Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra met on Monday with Dmitry Kozak, head of counterterrorism in Chechnya and the Kremlin's envoy to southern Russia, for talks on the effectiveness of the security fence and Israel's overall success in fighting Palestinian terror.
The talks, Israeli officials said, focused primarily on the construction of a security fence. Kozak told the participants he would bring the issue up back in Russia and recommend it as a viable means to fight terror.
Just last month, a small army of Chechen fighters launched a massive attack on police and army in the town of Nalchik in Russia's turbulent Caucasus. Dozens were killed in the attack.
"They want to learn more about fighting terror," former Israel Police chief Shlomo Aharonishky, who is serving as a consultant for the Russians, told the Post.
"Kozak has been assigned to prepare a plan on how to fight terror and it will include the construction of a security fence. His visit here is to learn from us how to build the fence and how to do it."
Aharonishky, who stepped down as police commissioner in August 2004 and has established a security consultant company called National Security Project (NSP), arranged for Kozak's visit to Israel and has already visited Russia per Kozak's request.
Kozak, Aharonishky said, has also visited Belfast and France as part of his work to prepare an effective Russian plan to fight Chechen terror.
"He will recommend back in Russia the construction of a fence in certain places," the former police chief said. "There will also be other ideas including how to deal with the [Chechen] leadership and the people who are sent to carry out the attacks."
During the talks, Ezra told Kozak that to effectively combat and defeat terror the Russians needed to enhance the level of cooperation between their different intelligence agencies as Israel did with the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).
Kozak, who in his first visit to Israel is staying for a few days with a 20-person delegation, will also meet with senior officials in the Mossad and the Shin Bet. According to foreign media reports, he was scheduled to meet with Mossad head Meir Dagan.
Also Monday, Kozak met with Sharon in a meeting which one official in the Prime Minister's Office said was part of ongoing cooperation between the two countries in the fight against terrorism.
The official said that Russia was interested in improving this cooperation, and that Kozak was interested in learning about the technology and the offensive and defensive measures Israel used to combat terrorism. He did not elaborate.
Meanwhile Monday, Ezra also met with Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steel for talks on homeland security. The two discussed the security of sensitive installations and agreed to continue exchanging security information in the future.
Herb Keinon contributed to this report.</blockquote>
Yoshie Furuhashi <http://montages.blogspot.com> <http://monthlyreview.org> <http://mrzine.org> * Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: <http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/07/mahmoud- ahmadinejads-face.html>; <http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/07/chvez- congratulates-ahmadinejad.html>; <http://montages.blogspot.com/ 2005/06/iranian-working-class-rejects.html>