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Mobile reception points were organized at a local airfield and railway station to practice first-aid treatment and the evacuation of the sick and wounded, he said.
MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Black Sea Fleet conducted an anti-terrorist exercise at one of its naval sites on Thursday, the Black Sea Fleet's press service reported.
The exercise involved coastal troops, radiation, chemical and biological protection units, firefighting and medical services, in all more than 100 servicemen and 17 pieces of hardware and was commanded by the fleet's acting Commander-in Chief Vice Admiral Alexander Troyan.
MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax-AVN) - Several thousand reservists of the Siberian Military District have been recalled to take part in a command and post mobilization exercise in eastern Siberia.
"This command and post exercise, in which over 100 headquarters, military units, conscription offices and civil executive agencies take part, has entered the active and practical stage," head of the information and public affairs service of the Siberian Military District Col. Valery Shchebalin told Interfax-AVN.
A number of conscription offices in Russia's internal republic of Buryatia and the Irkutsk region have been drilling practical actions for a special period, the colonel said.
This is a planned exercise, which will end on March 29, Shchebalin said.
GROZNY/ROSTOV-ON-DON. March 24 (Interfax) - A militant has been killed in an exchange of fire with police officers in Chechnya, a source with the Chechen Interior Ministry said on Monday.
"Police officers established the whereabouts of a militant in an investigative operation at about midnight. He offered armed resistance near the village of Prigorodnoye in the Grozny district and was killed by return fire," the source said.
"The militant was identified. Information on his possible accomplices is being gathered," he said.
No police officer was either killed or wounded.
Meanwhile, a terrorist attack has been thwarted in the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya, Ingushetia, a source with the headquarters of the provisional group of forces told Interfax on Monday.
"A local resident of the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya reported to police on Sunday morning that there was a suspicious-looking bag on the territory of a local market. Bomb disposal experts who arrived on the scene found a hand-made explosive," the source said.
The bomb was defused and a search for the people who planted the bomb is being conducted.
ROSTOV-ON-DON. March 24 (Interfax) - An unknown explosive device has gone off near a bank in downtown Nazran, a source with the Nazran police department told Interfax on Monday.
"The explosion occurred at about 11 a.m. Moscow time. According to preliminary information, a Mercedes vehicle containing police officers exploded. Four people were seriously wounded," the source said.
NAZRAN. March 24 (Interfax) - A criminal case has been opened over the Mercedes explosion near the Nazran city police department and a bank, senior assistant to the head of the Ingush division of the Prosecutor General's Office Investigation Committee Svetlana Gorbakova told Interfax on Monday.
"The charges include an attack on a police officer and illegal use of explosives," she said.
The bomb went off on a parking lot in front of Ringkombank when a Nazran detective tried to open the door of his Mercedes.
The explosion injured the detective, a district police inspector and two civilians. All of them were hospitalized. Forensic experts are at work on the scene of the explosion.
The bomb was preliminary estimated at about two kilograms of TNT.
GROZNY. March 25 (Interfax-AVN) - Two police officers have died in Chechnya as a result of a blast of an explosive device, which has not been identified, the Chechen Interior Ministry told Interfax-AVN on Tuesday.
"The explosion occurred during search operations in a wooded area near the village of Alleroi in Kurchaloi District last night. The police officers from the Chechen Interior Ministry's extra-departmental security department, Kolovka Timirsultanov and Sheikh-Akhmed Esuyev, died of sustained injuries at the scene," the ministry official said.
Bomb disposal engineers who arrived at the scene examined the area, but did not find anything that would indicate that the explosive device was intentionally planted there.
VLADIKAVKAZ. March 26 (Interfax-AVN) - North Ossetian police are conducting a search for the unidentified assailants that opened fire on a police checkpoint in Chermen Circle, Prigorodny district, North Ossetia, North Ossetian First Deputy Interior Minister Col. Soslan Sikoyev said.
"Unidentified attackers opened fire with automatic weapons at 7:20 p.m. Moscow time on Tuesday against a police post where a Russian Interior Ministry mobile detachment and officers of the North Ossetian police are serving. Two traffic police officers were wounded," the source said.
"Additional measures to strengthen police checkpoints in North Ossetia have been taken," he said.
MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax-AVN) - Up to 500 members of illegal armed units are still acting in the North Caucasus, Russian Interior Forces Commander Gen. Nikolai Rogozhkin said.
"By various estimates, the number of bandits ranges from 400 to 500. They need to be counted all together in the entire North Caucasus," Rogozhkin said at a press conference on Wednesday.
"These are people of the same kind, but they have no tomorrow," he said.
GROZNY. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov claimed on Wednesday that a recent report by the British Foreign Office on the current situation in Chechnya misrepresented the state of affairs in his republic.
