Proposals to tighten Russia's security echo U.S. alert system

MOSCOW -- A color-coded alert system, tighter controls on foreigners and restoring the death penalty are among the proposals to strengthen Russian security after a series of terror attacks, culminating in a deadly siege of a school, dubbed "Russia's Sept. 11."

Several of the measures -- particularly the color-coded alert system -- echo those adopted by the United States after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

When Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, returns to session Sept. 22, it will consider a package of measures that includes tighter rules for registering foreigners' addresses and their transit in and out of the country, as well as closer controls on car registrations, the Gazeta newspaper reported Friday.

Some lawmakers called for reinstating capital punishment, which is allowed by law but was halted by Russia after it joined the Council of Europe human rights organization in 1997.

"I don't exclude that parliament may lift the moratorium on the death penalty for terrorists," Duma defense committee chairman Viktor Zavarzin said.

Aman Tuleyev, the governor of the Kemerovo region, said he did not want to wait until terrorists went to court.

"We shouldn't even take them prisoner. Capture some for investigative purposes, as for the rest -- 'while trying to escape,'" he was quoted as saying by the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper.

However, reinstating the death penalty could hinder President Vladimir Putin's effort to build ties to Europe. Putin has said nothing publicly about the proposal, although he has announced that police will be added to airport security teams screening passengers and bags.

Russia has suffered catastrophic terror attacks in recent weeks. More than 440 people died in twin airplane bombings, a suicide bombing in Moscow and a siege at a school in Beslan. About half of the at least 330 victims at the school were children.

The color-coded alert system will be among measures considered by the Duma because it would "inform the public about the terror threat," said Vladimir Vasiliev, head of the Duma's security committee.

"This is not a tradition with us, and we have no legislative basis for it," he said Thursday. "But it appears that it's needed, so that the public, which we are calling on to resist terrorism, to defend itself, will be prepared."

The specifics of the alert system were not released.

The U.S. system -- which has five colors ranging from green for a low risk of terrorist attack to red for a severe risk -- has been criticized by security experts for being too vague. The Bush administration established the American system after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Also, members of the Democratic Party in the United States have accused the Bush administration of manipulating the scale for political purposes -- including raising the terror alert as President Bush's Democratic challenger, John Kerry, wrapped up his party's convention last month.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States tightened checks on arriving foreigners and created the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate anti-terror efforts. It also has the death penalty for terrorists.

Russian ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky proposed this week that Moscow create a similar homeland security agency.

Putin has sought to portray Russia as a U.S. ally in the fight against global terrorism, which his critics say is a way of deflecting scrutiny of his military campaign against rebels in Chechnya.

Russian officials this week were quick to capitalize on a visit to Moscow by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, widely admired for his leadership after the Sept. 11 attacks. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was among those meeting Giuliani.

Russia started toughening its security measures five years ago after 1999 apartment bombings blamed on Chechens killed more than 300 people in Moscow and other Russian cities. Those measures included more identity checks for people entering train stations and airports, and police screening of truck traffic.

Skeptics argue that the government is more focused on controlling perception than in taking concrete new measures.

Political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin of the Mercator Group said he feared the government was focusing on "virtual severity" that relied on its control of important news media, such as the three nationwide television networks, to create an impression of stability.

Control remains only "virtual," he said, because people can still get information from other sources, including the Internet, and Russia's police are notoriously corrupt.

"In the functional sense, it's virtual because it's ineffective," Oreshkin said. "Can one, relying on such a corrupted system, introduce any kind of order?"