Politicians in Moscow are preparing a series of new anti-terror measures that will toughen punishment for terrorist offences and allow the government to override civil liberties, one lawmaker said.
The Russian Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, was to meet yesterday to discuss possible new measures, said Stanislav Vavilov, head of the council's committee on law.
Russian citizens were prepared to lose some democratic rights if it ensured their safety, he said, Interfax reported.
"If there will be limits to a certain freedom and the rights of citizens then I don't see anything terrible because it is a forced measure," said Svetlana Orlova, deputy speaker of the federation council.
After the "barbarian terrorist act" in Beslan Russian society needed to understand that they now lived in a different country, Orlova said.
Possible measures include cracking down on movement from one part of the country to another, similar to the system under the former Soviet Union.
"Questions of security have to come first and everything has to be subordinate to that," Orlova said.
Senators will also discuss the creation of a vast counterterrorism center that will oversee law enforcement agencies, the Russian security services, and the ministry of defense's work in the North Caucasus.
The politicians were echoing President Vladimir Putin's speech to the nation on Saturday when he said a new counter-terrorism center was needed.
In the last four years, the federation council has increasingly become a rubber stamp for Kremlin policy.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday for talks likely to center on the need for greater global anti-terror efforts.
An Israeli government official said the visit was arranged long before the latest wave of violence in Russia.
In a telephone call to Putin, Sharon called for expanded intelligence coordination between the two countries.
The president of North Ossetia apologized for failing to avert the disaster.
"I fully understand my res-ponsibility," Alexander Dzasokhov told doctors and relatives of the wounded children in a hospital in the regional capital Vladikavkaz.
"I want to beg your pardon for failing to protect children, teachers and parents," said the regional leader, who was distressed and had tears in his eyes.
The interior minister of North Ossetia, Kazbek Dzantiyev, offered his resignation on Sunday.
"After what has happened, I. as an officer, I don't think it is possible for me to remain in my post," he said.
Russian TV reported that his resignation had been turned down.
Russia began two days of national mourning yesterday for Beslan's terror victims.
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