MOSCOW. Sept 13 (Interfax-AVN) - Anti-terrorist measures of the Russian authorities have been inefficient, President Vladimir Putin said at an expanded meeting of the Cabinet on Monday.
"We have not achieved tangible results in the eradication of terrorism and its sources," Putin said.
Terrorism is rooted in "unemployment, insufficiently effective social and economic policy and lack of education," he said. "All that is breeding ground for extremism."
"The North Caucasus is a key strategic region of Russia, but it is also a region where terrorists are strengthening their positions and a bridgehead for terrorism," Putin said.
International terrorism "is especially active here. It is using social and economic shortcomings of the region in its interests," he said.
Unemployment is large-scale in Chechnya and Dagestan, and the living standards in the southern federal district are 1.5 times smaller than Russia's average. They are four times smaller in Ingushetia, Putin said.
The rate of uneducated people is very high in all republics of the North Caucasus, he said.