Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered counter-terrorism operational headquarters to be set up in several coastal areas, the Kremlin said on Saturday.

The units are to be set in Kaspiysk on the Caspian Sea, Murmansk in Russia’s northwest and in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on Russia’s eastern coast, Interfax news agency said.

Mr Putin also ordered a similar operation to be set up in Crimea’s capital of Simferopol.