Sergey Ivanov, the first deputy chairman of the Federation...

Sergey Ivanov, the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council's commission for cooperation with the Audit Chamber, said that he did not approve of the idea of reinstating the death penalty in Russia, commenting on the respective proposal of some deputies of the State Duma.
"It is difficult to say if the reinstatement of death penalty will have an effect that it is expected to have. In fact, I support tough, radical measures for fighting terrorism," he declared. "However, I am not sure that death penalty would be an adequate punishment for terrorists. I rather agree with those who believe that death penalty is not a severe enough punishment in comparison with life sentence."
At the same time the senator remarked that the number of supporters of capital punishment had been increasing in the country following the Beslan school atrocities. He did not rule out the possibility that as a result, the lawmakers would still make a decision to cancel the moratorium on capital punishment and to allow death penalties.