• provision and protection of basic human and civil rights and freedoms

• legality

• certainty of punishment for the commission of terrorist acts

• unitary leadership of forces and means involved in conducting counter-terrorist operations and responsibility for their results

• priority of measures for preventing terrorism

• comprehensive use of prophylactic, legal, political, socioeconomic, and public information measures

• priority of protection for individuals placed in danger as a result of a terrorist act

• combination of open and secret methods for countering and combating terrorism

• minimal concessions to terrorists

• minimal publicity for technical methods and tactics for conducting counterterrorist operations

• ensurance that measures for countering and combating terrorism are in accordance with international law

• facilitation of the rights of the public and citizens to broad participation in efforts to counter terrorism in the form of preventing and suppressing terrorist manifestations

The legal basis for antiterrorist activities in Russia and for the interaction of ministries and agencies (in the federal executive branch) lies in the Constitution of the Russian Federation; specific federal laws, including On Combating Terrorism, On the Police, On Extraordinary Powers, On Security, On Operational Investigations Activities, On Countering the Legalization of Profits Obtained by Criminal Means and Used to Finance Terrorism (Money Laundering), On State Protection, On the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, On the State Protection of Judges and Officials of Law Enforcement and Control Agencies, On Private Detective and Security Activities in the Russian Federation, On the Federal Security Service, and On the Countering of Extremist Activities; the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation; the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation; the Code on Administrative Violations of the Russian Federation; the Civil Code of the Russian Federation; the Federal Constitutional Law on Military Status; and generally recognized principles and norms of international law and ratified international agreements on the fight against terrorism.

These laws determine the legal and organizational foundations for the struggle against terrorism and extremism in the Russian Federation, procedures for the coordination of efforts to combat these phenomena on the part of federal executive-branch agencies, executive-branch agencies of Russian Federation members, public associations, organizations (regardless of their form of ownership), officials, and individual citizens. The laws also set forth the rights, respon-