About the Main Directions of Activity of Services and Divisions of the Penitentiary System and Internal Affairs Bodies in Countering Extremism and the Terrorist Threat at the Present Stage: Strategies and Methods of Prevention

Abstract

The relevance of the problem under study is due to the need to organize preventive work to counter extremist activities and terrorist threats in the country, implement measures to form the population's anti-terrorist consciousness, improve measures of an informational and propaganda nature and protect the information space of the State from the ideology of extremism and terrorism. The purpose is to find new solutions and to develop a structural and functional model aimed at preventing and countering the spread of religious extremist and terrorist activities on the territory of the State by the services and divisions of the Federal Penitentiary System of Russia (FPSR) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia (MIA of Russia) and other law enforcement agencies, state and public organizations, as well as a closer interaction of these organizations in the fight against destructive associations. The methodological basis of the research is made up of general scientific methods (dialectic and system-structural) and specific scientific methods of cognition (sociological and statistical). The theoretical basis is the work of domestic and foreign authors in the context of the problem being studied. The article presents the directions that can effectively solve the tasks set to law enforcement bodies and the penitentiary system, the goals of which are the prevention and counteraction of religious extremism and the terrorist threat, the need for additional work on training personnel, not only from among the employees of services and divisions of law enforcement agencies, but also state and public organizations, educational institutions responsible for organizing work in this direction, religious figures (clergy) who devoted themselves to church service. In addition, the problems of counteracting the activities of destructive religious organizations are reflected, which are: high level of confidentiality of the organizations; a thorough check by them of new members of the organization; fanaticism of members of a destructive religious organization and, as a result, the denial of any dissent; a high level of mutual distrust of the employees of the penal system, law enforcement agencies and persons serving sentences, as well as the lack of the necessary knowledge of religious norms about the difference between extremist ideologies and traditional religious teachings; insufficient information interaction between law enforcement agencies. It is aimed at the need to focus efforts to intensify the activities of the services and units of the penitentiary system, Internal Affairs bodies and other law enforcement agencies and public organizations on the prevention of extremist and terrorist activities, as well as the training of qualified personnel for work in this direction.