Vladimir Putin
On February 16th, at his annual meeting with the Collegium of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russian President Vladimir Putin named the main threats to Russia's security to be: international terrorism, foreign intelligence services, and the instability of neighbors, particularly Ukraine.

Putin also drew attention to the fact that at the NATO summit in Warsaw in July last year, for the first time since 1989 Russia was recognized to be the main threat to NATO's security and deterring Russia was officially declared to be the new mission of NATO.

"The bloc's further expansion is being carried out with this goal," the president continued. "This was done before, but now they have found what they think to be more serious justification. The deploying of strategic and conventional weapons beyond the borders of its member-states has been accelerated. They are provoking us with this and striving to drag us into confrontation. Attempts at interfering in our domestic affairs with the aim of destabilizing the socio-political situation in Russia itself have not ceased," the president stated.

Just last year, the operations of 53 officers and 386 foreign intelligence agents were suppressed. But threats to the state's security continue to be posed by neighboring states.

Putin explained: "We have recently seen a serious deterioration of the situation in South-East Ukraine. The aim of this escalation is obvious: to disrupt the Minsk Agreements. Today's government in Ukraine is clearly not ready for a peaceful resolution of this complicated problem and is betting on a coercive solution. Moreover, they are openly talking about the organization of sabotage and terroristic, subversive work, including in Russia. This cannot but disturb us."

"The events and circumstances I've named demand from Russia's special and security agencies, and first and foremost from the Federal Security Service, special attention and concentration of forces, first and foremost in the fight against terrorism," Putin added.

The Russian president also instructed for additional measures to be taken to ensure the safety of Russian institutions and diplomatic missions abroad. In addition, he called for dialogue with the intelligence services of the US and other NATO member-countries.

Putin's warning comes on the heels of a law recently adopted by Ukraine on special operations forces which permits Ukrainian intelligence services to engage in terrorist operations outside of the country. In the several months since the law was adopted, the commander of the Lugansk People's Republic's People's Militia, Oleg Anashchenko, and the commander of the Donetsk People's Republic's Somali battalion, Mikhail Tolstykh ("Givi"), have been killed in terrorist attacks.