"I can't understand what meaning the authors of the document sought to put into the term 'social instability', but there is no evidence in Chechnya of the objectivity of this statement," Kadyrov told Interfax-AVN.
"The republic is getting back to its feet after a destructive and tragic crisis. In a short period of time, practically all medical institutions have been restored, hundreds of schools, residential buildings and roads have been built or repaired. Tens and hundreds of kilometers of electricity transmission lines and natural gas pipelines have been built," the president said.
"The main point is that, with support from the federal center, we have been able to unify Chechen society and bring those who have been holding rifles in their hands for years back to peaceful work," he said.
Small- and medium-sized businesses are developing fast in Chechnya, Kadyrov said. Not only Russian, but also South Korean, Chinese and European firms plan to invest in Chechnya, Kadyrov said.
"We have never sought, nor do we seek now, to conceal the fact that the Chechen economy is in the making. But this is an intensive process. And there is every reason to expect there will be no social tensions in Chechnya," he said.
GROZNY. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Chechen police arrested a suspected former militant in the Shali district, Interior Ministry spokesman Magomed Deniyev told Interfax.
The Grozny resident is believed to have been a member of an illegal armed group in 1996. He told the police he eventually quit and refused to carry a gun.
The possible involvement of the man in serious crimes is being verified, Deniyev sad.
Meanwhile, an Avtury resident has turned himself in to police. He said he helped an illegal armed group member nicknamed Shram (scar). Shram was killed in a clash.
Deniyev said another two suspected militants have been identified.
ROSTOV-ON-DON. March 27 (Interfax) - Militants hiding on the second floor of a five-story house in the city of Dagestanskiye Ogny have not ceased firing at police officers.
"Gunfire is sporadic. The militants are resisting," a source on the special operation's staff told Interfax.
Two militants have been killed, the source said.
Meanwhile, police are planning to storm the house. Earlier reports said that an officer had been lightly injured.
Four militants, including the Kurbanov brothers suspected of killing two policemen in Dagestanskiye Ogny last November, are hiding in the apartment.
NALCHIK. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Lawyer Larisa Dorogova, who represents the interests of militants killed during an attack on Nalchik in October 2005, has informed the Interior Ministry of Kabardino-Balkaria that she is receiving threats, the Interior Ministry informed Interfax.
Dorogova discovered a chocolate box in her mailbox, which carried a letter with a murder threat and citing the Koran. It also contained a rifle cartridge," an Interior Ministry official said.
Dorogova, who professes Islam, gained prominence when she agreed to represent the parents and relatives of militants who were killed during the 2005 attack on Nalchik.
The exact number of militants who carried out the attack is not known, but some sources claim several dozen militants were involved. Thirty-five law enforcement officers and servicemen and 15 civilians were killed in the attack, and 129 law enforcement personnel and 66 local residents were injured. Damage to various properties is estimated at over 54 million rubles.
ROSTOV-ON-DON. March 27 (Interfax) - A police operation against militants surrounded in a five-story apartment house in the city of Dagestanskiye Ogny is now over, a source at the operation staff told Interfax.
"Gunfire has ceased under the pressure of police. The third militant was killed. Officers are preparing to examine the floor and the apartment," he said.
MAKHACHKALA. March 28 (Interfax-AVN) - A tank at an oil tank facility in Makhachkala, capital of the Russian region of Dagestan, exploded on Thursday, the blast being so powerful that it shook the walls of buildings several kilometers away, witnesses told Interfax.
The explosion started a fire.
There have been no casualty reports so far.
ROSTOV-ON-DON/MAKHACHKALA. March 28 (Interfax) - Firefighters have managed to stop a fire, which started at a large crude oil tank at an oil facility in Makhachkala, from spreading to other oil tanks, a spokesman for the firefighting department told Interfax-South.
"Currently, the remainder of oil in the tank still burning. Specialists said there are about 400 tons still to burn out. Firefighters continue to tackle the fire. They worked through the night. Presumably, the remainder of the oil will burnout completely by 10 or 11 a.m. Moscow time," he said.
One of the firefighting officials ruled out a deliberate explosion of the oil tank. "This could be a technological error during operation. But the final assessment will be made by prosecutors after the fire is extinguished and the team of investigators will be able to start working in the tank area," he said.
The fire erupted at the oil tank facility as a result of an explosion on Thursday evening. One employee suffered burns to almost 100% of her body.
MAKHACHKALA. March 28 (Interfax-AVN) - The measures put in place in the town of Dagestanskiye Ogni since 11.30 p.m. Moscow time on Wednesday, following the announcement of an anti-terror operation, have been lifted, a spokesperson for the Russian Federal Security Service Department for Dagestan told Interfax on Thursday.
