Alarm over Islamic extremism threat to Russia

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, JULY 11. Islamic extremism poses direct threat to Russia's national security and may spin out of control if immediate action is not taken to combat it.

A conference of the law-enforcement officials in Moscow rang an alarm bell over the growth of extremist Islamic organisations and the failure of police and security bodies to stem the spread of religious extremism.

``The Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service have not worked out effective measures to combat the dissemination of ideas of Islamic extremism, which presents a tangible threat to the constitutional and public security of Russia,'' The Russian Prosecutor-General, Mr. Vladimir Ustinov, told the conference.

The conference was told that some extremist religious groups had not only their own education setups, but also armed militant wings.

``These groups control illegal armed outfits, some of which are headed and staffed by professionally trained foreign mercenaries who have combat experience,'' the RIA Novosti news agency said quoting the Prosecutor-General's office.

In the last few years, the Government has closed down Russian subsidiaries of several international terrorist organisations, such as Hezbollah, Muslim Brotherhood, Grey Wolves and others. However, the Prosecutor-General admitted that overall the Government had failed to cope with the problem.

``State control over public and religious organisations that preach Islamic extremism remains extremely lax,'' the Prosecutor- General told reporters after the conference.

He said the forms and methods of combating Islamic extremism were ``far from perfect''.

The conference called for improving coordination among all the law-enforcement agencies in identifying and curbing the activity of extremist religious organisations.

The rise of Islamic extremism has been triggered off by the war against separatists in the predominantly Muslim Chechnya.

Moscow has accused international Islamic extremists, above all Osama bin Laden, of supporting terrorist organisations in Russia.

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Section  : International
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