Russia stands down security forces after alert

Moscow, Jan 19: Russian anti-terrorism chiefs have stood down security forces from a state of high alert imposed earlier this week over reports of an imminent attack, an official said today.

State security chief Nikolai Patrushev ordered police, army and security forces to return to normal duties from 0600 (0830 hrs IST today, the agency quoted the state National Anti-Terrorism Committee as saying.

The nationwide security alert was introduced late on Tuesday.

Officials said they had received information from foreign partners of a possible attack. Russia said two days later it had found nothing to back up the warning.

The decision to lift the alert, ''was taken today at six in the morning'' said Anti-Terrorism Committee spokesman Nikolai Sintsov.

The committee said in a statement: ''A whole package of anti-terrorist forces and measures was put into action to check the information received from our foreign partners. In the course of this work ... we received no information which would require further attention.'' The warning was the first national alert to be made public since the creation of the anti-terrorism committee last year.

President Vladimir Putin established the body to coordinate Russia's response to security threats.

The authorities did not specify who might be behind this week's threatened attack.

Separatists fighting Moscow's rule in the southern region of Chechnya have mounted dozens of attacks and killed hundreds of civilians. It has been two years since the last big attack causing major civilian loss of life.

Some commentators were scathing about the alert, saying the authorities were needlessly alarming the Russian public.

One newspaper said an atmosphere of fear in society would play into the hands of some hawkish factions in the Kremlin who are jostling for influence after Putin steps down in 2008.

Reuters