With Russia still reeling under a series of terror attacks in the past three weeks, President Vladimir Putin today called for an overhaul of the country’s state institutions to fight terrorism effectively. ‘‘The country needs a system to prevent terrorist attacks, acts of sabotage and man-made catastrophes,’’ he said on Monday, while addressing a meeting of the government, in which top Russian security officials and regional governors participated.‘‘Terrorists must be destroyed exactly in their nests,’’ he said, adding that ‘‘We must be able to reach them abroad, if it was necessary to stamp them out.’’This was Putin’s first enlarged meeting of his Cabinet after the Beslan siege. Reports said the meeting considered various measures including a colour-coded alert system, tougher controls on foreigners and restoration of the death penalty.Stressing that ‘‘the country’s unity is the main condition for countering terrorism’’, Putin said ‘‘not only that state authority in the country should be adapted to work in crisis situations, it is also necessary to radically reconsider the mechanisms of its work with the aim of preventing crises’’.He also called for modernisation of the Russian policy in the North Caucasus, saying, ‘‘The fight against terrorism requires radical modernisation of the entire policy in that region.’’Putin announced a Special Federal Commission for the North Caucasus and named Cabinet Chief of Staff Dmitry Kozak as his envoy in the southern federal district.
