Medvedev: Bin Laden death affects Russia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia's president on Wednesday, May 11 told the country's top security officials to beef up the security at Russia's foreign missions in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden.

"The elimination of terrorists, even at the level of the recent destruction of bin Laden, has a direct relation on the level of security on the territory of our state," Dmitry Medvedev told the heads of the country's Security Council, Interior Ministry and intelligence agencies, among others.

Russia maintains that al-Qaida finances insurgents in the Caucasus and sends representatives to the region where country's security forces face near-daily attacks from insurgents.

On May 4, Russia said its forces had killed a Turkish national who was an al-Qaida emissary. Anti-terror officials said the man, who went by the nom de guerre Abdulla the Kurd, coordinated financial aid from Muslim countries to Islamists in Russia's Caucasus region.

Analysts say Chechen warlord Doku Umarov, whose insurgents also operate in other Caucasus republics, relies heavily on al-Qaida.

The insurgents have claimed responsibility for many of Russia's worst terrorist attacks, including this year's suicide bombing that killed 37 people at Russia's busiest airport, AP reported.