"By order of Dagestan department's acting chief Sergei Shirokikh the measures related to the anti-terror operation were lifted at 6.20 p.m.," the spokesperson said.
During the special operation conducted by federal security and police officers three militants who showed armed resistance were killed, the official said.
Two militants have been identified: they are brothers Chingiz and Jamamed Kurbanov. They were wanted for killing two police officers in the town on October 2 last year. The third militant is being identified.
MOSCOW. March 24 (Interfax-AVN) - A week of legal knowledge will be held in all Russian military units on March 24-29, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office said. Interfax-AVN received the report on Monday.
More than 1,000 military prosecutors and unit commanders will take part.
"Servicemen can ask questions about laws, including ones on social guarantees. Measures will be taken to prevent violations of laws and restore servicemen's rights," the report runs.
MOSCOW. March 25 (Interfax-AVN) - A man suspected of criminal activity was severely injured and five were arrested during a special operation conducted by officers of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Unit, in cooperation with riot police forces, on Tuesday morning, a source in law enforcement told Interfax-AVN.
"This morning riot police officers stopped an Audi car on Orjonikidze Street with six passengers suspected of committing crimes. One of them jumped out of the car, attacked a police officer and was injured in the head while trying to escape. All the suspects have been detained," the source said.
So far no official confirmation of the information has been made available to Interfax-AVN.
MOSCOW. March 25 (Interfax-AVN) - The Investigative Committee under the Russian Prosecutor General's Office plans to step up its anti-corruption efforts.
"Investigating corruption is one of our main priorities. We are going to do it in an active, aggressive and coherent manner," head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin told a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday.
He said his staff has launched criminal investigations against more than 500 officials over the past several months. "And these are only high-ranking officials," Bastrykin said.
As regards difficulties and problems in investigating such criminal cases, the official pointed to strong resistance. "Normally, these are people with extensive connections and administrative resources," he said.
As an example Bastrykin recalled the case against Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak. "Can you imagine this, the Audit Chamber kept sending files on Storchak to the Finance Ministry and there was no answer for six months. The reaction followed only after the Investigative Committee launched a criminal case in relation to these files," Bastrykin said.
Regarding another high-profile corruption case that was launched against anti-drug official Alexander Bulbov, Bastrykin said that a search of his apartment produced 1 million euro in cash. "Apparently, this was just pocket money for him," Bastrykin said.
He also talked about efforts to fight corruption amongst investigative officials. "Unfortunately, this evil has also infiltrated our ranks. Over the past four months criminal charges have been brought against ten of our investigators, including seven for abuse of office. This is a lot," Bastrykin said.
ASTANA. March 26 (Interfax-AVN) - Kazakh and Russian law enforcement agents have ended the activities of an international criminal group engaged in the illegal production, smuggling and selling of firearms," the Russian Interior Ministry said.
In terms of the interstate special operation, the personnel of the Department for Fighting Organized Crime and West Kazakh Region special brigade Arlan, jointly with Kazakh National Security Committee Department and Saratov Region Interior Department, eliminated a clandestine workshop making firearms and international channel of arms trade," Interior Ministry Criminal Police Committee said.
"People involved in this secret criminal activity have been detained in Uralsk and Saratov," it said.
MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - A resolution establishing a control and analytical branch in the law enforcement oversight department of the Russian Investigative Committee at the Russian Prosecutor General's Office has been signed.
"The unit will have to comprehensively and fully investigate criminal cases related to extremist crimes and make sure the decisions made in such criminal cases are within the law," a spokesman for the Investigative Committee told Interfax-AVN.
"The new branch of the Investigative Committee at the Russian Prosecutor General's Office will gather and analyze information on such criminal cases, as well as gather experience in the investigation of extremist crimes," the spokesman said.
KHANTY-MANSIISK. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev says his agency foiled a number of terrorist attacks during the presidential election campaign and the elections themselves.
"Thanks to forestalling information and a set of preemptive measures, a number of subversion and terrorist attacks planned by bandits were prevented, including during the preparations for the presidential elections and the elections themselves," Patrushev said at the 7th international conference of heads of special services in Khanty-Mansiisk on Thursday.
KHANTY-MANSIISK. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Nikolai Patrushev anticipates an increase of the terrorist threat in the world and territorial disputes in various regions.
"The terrorist danger in the world is growing at the present time, and there are reasons to anticipate further growth in its scale," Patrushev said at the 7th international conference of special service officials in Khanty-Mansiisk.
Among the logical factors fueling the increase, Patrushev mentioned religious extremism and ethnic separatism, which "pose a threat to the existing system of international security and may trigger a series of territorial disputes in various regions of the world with a complicated ethnic and religious mix."
