Airports nationwide will be fitted with entry checkpoints with metal detectors and luggage screening systems, and a passport or driver's license will be required to enter the premises, news reports said Monday, citing a governmental decree.
No identification was previously required to enter an airport, and visitors only checked randomly at the doors — a policy that allowed a suicide bomber to make it to the international arrivals hall of Domodedovo Airport and blow himself up last month, killing 36.
The attack prompted the government to introduce a single set of rules on airport safety — as the previous instructions were conflicting or unclear and defined by lower-level bureaucratic directives, Kommersant said.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed the decree last Tuesday, but the move was not made public before, the report said, adding that no deadline for implementing the new rules was introduced.
Visitors will have to explain the purpose of their presence at the airport at checkpoints, and motorists will also have to present documentation for their vehicles, Komsomolskaya Pravda said.
The premises will be fenced and fitted with surveillance cameras transmitting live feeds to several law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Security Service.
The new rules also define areas of responsibility for various bodies overseeing airport safety.
The Interior Ministry will guard outside perimeters of international airports, and security troops of the Transportation Ministry are made responsible for outer defenses of domestic airports. Internal security will be provided by airport security guards, though the management is allowed to use the Interior Ministry's non-departmental guards.
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