Putin Assigns to UN Key Role in Building Effective System of International Security

President of Russia Vladimir Putin assigns to the UN the key role in building an effective system of international security, says the message of greeting sent by the president of Russia to the participants in the second conference of the heads of the secret services, security bodies and law-enforcement bodies of the states of the CIS, the Eight, NATO, the EU, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and some other countries.

Deputy head of the Kremlin administration Viktor Ivanov read out the message before the participants in the meeting.

As it is stressed in the document, today "the world community is facing a common task - to build an effective system of international security, which will provide people with real protection against terrorism and extremism". "The United Nations is called upon to play the key role here", the Russian leader says with confidence.

Putin also noted that "it is of importance of principle to ensure close cooperation of the secret services and law-enforcement bodies of different countries, especially in the field of exchange of operational information and elimination of the financial base of terrorism".

The president of Russia expressed confidence that the decisions and recommendations, adopted in the course of the conference, will help make the work of the law-enforcement bodies to remove the terrorist threat and to stem the activity of extremist groups more resultful.

Ivanov noted that the president of Russia "with keen interest regards the conference of the staffers of the secret services and will familiarise himself with its results".

At the same time deputy chief of the Kremlin staff expressed confidence that at present the level of high-tech attainments is so high, that the efforts of one or several states for repelling present-day threats are not enough. "Especially if we think about a possibility that a terrorist may get access to nuclear arms," he stressed. According to Ivanov, in this connection Russia attaches immense importance to the world community's efforts to counter terrorist threats. "We are convinced," he said, "that the UN should play a key role in anti-terrorist actions." "It is a platform for coordinating the interests of all states and it makes them capable of taking effective common decisions in the struggle against terrorism," Ivanov said.

The UN is the only guarantor ensuring that the mechanisms established in combating terrorism will not infringe upon the rights of individual states and the rights and liberties of citizens.

Taking part in the meeting were also the leaders and representatives of the security services of the U.S., Canada, Israel, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Japan, and other major countries of the world. Russia is represented by director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Lebedev, director of the Federal Security Service Nikolai Patrushev, Chairman of the federal service for drug trafficking control Viktor Cherkesov, and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

The meeting will last until April 24.