The deputy head of the transport police Monday conceded airport and flight security across Russia were little short of disastrous and had to be totally rethought.


Nikolai Getman, speaking in the wake of two hijack attempts last week, said on television the fact that responsibility for flight and airport safety were split between various bodies made life easy for criminals.


"The events of the last week -- two attempts to hijack a plane and systematic use by terrorists of air transport -- without doubt mean we have to change the system of ensuring flight safety," he said.


Last Thursday police foiled an attempt to hijack an airliner carrying 164 passengers at Moscow's Vnukovo airport, hours after another man blew himself up when commandos stormed the airliner he had seized in southern Russia.


Getman said that in the first nine months of the year transport police at Vnukovo had arrested no less than 1,824 people for trespassing. A further 783 had been detained at the nearby Domodedovo airport.


Getman said he has suggested that responsibility for airport security be given to a single body.