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Russia focuses on airport security


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The crash of two jetliners minutes apart raised fresh questions about aviation security at Domodedovo.
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Acts of terror

(CNN) -- Airport security tops Russia's aviation agenda following the near-simultaneous crash last month of two passenger planes in what were suspected terrorist attacks.

The aircraft had just taken off from Moscow's main airport, Domodedovo.

More than 200 airplanes land each day at the capital's main airport, flying from more than 200 destinations.

Domodedovo, which is owned by Russian investors, was privatized in 2001 and has been subsequently renovated into a modern and spacious airport.

It now serves many business travelers flying on international routes. The airport reported double-digit passenger growth in 2003, and handled 10 million passengers.

It also has up-to-date security maintained by a private technology firm Eastline.

"At Domodedovo we are equipped with the best safety equipment in the world. Nevertheless it does not provide 100 percent security," Sergei Gorbunov, CEO of Eastline, told CNN.

"It is like making locks and breaking locks -- it is a permanent competition between lock designers and criminals."

Officials say they have spent $5 million in the past two years upgrading the airport's security system, as well as investing in specialized dogs to sniff out explosives.

The airport has ten dogs working in the secure area and in the terminal itself.

Russia's Transport Minister Igor Levitin inspected the airport after the crashes in his new role as head of the commission investigating the disaster.

He praised President Vladimir Putin's pledge to bring airport security under one umbrella -- the Interior Ministry.

Until now, each airport has been responsible for its own security. In the Moscow area alone there are five commercial airports.

"I checked out all of Moscow's airports, to see how they deal with luggage control. They all have different concepts of airport security," Levitin said.

"Domodedovo differs from Sheremetyevo (Moscow's other main airport), so together with the Interior Ministry we need to form a unified security system."

Security had been tightened at all the country's airports since the crashes on August 24. But some in the industry are calling for passenger profiling.

However, this has been resisted around the world outside of Israel over fears of an invasion of civil liberties.

-- CNN Correspondent Paula Hancocks contributed to this report


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