“In just two decades, thanks to the coordinated action of law enforcement agencies across Russia, 17,000 accomplices of terrorists have also been arrested,” Bortnikov stated, referring to the 20th anniversary of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, which is being celebrated this Tuesday.

Russian security forces also seized approximately 18,000 weapons, 71,000 rounds of ammunition, 25 tons of explosives, and more than 5,000 improvised explosive devices.

The FSB chief recalled that the response to the massive attacks by international terrorism that engulfed Russia at the beginning of the century, 20 years ago, was the creation, at the initiative of the Russian president, of a state counterterrorism system designed to unite all resources of the state and society to combat this phenomenon effectively.

With the adoption in 2006 of the federal law on fighting terrorism, an inter-ministerial body, the National Counterterrorism Committee, was established to prepare proposals for the head of State and coordinate the activities of all structures in the field of counterterrorism.

abo/iff/mem/gfa