MOSCOW. April 5 (Interfax) - Supported by the West, Kiev is stepping up terrorist activities in Russia's new regions, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said.
"The situation in the new constituent parts of the Russian Federation remains difficult," Patrushev told reporters following a meeting of the Russian Security Council held to discuss maintaining law and order in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.
"For many years, the Kiev authorities have been encouraging organized crime in these territories," he said.
"These circumstances still have a negative effect on the operational situation. With the assistance of the U.S. and its allies, Kiev is ramping up terrorist activities," Patrushev said.
"The Security Council has set the tasks to forge conditions for the local population to live in a secure environment, for citizens' rights and freedoms to be respected, as guaranteed under our country's constitution, for the further integration of the regions into the Russian legal system," he said.
"It is envisaged to organize uninterrupted and coordinated operation of state authorities and local government bodies, including on the basis of the existing territorial defense headquarters. Among the key tasks are the forming of a comprehensive system of law enforcement agencies in a fast-track fashion, staffing them with professionals and providing them with adequate material and technical support," he said.
"The law enforcement system is to take effective measures to strictly apply the principle of inevitability of punishment for breaking laws. The judicial bodies are now performing their lawful activities across the entire liberated territory," Patrushev said.