The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) will offer monetary rewards to people who pass on information about suspected terrorist activity, Russian daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday.
The draft order, signed by FSB director Alexander Bortnikov, says monetary rewards will be offered for any information on suspected terrorist attacks and their organizers. The reward will, however, only be given if the information leads to the capture of a terrorist or the prevention of a terrorist attack.
The order did not define how much the FSB is prepared to pay for such information, but said rewards will be calculated for each case individually, depending on the quality of the information and the results it yields.
Kommersant said that such measures were implemented in 2005 in the search for former Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov. According to some sources, informants were paid up to $10 million, although it is not known who received the reward or what information they gave.
The order is part of a wider FSB policy to increase counter-terrorism measures in Russia.
In April a new bill that allows "preventive measures" against individuals committing extremist actions was submitted to the Russian parliament, fueling fears among opposition parties of a revival of Soviet-era practices.
MOSCOW, June 22 (RIA Novosti)
