Based on international experience, governmental interagency coordinating committees, created for the purpose of combating terrorism, typically arise only when the issue has become a serious threat to national security. This is not to say that Ukraine faces this threat in the near future. However, current events in the international arena show the need for realism and preparation to contain this dangerous social phenomenon.

    Combating terrorism has always been a top priority with security services around the globe. The same holds true for Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU. Since its inception, the SBU has dealt with the issue responsibly and thoroughly, using all its intelligence and counterintelligence capabily. The major thrust has been on the preventing extremist activity from developing domestically, and interdicting related actions. Other work has focused on at least inhibiting members of foreign terrorist organizations from at least carrying out illegal activities against foreign officials in Ukraine or against the government of Ukraine by direction of their cohorts abroad.

    From the very beginning, departments were created in the State Security Service of Ukraine to deal with terrorism and protect the state. Over time, they have acquired considerable experience in this capacity. This year, in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), about 60 terrorist related activities were discovered and thwarted. In March, an especially dangerous group of criminals was broken up that through blackmail and terror was planning to escape from prison. With the help of their connections “on the outside,” they planned to seize hostages - children in one of the regional centers – and demand release from prison and passage out of Ukraine. In July, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in close operational and investigative cooperation with the SBU, apprehended a resident of Kyiv who had threatened in an anonymous letter to the city urban affairs administration to blow up 11 high-rise apartment buildings there if $2 million was not delivered to a luggage office at a railroad station.

    Several years ago, a Presidential decree created a department in the SBU for the fight against terrorism and protection of witnesses involved in legal proceedings. During its life-time, the department has conducted more than 300 intelligence operations, detaining dangerous criminals and freeing hostages. More than 200 witnesses in criminal legal proceedings and roughly 100 members of their families have been placed under its protection after receiving threats. This department has broad capability to carry out a multitude of tasks.

COORDINATION AND GENERATION …

    The creation of a coordinating body for antiterrorist activity in Ukraine has not developed easily nor casually. The fight against terrorism today requires a higher level of effort. Today’s terrorists use ever more vile and inhumane methods — they have acquired modern weapons, use modern systems of communication, and are not hindered by borders.

    Our reaction to such dynamic changes should be just as dynamic. The experience of joint operations at home and abroad shows the need for greater coordination and cooperation in all levels of law-enforcement dealing with terrorism. It was only after the bitter lessons of Budenovskiy and Pervomaika, when there was a general lack of coordination between different security agencies, was Russia convinced of the need to coordinate antiterrorist efforts.

    The Antiterrorist Center (ATC) of Ukraine was created on December 11, 1998 by Presidential Decree. It is a continually working body of the SBU that carries out coordination of executive agencies involved in the prevention of terrorist acts targeted at state officials and important infrastructure, which could potentially endanger the health and life of the population.

    ATC’s tasks include the collection and analysis of potential terrorist activities, training to deal with terrorist activity, preparation of preventative plans for terrorist acts, coordination among the SBU, MIA, Ministry of Defense, Border Guards, National Guards, and Ministry of Special Situations, and interface with security services and law-enforcement agencies abroad.

    The poor economic situation in Ukraine had to be taken into account when creating the ATC. Resources were limited. The center is governed by a coordinating council made up of deputy department heads and staff from various agencies. Coordinating groups have also been established at the regional SBU centers. This was on purpose. The SBU is responsible for management and organizational aspects of antiterrorist activity. The ATC is technically a division of the SBU, but considering its interagency functions, it consists not only of SBU military personnel and civilian workers, but also of representatives from other ministries and agencies. Thus, priority is given to employees with extensive work experience and the mental capabilities for quick and decisive action in critical situations.

    Since ATC began its operations, the nation-wide system of antiterrorist measures has slowly been solidifying. Development has been constant and based on well-researched analysis of hypothetical situations and on the development of strategies to deal with potential aggressive acts. A wide range of measures are being taken to secure vital infrastructure and prevent actions that could result in serious consequences, even ecological catastrophe. The SBU regularly carries out training at atomic energy facilities and other potential sites of terrorist attacks. Below is an examination of various such scenarios and the complexities involved.

    The training of antiterrorist special forces includes real-life scenarios constructed as close as possible to combat conditions. These include terrorist pacification and hostage rescue, superb driving skills, mastery of fire-arms, and special technologies used against terrorists and gangsters. Today all this is within the capabilities of the new ATC Training Center. Their incorporation into ATC responsibilities was delegated by the President of Ukraine, who has a personal interest in the effective functioning of parallel units in Ukraine. The nation’s leadership supports the supply of modern arms to the ATC’s operatives. The coordination of all state antiterrorist forces and the granting of power to various state agencies was based on the experience of other countries that have been dealing with terrorism for decades. These countries include the US, Great Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Israel, Spain, and Turkey.

