TERROR WILL ONLY BE STOPPED BY FORCE

His current position cannot be pronounced in one breath. Deputy Head of the Department, Head of the Organizational-Operational Directorate of the Department for the Protection of the Constitutional Order and the Fight against Terrorism of the Federal Security Service of Russia. General Vladimir Kozlov is one of those at the forefront of today's most important Russian problems. He has always lived the life of a real man, full of risk and tension. I am probably not the only one who thinks that only a similarly unreasoning, fierce, and unyielding force can withstand the animalistic, sullen, and stupid onslaught of terrorism. All the more unexpected is the clear softness in manners, wit, and elegance of speech of a person forced by circumstances to constantly observe the cruel side of life and confront an hourly threat. However, the ability to maintain purity and presence of mind, an unclouded intellect in extraordinary and formidable situations, has always been a sign of special strength. Only such strength is capable of resisting blind rage. And it is good that our generals have it...

— Vladimir Sergeyevich, the new structure for fighting terrorism was created recently, and it is clear that this is connected with well-known sad events. It is also clear that the creation of a new structure is not an end in itself, but one of the means to end terrorism in Russia. The task of our conversation is to calm public opinion as much as possible regarding the rampage of terror. It is clear that society needs guarantees; can the new unit promise them?

— Promising is not our business. Our business is to fight this evil. And in this sense, we have new opportunities. I would like to remind you that until the nineties, there was no such independent unit in the country. In those years, the Directorate for Combating Terrorism was first created, and then the Anti-Terrorism Center of the FSB of Russia. From these units, the current structure crystallized, fully intended for the fight against various types of terrorism... What specifically caused its latest reorganization? To a large extent, it was because a new presidential concept for the development of security structures until 2005 was adopted. In it, lead directions are assigned to each agency. In particular, the FSB is tasked with three such lead tasks: the fight against terrorism, the fight against political extremism, and the fight against espionage. One of the important moments of the reorganization was that the Directorate of Constitutional Security was merged into the new Department for Combating Terrorism. Its task includes work on public and religious associations that set as their goal the violent change of the constitutional order of Russia, the seizure and illegal retention of power. Formally, the fight against terrorism does not seem to be the task of this Directorate, but in essence, its activities are aimed precisely at this. It was logical to include it within the framework of our Department. The second reason for the reorganization was to facilitate the activities of territorial security directorates. And the third is that during frequent reforms, some lines of work were lost and they need to be restored....