MOSCOW, January 21 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian parliament member on Tuesday called for broader powers for Russian security services so that they could effectively counter the terrorism threat.
“It’s my personal opinion and the opinion of some of my colleagues that … our special services have insufficient powers at present. We are currently working on ways to increase their powers,” said Andrei Lugovoi, a lawmaker from the nationalist LDPR party.
The comments came as the lower chamber of the Russian parliament was considering a series of anti-terrorism bills.
The bills, presented to the legislature last week, include measures to broaden the power of law enforcement bodies to stop and search persons and vehicles and would stiffen penalties for those convicted of performing, funding or assisting acts of terrorism.
The new laws would also require Internet sites where users can share content, including blogs and forums, to register with officials and to store user-generated content for six months.
Payments from anonymous online wallets would be capped at $30 per transaction and $450 per month.
