Nikolay Patrushev (above) has risen high above all branches of government.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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FSB Head to Chair Anti-Terrorism Agency
Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree to create the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) chaired by Nikolay Patrushev, the director of the FSB (the Russian acronym for the Federal Security Service). Under the document which was published yesterday, the committee will unite heads of all law enforcement and military agencies, the intelligence, key ministries and the two chambers of the parliament. The presidential decree builds up the vertical of power headed by the FSB director, which has dealt a hard blow at Dmitry Kozak, the presidential envoy to the restive Southern Federal District.
The presidential decree On Measures to Counter Terrorism grants the National Anti-Terrorism Committee with unprecedented powers as decisions of the committee are obligatory for all federal and regional authorities. The new agency will be able to “ask for and receive data and information” at federal and region authorities as well as at “public organization”. An article in the decree increases the central department of the FSB by 300 people which is actually another agency.
Under the presidential decree, the NAC creates the federal executive headquarters, and heads of the Interior Ministry, Defense and Emergency Situations Ministry will be subordinate to the head of the headquarters. Regional headquarters will appear nationwide to be headed by the people appointed by the FSB.
The decree is in line with President Putin’s recent address to the Federal Security Service where he lauded the work of the FSB in 2005 and set fight on terrorism as the top priority. Yet, the new decree revokes earlier presidential regulations on anti-terrorism commissions in the Southern Federal District headed by the presidential envoy Dmitry Kozak. The aftermath of the Beslan school hostage crisis has surely taken its toll on Kozak’s reputation as no one of local law enforcement officials has been held responsible for the hostage drama.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 17, 2006
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