MOSCOW - Russia will revamp its security forces and seek international cooperation to hunt militants in the wake of a school siege which killed more than 300 people nine days ago, Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Sunday. Ivanov said the overhaul will require a change of attitude among the Russian people and international support to succeed in a fight against Chechen militants who killed at least 327 hostages – half of them children – at a school on Sept. 3 and have also been blamed for two airplane crashes in August.

"This demands the reform of security services – not just the defence ministry – and a greater concentration of efforts," Ivanov told NTV television. Russian President Vladimir Putin – a former KGB spy – said last week Russia's security services "displayed weakness" and demanded they and the police in the North Ossetia region where the school siege took place undergo a drastic shake-up.

Ivanov did not outline specific reforms, but his comments coincide with opinion polls showing Russians have little faith in their corrupt security services and accuse them of failing to prevent the latest attacks in Russia that have been blamed on radical Chechen rebels seeking independence for their homeland. Following the siege and the suspected double suicide bombing of two airliners, the government has vowed to clamp down on the Chechen rebels it blames for the attacks.

Ivanov said the restructuring of the domestic security force went hand-in-hand with the targeting of rebel bases that a top general has said lie in countries bordering Russia and that Russian forces were prepared to strike. "This inevitably involves changing the way people think as they are not ready for such threats and challenges," the defence minister said.

He said international cooperation was vital if Russia was to stamp out the threat of terrorism. "Since the threat has an international character it is impossible for one state, no matter how strong it is, to beat that invisible enemy without cooperation," he said. He added that the United States was best placed to understand Russia's situation because it had also been the target of major attacks, and he said he had discussed the issue with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld twice this week.

"In this sense it seems easier to find grounds for an understanding with the United States than with some European states," Ivanov said. France and the Netherlands angered Russia by asking for an explanation of what had happened at the school siege in the North Ossetian town of Beslan, where children, women, men and their captors died in a maelstrom of explosions and gunfire. Russia has not specified where it believes the militants have their bases, but analysts believe the Kremlin sees neighbouring Georgia as the main suspect for harbouring rebels.

Ivanov said any strikes on bases would be without warning and would use any means except nuclear weapons. "In war – and war has been declared on us – all means can be used," he said.

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