Topic: 2025 – Reducing Recruitment Capabilities of Terrorist Groups
Country: Russian Federation
Delegate Name: Evan Gagliardo
Topic: 2025 – Reducing the Recruitment Capabilities of Terrorist Organizations.
Country: Russian Federation
Delegate Name: Evan Gagliardo
School: Forest Hills Central High School
Committee: DISEC
The United Nations recognizes that the number of countries experiencing at least one terrorist attack increased from 58 in 2023 to 66 in 2024, and deaths related to terrorism have also increased (Global Terrorism Index). The United Nations describes terorism as criminal acts, including those against civilians with the intent to cause death or serious injury or take hostages, to provoke a state of terror. (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.) Russia is increasingly concerned with the uptick in terrorism and is committed to stopping terrorists from recruiting new members and ending Terrorism. It has experienced its own attacks, including the Beslan school siege and recent attacks like the Crocus City Hall and Dagestan attacks. Russia has its own collection of terrorist groups, such as the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM), and also deals with conflicts with international terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Russia recognizes terrorism as a problem and a major threat, and is committed to working with its allies to stop terrorism when needed, while also heavily focusing on a state-centered approach to maintain sovereignty.
The United Nations has taken terrorism seriously and continues to do so by establishing multiple treaties that combat terrorism globally. This includes the International Conventions for the suppression of terrorist bombings. This key treaty aims to enhance international cooperation in preventing, prosecuting, and punishing those who carry out such attacks. (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime). Additionally, the UN Security Council issued Resolution 1373 (2001), which legally binds member states to take specific actions like criminalizing terrorism, securing borders, and cracking down on terrorist financing. These attempted resolutions have been met with mixed success due to member state disagreements (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime). Russia supports these resolutions because it believes that the resolutions effectively contribute to the goal of reducing terrorism by punishing terrorists, which it believes is the most effective method of terrorist reduction, and the resolutions effectively contribute to securing borders so the state can concentrate its efforts on reducing terrorism more effectively. The UN has also developed the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), which is a UN office that leads and coordinates global efforts to prevent and counter terrorism. Established in 2017, one of the key pillars of the office is to counter the recruitment capabilities of terrorist organizations through strengthening its member states’ ability to counter terrorist recruitment, preventing the online spread of terrorist ideals, and attempting to solve the root of the issue, which lies in economic and social issues. (United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism) Russia supports the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOTC) because it aligns with its stance on focusing on preventing terrorism through online spaces, and also aligns with Russia’s ideas on having a state-centered approach to the issue, due to the UNOTC strengthening its member states.
Russia has taken multiple significant actions in order to combat Terrorism and reduce Terrorist Organizations’ recruitment abilities, in international and national ways. One international way is by being a member of the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG), and it has implemented laws to freeze assets of individuals associated with terrorism. Russia has also worked with its ally Syria to combat the harmful terrorist organization ISIS, and launched a successful coordinated military intervention that was unfortunately necessary to stop the terrorists from harming Syria and its people.
Besides being a part of crucial UN treaties and international measures to prevent terrorism, Russia has also taken its own steps to solve the problem nationally. One of these steps is the passing of the Yaravoya law, the law includes the requirement for telecom companies and internet service providers to store user data (voice, messages, and other content) for extended periods and to provide this data, including encryption keys, to government authorities on demand. The law also tightened rules on religious and missionary activities in order to limit harmful propaganda being spread, and increased penalties for failing to report terrorist-related activities (Human Rights Watch). Other measures Russia has taken to ensure its citizens’ safety are enforcing encryption backdoors, which means the government legally requires technology companies to build a way for the government to access user data at any given time. The Russian government also monitors the internet for any terrorist propaganda and immediately removes it and punishes the terrorists in order to keep its citizens from being exposed to harmful materials. The final measure Russia takes to protect its citizens from terrorists is Russia’s foreign agent law, which was established in 2012 and has been expanded over time. The law requires individuals and organizations receiving foreign funding and engaging in political activities with Russia (such as, but not limited to, reporters) to follow requirements such as labelling their work as an international opinion, which guarantees the safety of Russian citizens and prevents terrorism from spreading. The undesirable organizations law, passed in 2015, allows the government to ban foreign organizations deemed a “threat” to Russia, and it imposes penalties, including lengthy prison sentences for repeat offenders, on Russians who associate with them or work for them, in order to prevent terrorists from entering the country (European Parliament). All of these measures guarantee Russian citizens’ safety and provide a safe homeland, which is working to be as terrorist free as possible, and are completely necessary in creating a safe environment for its citizens, as well as necessary for continuing national security, by limiting confusion to what is true or not, and ensuring sovereignty.
In the future, Russia would like to see a mainly state-centered approach to the issue of terrorism and its recruitment abilities, but is not opposed to working with its allies when necessary. In addition to this, Russia wants to focus on limiting terrorist funding through both domestic enforcement mechanisms and international cooperation. Russia is also in favor of stopping terrorism through a technological lens by limiting the access terrorists have to the online world to prevent them from spreading propaganda, and is in favor of monitoring digital spaces to continue to be actively informed about terrorism and better prosecute terrorists.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE%2F2022%2F729297/EPRS_BRI(2022)729297_EN.pdf
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/12/russia-big-brother-law-harms-security-rights#:~:text=Equally%20troubling%2C%20the%20new%20counterterrorism,security%20agencies%20without%20judicial%20oversight.
https://www.un.org/counterterrorism/
https://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/75/int_terrorism/russia_e.pdf
https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/GTI-2024-web-290224.pdf
https://www.unodc.org/documents/treaties/Special/1997%20International%20Convention%20for%20the%20Suppression%20of%20Terrorist.pdf