    Currently, a legal basis for antiterrorist activities is being formulated. In October of last year, the Ukrainian Parliament passed a law “On the Strengthening of Antiterrorist Activities,” and after consideration by the President of Ukraine, it is in the final stages of development. However, defining terrorism as a separate clause of the Criminal Code will not resolve all the problems in establishing a strong legislative basis. The ATC has already received responsibility from the state’s leadership to create a special bill on antiterrorism. Global experience and internal socio-political features are being taken into account during the preparation of this draft law. For example, in the fight against terrorism it is necessary to take into account the internationalization of crime — attempts of business criminals to hire murderers with foreign citizenship and attempts of members of foreign terrorist organizations to hide in third countries, including Ukraine, under the guise of businessmen or refugees. In this regard our analysts predict that the percent of foreigners that will be implicated in organizing or carry out terrorist acts will grow, and thus will require adoption of additional counteractive measures.

BECOMING A TERRORIST BASE

    According to intelligence, Ukraine is host permanently or temporarily to members of approximately 40 foreign terrorist organizations from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and also refugees from the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, who took part in the fighting in Chechnya, Dagestan, and Armenia. These persons are known to the special services. However, due to existing legislation, Ukraine can not raise the issue of their participation in these activities in their native lands if they have not broken any laws of Ukraine, and, if there is no official requests from foreign law-enforcement agencies for their extradition. It follows that the task of the SBU then is to keep the situation under control and prevent any terrorist activity in its own state.

    It should be noted that Ukraine is not considered by international terrorist organizations as an target for terrorist activity. However, attempts have been made to use its territory as a base of operations in preparation for such actions in third countries, including the creation of various firms fund-raising efforts to support such activities. All this promotes the expansion of terrorist ideology and threatens the authority of our state at the international level. The foreigners involved in such activity do not break Ukrainian law. On the contrary, they often actively express loyalty to Ukraine and pay their taxes on time. There is no direct loss to Ukraine’s economy.

    However, Ukrainian intelligence agencies claim that the destination of funds from some businesses precisely directly support political collaborators abroad. Therefore, it would be immoral for Ukraine to ignore these issues. The problem must be solved by coordination among Ukraine’s special services. Ukraine, as a subject of international law, has signed most international conventions and protocols on different aspects of terrorism. First of all, these relate to the intelligence gathering on criminal elements to Ukraine. Thanks to information sharing, Ukraine’s special service recently identified individuals who threatened to carry out terrorist acts against the diplomats of foreign states.

    Ukraine is finding common ground with other states on combating terrorism. In May 1997, heads of security agencies and special services of the CIS issued a joint statement on the definition of terrorism upon examining illegal activities and gathered intelligence. It was determined that terrorism as recognized in national laws and international conventions included the use of explosives and other means of mass destruction. Also included were attempts to acquire nuclear, chemical, or bacteriological materials for use in terrorist activity, and organizational activity in preparation of such crimes, the threat of such activity, or participation in them.

    Terrorist activity is scarce today on the territory of Ukraine. However, under certain socio–political, economic, inter-ethnic, and interregional conditions, sharp conflicts between certain groups of citizens can arise. It is always possible that certain individuals will attempt to resolve issues outside of the law.

    Some radical political factions create militarized groups and use terror against the opponents, including in trying to influence state authorities. The activities of separate nonconventional religious associations also carry the potential threat of the use of terrorism.

    Among the reasons behind the expansion of terrorism is the criminalization of society. Organized crime uses a severe form to “eradicate” competitors. Sometimes in these criminal actions, the economic and political interests of others are overlooked, giving rise to discussion for criminals to seek various ways to achieve their goals, including the use of terrorism. Therefore, in Ukraine more and more urgently there is a problem of counteraction of an illegal turn of means of destruction, which can be used by terrorists. According to the data of law-enforcement agencies, there are more than 7 thousand pieces of firearms and many explosive substances being sought at any given time in Ukraine. Especially dangerous are attempts of individuals to acquire means of mass destruction of nuclear, chemical and bacteriological weapons. Over the last several years, SBU employees have interdicted a number of attempts to illegally purchase, store and export nuclear and radioactive materials.