Summing up the results of work in 2016,First Deputy Head of Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee, Igor Kulyagin, said that terrorist activity in Russia is declining, in particular in the North Caucasus, where there is a decline in number of crimes related to shelling, explosions and attacks by bandits.
"The timing of 2016 anti-terrorist activities does not exceed a few days, the majority of long-term operations are currently suspended. More than 140 militants and 24 leaders were killed, more than 900 gunmen and their accomplices were detained in a clash with law enforcers. Rustam Aselderov, ISIS affiliate cell leader in North Caucasus, was killed," Kulyagin said. According to intelligence agencies, Aselderov was involved in a number of high-profile crimes, including acts of terrorism in Volgograd in 2013, in Makhachkala in 2011, killing of 8 hunters in the vicinity of the Dagestani village Karabudahkent, murders of imams in the Buinaksk district, committed in July and September 2011.
According to Kulyagin, over 40 terrorism-related crimes were prevented in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk and Ingushetia, "On May 2, 2016, members of the ISIS terror group were arrested, who had been plotting to carry out terrorist attacks in Moscow during the May holiday season and the Ice Hockey World Championships. Besides that, ISIS supporters planning to carry out terrorist attacks in the city of Krasnoyarsk on May 9, as well as members of a terror group preparing attacks in St. Petersburg and in the Moscow region, were also arrested. In Ingushetia, 5 members of a militant group were identified who planned to conduct terror attacks in Moscow during the Christmas holiday season, particularly near the French embassy. On December 28-29, 2016, ISIS cell members, preparing terror attacks in Moscow during the Christmas holiday season upon instructions from a Syrian militant group head, were arrested in Dagestan. These atrocious crimes could have claimed the lives of thousands of civilians".
