Russian Security Adviser Calls For State’s Stronger Presence In Internet

(RIA Novosti – Moscow, April 10, 2013) Law-enforcement methods are becoming ineffective in prevention of terrorism, especially when it comes to propaganda in the internet, therefore all forces must be concentrated on meticulous work with the internet audience, adviser to the chairman of the National Antiterrorist Committee and member of the Public Council under the FSB reserve Lt-Gen Andrey Przhezdomskiy believes.

“The key issue – preventing the criminal underground from getting new recruits – has not been resolved and it is practically impossible to resolve it by law-enforcement methods. As far as information and propaganda are concerned, our actions miss the target,” he said, speaking at Public Chamber hearings today.

According to the general, the government and potential gunmen exist in different information fields and “the authorities’ message simply does not reach them”.

Most of captured terrorists or those who voluntarily surrendered to the authorities said that they had received all the necessary information on the internet, Przhezdomskiy said.

For example, if one goes to Youtube and types the word “mojahedin”, the search engine will produce a long list of videos, 97 per cent of which will be “the criminals’ videos in which one can get more specific information”, Przhezdomskiy said.

“We are not present in the internet today, so all our propaganda is not working. The key is to make concrete work in the internet a priority, and maybe even give Public Chamber grants to some NGOs which are willing to do this kind of work,” he said.

Przhezdomskiy added that thanks to well-organized propaganda terrorists always have fresh recruits. Security forces may destroy a dozen of criminals in the North Caucasus in a week, but at the same time twice as many young men will join the rebels.