"We must ensure athletes' and visitors' safety during the 2015 world championships", Tatarstan president says
State Counsellor Mintimer Shaimiev, Prime Minister Ildar Khalikov, State Council Chairman Farid Mukhametshin, and Council Secretary Airat Shafigullin took part in the meeting. There were three items on the agenda: progress made in the implementation of measures aimed at ensuring general security, readiness of the workforce and security facilities, extra arrangements on preventing possible terrorist attacks during the 16th FINA World Championships in Kazan and 16th FINA World Masters Championships; protective actions against cyber attacks on Tatarstan's governmental web resources and essential IT infrastructure, data breaches or unauthorised access to restricted data, malicious mailout; installation and maintenance of local alarm systems by organisations respponsible for operating production facilities of the I and II classes of hazard and hydrotechnical constructions of extremely high and high hazard.
The meeting heard reports on the implementation of comprehensive security arrangements in the build-up to and during the competitions. A report on fire safety, as well as transport, epidemiological, industrial, energy and informational safety was delivered at the meeting. A special focus was on anti-terrorism protection at Championships venues, as well as readiness of the workforce and security facilities.
“This year, we are getting ready for a major international sporting event - the World Aquatics Championships will be held in Kazan,” Rustam Minnikhanov said. “Our most important task is to prepare and stage it to the highest standard. Athletes and visitors are expected to arrive from 188 countries. It's not that often that sporting events with so many participating nations are held in our country. First and foremost, we must ensure safety of athletes, participants, our guests and citizens, and the safety of the sports facilities. No high-profile crimes are allowable during this period. Safety needs to be guaranteed in every area – transport, ecology, industry, energy and information.”
According to the Acting President, for all the importance of implemented security measures, individuals' constitutional rights shall not be violated. “The law enforcers need to be firm but polite,” Rustam Minnikhanov stated.
"It is important that the law enforcement agencies detect and prevent possible crimes conceived by terrorist and extremist groups," the Tatarstan President added. According to him, special attention should be given to governing bodies' mission capability, preparation of the workforce, arrangement of drills aimed at honing the joint action under various conditions, smooth performance of the operations control centre. Propaganda of vigilance awareness among the general public should be increased, he said.
Under present-day conditions, when IT and telecommunications have been fully integrated in the society’s living environment, their safe usage becomes top priority. Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in illegal entries into Russia’s governmental information resources and corporate networks of businesses and financial institutions. These actions imply that there is a strong intention to inflict a direct economic damage to the republic by incapacitating its IT systems, freezing the activities of governing bodies and enterprises and stealing bank funds.
A proposal was made at the Tatarstan Security Council to implement an array of additional IT security measures designed to increase the immunity of communication networks and information resources, especially those that are used by state authorities, to develop domestic software and IT products and to encourage their usage by businesses and government entities. Apart from that, the meeting also drew financial institutions’s attention to the importance of enhancing their protection from cyber threats. It was suggested that efforts should be intensified to improve the IT security specialists training programme.