STATE DUMA MAKES YET ANOTHER STEP TO ENHANCE EFFICIENCY OF CIS STATES' COOPERATION IN COMBATING TERRORISM

MOSCOW, March 17, 2004. (RIA Novosti) -- The State Duma (the lower house of the Russian Parliament) practically unanimously ratified the protocol on approving regulations on the procedure for organizing and conducting joint anti-terrorist activities in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

There were 386 votes in favor of the document, no votes against and one abstention.

The protocol defines the aims and procedure of organizing and conducting the joint anti-terrorist activities of the Commonwealth states and measures to ensure the social protection of the persons taking part in them.

The ratification of the protocol will create pre-requisites for enhancing the efficiency of CIS states' cooperation in combating terrorism, said Viktor Komogorov, deputy director of the Russian Federal Security Service, introducing the document to the deputies.

The protocol was signed at a meeting of the Council of the Heads of CIS Member-States in Chisinau on October 7, 2002. It was drafted with due account taken of international legal documents on combating terrorism, in pursuance of the Treaty on CIS Countries' Cooperation in Combating Terrorism of June 4, 1999.

The protocol was signed by Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Russia.