Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Monday for the establishment of a system preventing terrorist attacks and other premeditated disasters, vowing to eliminate terrorists both inside Russia and from abroad.

"Terrorists must be destroyed right in their nests. We must be able to reach them abroad if necessary," he said at an expanded meeting of the Russian Cabinet which is held in the wake of the hostage-taking tragedy that claimed the lives of over 330 people, half of them children, in a southern Russian school early this month.

"Extremist organizations, which act under the disguise of religious or other verbiage but actually serve as a breeding ground for terrorism, must be outlawed, and their leaders must be prosecuted," Putin said, cited by the Interfax news agency.

Putin urged the world community "to create a political and financial vacuum around envoys" of international terrorists, adding that counter-terrorist operations will be intensified undermore effective worldwide cooperation between special services.

He criticized ineffective anti-terrorist measures taken by Russian authorities, saying "we have not achieved tangible results in the eradication of terrorism and its sources."

Putin pointed out that international terrorism is operating actively in the North Caucasus region, a key strategic region of Russia.

He admitted that people's living standards in the region are far lagging behind those of the other parts of the country, and terrorists are taking advantages of such social and economic defects for their own interests.

Putin said a special commission for the North Caucasus will be established for the purpose of improving its economy.

The commission will be given "broad powers" including coordinating the work of various local departments and law-enforcement agencies and making decision in the security sphere.

Russia has suffered a string of serious terrorist attacks over the past three weeks. The explosions of two airliners and a suicide bombing near a metro station in Moscow, breaking out only a few days before the school siege crisis, left some 100 people dead.

Russian authorities have declared the resolution to fight terrorists in other parts of the world using preemptive strike,butrulilng out the use of nulcear weapons.

Source: Xinhua