AA / Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on the country’s intelligence services to be vigilant and “firmly put a stop” to the activities of foreign intelligence agencies.
“Counter-intelligence agencies, including the military, must show the greatest availability and concentration. It is imperative to put a definitive end to the activities of foreign special services and to quickly identify traitors and spies,” he said. Vladimir Putin said in a video address on the Day of the State Security Officer of the Russian Federation.
Praising law enforcement officers who “spare no effort”, sometimes even paying their very lives, to protect their country and people, Putin stressed that the “rapid ” of the world situation and new threats and challenges “impose considerable constraints on the entire system of Russian security agencies”.
He added that security agencies must therefore step up their efforts in key areas and use their potential “to the maximum”.
On parts of Ukraine annexed by Russia earlier this year, Vladimir Putin said security personnel now faced “difficult tasks” as conditions were “extremely complicated” in Donetsk and Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia.
The Russian President said that the fight against terrorism was “one of the main priorities of all security services” and urged security personnel to pay particular attention to the protection of crowded places, strategic installations and transport and energy infrastructure.
He stressed that the Border Guard Service of the Federal Security Service (FSB) must also step up its efforts and quickly prevent any attempts to infiltrate Russian borders, “using existing capabilities and tools, including mobile units and special units.”
“You must remain focused on such an important area as the fight against extremism. Belligerent nationalism calling for violence and provocations aimed at stirring up ethnic hatred pose a direct threat to the unity of our society. Special services must respond promptly to such threats,” he said.
The Day of the State Security Officer of the Russian Federation is observed on December 20 every year, marking the founding in 1917 of the Cheka (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission), the ancestor of modern security agencies.
*Translated from English by Mourad Belhaj
Russia: Putin calls on the intelligence services to be vigilant