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The Russian government is consulting Israel regarding counterterrorism methods.
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners November 8, 2005 |
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The Jerusalem Post daily reported Tuesday that Israel is advising Russia on how to build a security fence similar to the one Israel is erecting in the "West Bank" (Judea and Samaria.)
A top Kremlin representative to Chechnya is studying counterterrorism methods in Israel, an Israeli participant in the meetings said Tuesday.
The visitor, Dmitry Kozak, is Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy to the southern Russian region that includes Chechnya and neighboring republics that have been hit by terrorist attacks.
Kozak and his team are on a five-day visit to Israel to study how Israel's security forces cooperate and divide responsibility, said Shlomo Aharonishki, the head of the National Security Project, a consulting firm.
"They came to learn about Israel's readiness in the fight against terrorism and its methods ... they know they are dealing with problematic and complex terrorism and it's global," said Aharonishki, Israel's former police commissioner.
Aharonishki said the issue has not yet been raised in Kozak's meetings, including one held Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Israel's security fence has been criticized internationally for carving off land the Palestinians want for a future state. However, Israel says the fence has been effective in hampering the influx of Palestinian terrorists.
Topographically, it might be possible to wall off parts of Chechnya and the North Caucasus from the rest of Russia, but Russian officials have not raised the idea of such a move, which is seen as politically unfeasible.
The Kremlin has fought two wars to keep Chechnya in Russia, and building a security fence would be an admission of defeat in efforts to control the area and restore peace. The governments of Chechnya and the other North Caucasus republics are Moscow-backed, and the vast majority of the citizens there are peaceful.
Chechen separatists and terrorists from nearby regions have carried out several attacks outside Chechnya's borders, including a massive strike in Sept. 2004 on a school in Beslan, in which more than 330 people were killed, most of them children.
The AP contributed to this report.
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