Over 1,500 vacationers still staying in Kabardino-Balkaria

MOSCOW, February 22 (Itar-Tass) -- More than 1,500 tourists are
currently staying in Russia's North Caucasian republic of
Kabardino-Balkaria, which has seen a surge in crime in recent days, a
spokesman for the Russian Tourism Agency told Itar-Tass on Monday.
According to the Kabardino-Balkarian tourism authority, there are
about 1,700 vacationers in the republic, of whom 1,500 are skiers, Oleg Moiseyev said and stressed security measures have been enhanced at public facilities. "Hotels however operate in a regular regime, ski facilities are open, ropeways are operational," he said.
In his words, the bulk of vacationers are from neighbouring regions -
the Stavropol and Krasnodar territories.
"The Russian Tourism Agency will announce its official stance on
Tuesday, February 22, when it receives police reports on the situation in the region," Moiseyev noted.
After a series of terrorist attacks, the regime of counter-terrorist
operation was imposed in the Elbrus and part of the Baksansky districts of the Kabardino-Balkaria on Sunday from 10:00 a.m. Moscow time.
Masked gunmen opened gunfire t a mini van with vacationers from Moscow
and the Moscow region on February 18, killing three and wounding two. In a separate incident, attackers blew up a cable support pole near Mount Elbrus in the same area on Friday, bringing down dozens of cabins. Head of the district administration of the settlement of Khasanya, also in Kabardino-Balkaria, Ramazan Friyev, was killed on the same day.
On Saturday, police defused a car bomb placed near a hotel in a
popular ski resort area in Kabardino-Balkaria. Police said the car
belonged to a militant who had been recently killed.