MOSCOW, September 3 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin told Russian Security Council members Saturday that investigation findings on the Beslan hostage crisis must be used to streamline security bodies' activities. On Friday, Putin met with Beslan people who lost their loved ones when terrorists seized a school in that North Ossetian town in the North Caucasus a year ago. "They are not happy about the investigation of the attack, as no unbiased information on findings has been published so far, and they are asking how the attack could take place at all," Putin said. "I agree with Beslan people that a thorough, unbiased investigation of such attacks must prompt drastic improvements to the law enforcement system," the president said. Putin said after yesterday's meeting he had tasked the prosecutor general with sending senior Prosecutor General's Office officials to Beslan. "They will take an additional thorough study of all available information on the matter," he said.
"Like a lot of countries throughout the world, Russia has become a target for terrorist attacks," he continued. "Like other states, Russia sometimes fails to counter those attacks effectively, to preempt or prevent them."
"We are all responsible for what happens in this sphere as citizens and due to our official positions," Putin added.
Putin said the meeting of the Security Council, involving Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, Council Secretary Igor Ivanov, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, and Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Nikolai Patrushev, was taking place on a tragic moment when the country was commemorating the Beslan tragedy.
The meeting started with a minute of silence to commemorate victims to terrorist acts.
