Putin says West may use NGOs to stir unrest in Russia --- (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin told his security chiefs on Monday to ensure Russia does not follow what he said was Ukraine's example by letting the West use local civil rights groups to foment unrest. -- In a speech to the Federal Security Service (FSB), the KGB's main successor, the former spy called for more vigilance and better counter-intelligence to fight threats ranging from Islamist militants to computer hackers. -- Accusing the West of funding radical groups in Ukraine that helped to topple President Viktor Yanukovich, he expressed concern that Russia also faced a threat from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) "serving foreign national interests". -- "We will not accept a situation like what happened in Ukraine, when in many cases it was through non-governmental organisations that the nationalist and neo-Nazi groups and militants, who became the shock troops in the anti-constitutional coup d'état, received funding from abroad." ---Western leaders have dismissed such criticism, mainly aimed at the United States and the European Union, and blame Putin for causing the crisis in East-West relations by annexing the Crimea region from Ukraine on March 21. --- Putin, who ran the FSB in the late 1990s and served as a KGB agent in East Germany, said 46 employees of foreign secret services had been uncovered by the FSB in Russia last year. That was an increase of almost one-third on 2012. -- He also called for the FSB to step up operations on the southern border as U.S. and other troops leave Afghanistan, and said allies in Central Asia may need help to prevent destabilisation in the region. - More, at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/07/us-russia-putin-security-idUSBREA3619X20140407