FSB Director for duly-established "antiterrorist international"

The present legislation of the Russian Federation is, on the whole, in accordance with the international legal rules against terrorism, Nikolai Patrushev, director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), said with reference to the expert conclusion. He made a speech on Friday at the opening of the international conference Improvement of Cooperation between the CIS Member States in the Struggle against International Terrorism and Its Financing.

"Efforts of one or even several states to lay a legal foundation for efficient work against terrorist organisations are definitely not enough", he said. "The imbalance of legal assessments and punishment for crimes directly or not related to terrorist activities between the national legislations gives an opportunity to criminals to find and make efficient use of weak points in the international system of opposing terrorism", said Patrushev.

"It is known that the preparation and conduct of terrorist acts require appreciable material expenses. In conditions when financial resources are scarce or absent, terrorists are actually deprived of the possibility to carry into effect their designs. This tendency was manifested during the antiterrorist operation in the North Caucasian region of the Russian Federation", he stressed.

To him, financial flows are an element "ensuring an inseparable connection between international terrorist structures from Al-Qaeda and the Taliban to bandit formations in the North Caucasus, terrorist organisations of regional extremists in the Middle East and their branches in Europe and America".

Destruction of the financial system of terrorism also sets the goal of strengthening international cooperation in legal matters and making the legislation of various states to meet the adopted norms, Patrushev believes.