ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL THREATS TO NATIONAL SECURITY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION RELATED TO POSSIBLE USE OF BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS BY INTERNATIONAL TERRORISTS
This paper analyzes the potential threat to the national security of the Russian Federation associated with the use of biological active substances by international terrorist organizations. The relevance of the work is caused by the fact that at the beginning of the new Millennium, domestic and foreign scientific sources do not stop actively discussing the problems associated with the possible use of biological weapons to commit a terrorist attack. In the course of the research, the author makes an important conclusion that a system that counteracts acts of biological terrorism cannot be an effective mechanism if we do not constantly monitor the strains of dangerous infectious diseases that are circulating on the territory of our country, which are pathogenic biological agents that can be used by terrorists to commit a biological terrorist act. The author also makes a number of conclusions regarding the fact that in the conditions of the 20s. In the twenty-first Millennium, biological terrorism, being a special phenomenon, can not only cause a colossal danger to all living things, but in the case of certain unfavorable conditions for modern society, it can act as a destructive mechanism that provokes global changes in the world, which will eventually lead to changes in the global geo-political balance of forces, reformatting the current social relations and the currently existing parameters and characteristics of social space. The novelty of this work is the analysis of threats to the national security of the Russian Federation, due to the potential use of biological weapons for terrorist purposes. Some other provisions of the work are also new. The practical significance of the scientific article is expressed in the possible use of its results in the activities of law enforcement agencies to counteract acts of bioterrorism.