KHANTY-MANSIISK. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Ways to fight terrorism and ensure transport and information security are being discussed at the 7th international security conference in Khanty-Mansiisk.
The heads of special services, who have gathered in Khanty-Mansiisk, discussed on Thursday a plan to create an international database to combat terrorism, an Interfax correspondent reports.
The conference is attended by 76 foreign delegations from 54 countries, representatives of the UN Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's regional anti-terrorism agency, and the Anti-Terrorism Center of the Commonwealth of Independent t States.
Russia is represented by Federal Security Service Director Nikolai Patrushev, presidential envoy in the Urals Federal District Pyotr Latyshev, Governor of the Khanty-Mansiisk Autonomous District Alexander Filipenko and the heads of the FSB's territorial departments.
KHANTY-MANSIISK. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Federal Security Service Director Nikolai Patrushev has urged his foreign colleagues to join an effort to create a common anti-terror information space on the basis of Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee.
"An open segment of the international database for combating terrorism, formed on the basis of the Russian Anti-terrorism Committee, was presented at the 6th conference in Khabarovsk in 2007," Patrushev said, addressing on Thursday the 7th international conference of special and law enforcement services in Khanty-Mansiisk.
This is the beginning of the work to create a "common anti-terrorism information space," he said.
"We are grateful to those of our partners who have joined this work already and urge other colleagues to do the same," Patrushev said.
MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax) - Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member countries will create a common databank for the fight against drug trafficking, the Federal Drug Control Service said.
"The interstate databank will contain information related to drug crimes," the service said.
The statement was posted as comments on the Thursday meeting of chiefs of CSTO drug control authorities.
The CSTO is made up of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
KUSTANAI. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - More than 300 kilograms of drugs were seized at the Kairak checkpoint in the Kustanai region on the Kazakh-Russian border on Thursday morning, a source in the Kustanai customs office told Interfax.
He said the drugs were found in 28 bags in a Volvo truck en route from Uzbekistan to Russia. The Russian truck driver was detained.
The truck had no cargo, and the smugglers thought it would not be checked thoroughly, the source said.
MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Officers from the Investigative Committee within the Russian prosecution system have been the target of Western special services and terrorist organizations since the moment of the committee's inception.
"After the Investigative Committee's establishment, its employees have been one of the chief targets of Western special services and terrorist organizations," the committee said in a statement on Thursday.
It was said at a recent conference hosted by Investigative Committee Chairman Alexander Bastrykin that, in addition to attempts to recruit committee officers, active efforts are being made to discredit them using the media and some human rights organizations, the statement says.
KIROV. March 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Kirov regional prosecutors are investigating a recent incident at the fifth penitentiary in Kirov- Chepetsk, where 28 inmates tried to slash their median cubital veins.
"Three inmates disobeyed guards and refused to be frisked on Wednesday afternoon. They used razor blades to slash their median cubital veins," the regional prosecutor's office said on Thursday.
Another 25 inmates cut the skin on their hands and stomachs in support.
"Five inmates were given medical aid. The rest declined aid but were still examined by doctors," he said.
The inmates are safe and sound. "The penitentiary is stable and is under control," the prosecutors said.
MINSK. March 27 (Interfax) - A former head of Belarusian enterprise Belneftekhim has been sentenced to five years' imprisonment on a charge of abuse of office that is said to have inflicted considerable damages on the state.
The sentence, passed by the Belarusian Supreme Court, also prohibits Alexander Borovsky from holding any senior office for three years after his release, an Interfax correspondent reported from the court.
However, the court has thrown out a demand by the prosecution that Borovsky compensate the state for damages of 3.43 billion Belarusian rubles he is accused of defrauding and released the convict's property, which had been seized.
Borovsky's stay in custody since May 2007 is included in his five- year term, which he is to serve in a low-security prison.
Judge Nikolai Grintsevich, who has chaired Borovsky's trial, said the sentence could not be appealed.
MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax) - The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has summoned former Prime Minister and leader of the Russian People's Democratic Union Mikhail Kasyanov for questioning, Kasyanov's adviser Yelena Dikun told Interfax on Thursday.
"Kasyanov has received a subpoena. He will be questioned as a witness in the criminal case opened in 2005 on March 31," she said.
"The Kasyanov team thinks the questioning may be about the so-called Sosnovka-1 and Sosnovka-2 cases," she said.
"Kasyanov is not in Moscow but he knows about the subpoena and is ready to visit the Prosecutor General's Office on March 31," Dikun said.
KYIV. March 27 (Interfax) - Volodymyr Shulga, one of the star witnesses in President Yushchenko's poisoning case, died Wednesday evening, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry told Interfax.
Shulga arrived in the Shevchenkovo District Department of the Interior Ministry accompanied by his lawyer at the invitation of the