By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia's antiterrorism committee has said it has evidence that terrorists are trying to gain access to weapons of mass destruction and to technology needed to produce them.
"The National Anti-Terrorism Committee is receiving information, including from our foreign partners, about terrorists' endeavours to obtain access to weapons of mass destruction and technologies for their production," Nikolai Patrushev, who heads the committee and the Federal Security Service, said Tuesday.
Patrushev said the committee would evaluate measures in place to secure key defense, nuclear, space and industrial facilities.
The official said following the joint statement on a global initiative to counter nuclear terrorism acts adopted by the presidents of Russia and the US after the Group of Eight summit in July 2006 in St. Petersburg, the security issue has risen to the top of the agenda.
He said under the initiative, the two countries will physically protect nuclear facilities and improve measures to prevent terrorists from accessing nuclear materials and radioactive substances.