Russian President Makes Surprise Visit to Dagestan

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev speaks during a conference on terrorism fighting in Makhachkala, Republic of Dagestan, Russia, 01 April 2010. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Russia's president has made a surprise visit to Dagestan, a day after 12 people were killed in a double suicide attack in the North Caucasus republic.

Dmitry Medvedev called for "tough, severe and preventative" anti-terrorism tactics at talks with regional leaders.

Funerals are meanwhile being held in Moscow for most of the 39 people killed on Monday when two suicide bombers blew themselves up on the city's Metro.

A rebel Chechen leader, Doku Umarov, has said he ordered the attack.

In a video message posted on a rebel website, he purportedly said they were carried out to avenge the killings of Chechens by federal security forces in February, and warned Russians to prepare for more.

Investigators had already said they believed the women who blew themselves up in Moscow were linked to North Caucasus militants.

"The list of anti-terrorism measures should be expanded. They should be not only effective but also tough, severe and preventative," Mr Medvedev said, according to Russian news agencies. "We need to punish."

His visit comes a day after 12 people, nine of them police officers, were killed in two suicide bombings in the Dagestani town of Kizlyar, not far from the border with Chechnya.

Mr Medvedev told security officials on Tuesday that the bombings in Kizlyar and Moscow were "links of the same chain".

"This is the manifestation of the same terrorist activity which has lately begun to make itself felt in the Caucasus, which we are all fighting against and which we will continue to fight," he added.

The attacks came almost a year after President Medvedev declared an end to Russia's "counter-terrorism operations" in Chechnya, in a bid to "further normalise the situation" after 15 years of conflict that claimed more than 100,000 lives and left it in ruins.

Despite this, the mainly Muslim republic continues to be plagued by violence, and over the past two years Islamist militants have stepped up attacks in neighbouring Ingushetia and Dagestan.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!