terror Committee for some time," said the spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov.
The head of Russia's Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, who is also former director of Russia's FSB security service, said in an interview released on Wednesday that the new attack alert system was timely.
"My opinion is that's necessary," Patrushev said in an interview with the newspaper Kommersant.
"In principle, everything is ready for the introduction of the system, the National Anti-Terror Committee has prepared all the necessary proposals to correct current legislation."
Neither Peskov nor Patrushev provided further details and the Anti-Terror Commitee was not immediately available for comment. The FSB security service declined comment.
A report in the newspaper Gazeta, quoting a Kremlin source, said the Anti-Terror Committee was set to submit new security proposals to President Dmitry Medvedev in a meeting on Wednesday.
The new plan would propose the introduction of the new system of colour-coded terror alerts similar to the one in the United States, the report said.
Delayed reports
Moscow is on high alert after twin blasts triggered by two female suicide bombers on the packed Moscow metro on Monday killed 39 people.
On Wednesday, two consecutive blasts in the southern region of Dagestan, one of them carried out by a suicide bomber dressed in police uniform, killed 12 people, including nine policemen, and wounded another 23.
After the Moscow blasts, observers sharply criticised state television for its tardy coverage of the suicide bombings as channels took up to three hours to report news of the attacks.
Many Muscovites complained that the state had left them in the dark over the metro bombings for several hours.
- SAPA
