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Nikolai Patrushev: Vladimir Vladimirovich, a special operation was carried out in Ingushetia last night — I reported to you earlier on its preparation — and it resulted in the elimination of Shamil Basayev and a number of gunmen who were planning and carrying out terrorist attacks in Ingushetia. This operation was made possible by the fact that we established operational positions abroad, above all in the countries where arms were being collected and subsequently brought into Russia with the purpose of committing acts of terrorism.

President Vladimir Putin: I congratulate you and all the special unit personnel who planned and conducted this operation.

For these terrorists this is deserved retribution for our children in Beslan, for Budyonovsk and for all the acts of terrorism they have committed in Moscow and in other parts of the Russian Federation, including in Ingushetia and Chechnya.

I ask you to put forward the names of those who prepared and carried out the operation to receive state decorations. At the same time, however, we are well aware that the terrorist threat remains great. There can be no let-up in our operational work in this area. On the contrary, we must intensify our work and make our action in this area even more effective.

Nikolai Patrushev: Yes, we will most certainly do this. What is also very important in this operation is that they intended using their planned terrorist act to put political pressure on the Russian leadership right at the time the G8 summit is due to take place.