Russia's Putin orders several counter-terrorism units to be set up on coasts

Reuters
President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a concert of the Children's Choir of Russia in Moscow, Russia, December 25, 2015. REUTERS/Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/Kremlin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered counter-terrorism operational headquarters to be set up in several coastal areas, the state-run RIA news agency quoted the Kremlin as saying on Saturday. The units are to be set in Kaspiysk on the Caspian Sea, Murmansk in Russia's north-west and in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on Russia's eastern coast, Interfax news agency said. Putin also ordered a similar operation to be set up in Crimea's capital of Simferopol - the peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Louise Ireland)