VZCZCXRO2971
PP RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #3081/01 3561452
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 221452Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5742
INFO RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 003081 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR S/CT (SHORE) AND NCTC 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER ASEC PREL RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIA: 2009 COUNTRY REPORT ON TERRORISM 
 
REF: STATE 109980 
 
¶1. Per reftel, post submits the 2009 Country Report on Terrorism for 
Russia.  Embassy POC for this report is poloff Jules Silberberg, 
office phone: 7-495-728-5042; email: silberbergjd@state.gov. 
 
General Assessment 
------------------ 
 
¶2. Terrorist attacks resumed in European Russia with the November 27 
attack on the Moscow to St. Petersburg express train.  A second 
explosion, as investigators combed the site of the attack for clues, 
occurred the following day and injured the chief of the 
Investigative Committee.  Chechen separatists or ultra-nationalists 
are the primary suspects in this incident, which killed 26 and 
wounded 90.  It is the deadliest terrorist incident in Russia 
outside the North Caucasus since 2004. 
 
¶3. Terrorist attacks also continued in the North Caucasus, where the 
decline in violence in Chechnya has been replaced by an increase in 
terrorism in Dagestan, North Ossetia, and Ingushetia.  These attacks 
were often difficult to differentiate from criminal acts motivated 
by greed or revenge.  Russia did not offer safe haven to terrorists, 
but there was evidence of a foreign terrorist presence in the North 
Caucasus with international financial and ideological ties.  Russia 
claims to have interdicted 69 terrorist operations in 2009, although 
the government has not provided many details.  The Russian 
government continued to view counterterrorism as a top priority in 
the bilateral relationship, and considered its cooperation in this 
field with the United States a major success. 
 
¶4. The 1998 federal law "On Fighting Terrorism" and the 2006 federal 
law "On Countering Terrorism" remain the main counterterrorism legal 
authorities.  On January 11 President Medvedev signed amendments to 
the law "On Countering Terrorism" that abrogate jury trial for 
espionage and terrorism cases.  In April, Russia lifted an almost 
ten-year long anti-terrorist regime in Chechnya that had severely 
restricted civil liberties and put the region under the direct 
authority of the Federal Security Service (FSB).  In July the 
Ministry of Justice drafted a law on compensation for civilian 
victims of counter terrorist operations.  The National Antiterrorism 
Committee, organized in 2006, is the main government body 
coordinating the Russian government's response to the terrorist 
threat.  Interagency efforts to combat terrorism through 
anti-narcotics enforcement remain a challenge, particularly the use 
of financial intelligence to interrupt narcotics sales that provide 
revenue to terrorists. 
 
¶5. While the terrorism in Chechnya had been directly tied with 
separatist movements, the growing violence elsewhere in the region 
is harder to classify and is sometimes attributed to conflicts among 
clans or criminal activities.  Throughout the North Caucasus, groups 
have for the most part moved away from mass attacks on civilians in 
favor of targeted attacks on policemen, local interior ministry 
officials, and departments responsible for fighting the insurgency. 
On June 5 a sniper killed the Dagestan Interior Ministry chief and 
on June 22 Ingush President Yevkurov was injured by a suicide 
bomber. In August an attack on an Ingush police station killed 20 
and wounded 90. 
 
Terrorism Financing 
------------------- 
 
¶6. Russia is a member of the Financial Action Task Force on Money 
Laundering and Terrorist Financing (FATF).  It is also a leading 
member, chair, and primary funding source of a similar body known as 
the Eurasian Group on combating money laundering and financing of 
terrorism (EAG).  The EAG members are Russia, China, Belarus, 
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.  Russia, through 
the EAG, provides technical assistance and funding towards improving 
legislative and regulatory frameworks and operational capabilities. 
 
Foreign Government Cooperation 
------------------------------ 
 
¶7. The U.S. and Russian Counterterrorism Coordinators met in 
November to advance cooperation within the context of the United 
States-Russia Counterterrorism Working Group.  They agreed to work 
together in the multilateral arena to strengthen international 
counterterrorism norms and increase capacity building; to focus on 
Afghanistan with particular regard to counterterrorism/terrorism 
finance issues, with special reference to strengthening the UNSCR 
1267 sanctions, and on countering the ideological dimension of 
violent extremism; and to work on improving the bilateral exchange 
of transportation security issues. 
 
¶8. Cooperation continued on a broad range of counterterrorism 
issues, including efforts to destroy, safeguard, and prevent the 
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.  U.S. and Russian law 
enforcement agencies share substantive, concrete terrorism 
 
MOSCOW 00003081  002 OF 002 
 
 
intelligence.  Regulating and investigating terrorist websites was a 
major concern with numerous requests to the U.S. for assistance from 
both the FSB and the Cybercrime Directorate. 
 
¶9. At the St. Petersburg G8 Summit in July 2006, the United States 
and Russia jointly announced the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear 
Terrorism and invited other nations to join.  The Initiative 
demonstrated Russia's effort to take a leadership role to combat 
nuclear terrorism.  It now includes 75 partner nations, which 
cooperate in a variety of ways, including safeguarding radioactive 
and nuclear materials, preventing nuclear smuggling, and sharing 
information.  In July 2009 President Medvedev joined President Obama 
in a Joint Statement, which pledged enhanced efforts to prevent WMD 
terrorism through international cooperation, citing the fifth 
plenary meeting of the Initiative in the Netherlands in June. 
 
¶10. In June, Russia hosted the Eighth International Meeting of the 
Heads of special services, security agencies, and law-enforcement 
organizations, which the FBI, CIA, DOE, and NCTC attended.  The 
ninth meeting is scheduled for June 2010 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. 
The 2009 agenda included discussion of use of the Internet for 
terrorist purposes, efforts to counter radicalization and the 
subsequent recruitment of terrorists, the development of an 
international counterterrorism database, and the prevention of WMD 
terrorism through UNSCR 1540 and other instruments. 
 
¶11. Russia continued to work with regional groups to address 
terrorism, including the EU, NATO (through the NATO-Russia Council), 
the SCO, and the OSCE. 
 
BEYRLE