Russia hikes funding for anti-terror security
By Vladimir Radyuhin
MOSCOW, SEPT. 14. Russia's Finance Minister announced a steep increase in funding for the security agencies on Tuesday, a day after the President, Vladimir Putin, called for an overhaul of the anti-terror effort.
The main security agencies — the Federal Security Service, the Interior Ministry and the Foreign Intelligence Service — will receive an additional 50 billion roubles ($1.7 billion), an 80-per cent increase in their combined budget for 2005.
The Defence Ministry's budget will grow by 107 billion roubles ($3.66 billions) or nearly 19 per cent.
The Finance Minister, Alexei Kudrin, said that while earlier the 2005 budget was socially-oriented, it will now become security-oriented.
"There has been a quantum jump in terrorism, both in terms of motivation and equipment, therefore we need new means for combatting it," he told reporters.
The Russian President on Monday called for the creation of a powerful anti-terror agency in response to a series of deadly terror attacks that claimed over 440 lives at the end of August and beginning of September.
Defence and security outlays will constitute nearly 39 per cent of all federal budget expenditure next year, compared to just under 29 per cent in the current year.
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