Moscow attack on airport will complicate Medvedev's investment pitch at Davos

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Although major questions remain following the airport suicide bombing in a Moscow airport Monday, the punishment has already begun for Russian officials responsible for preventing such attacks.

President Dmitry Medvedev fired several officials on Wednesday, an action foreshadowed when he said on television that the "officials responsible for organizing the [airport security] process must be brought to their senses," the BBC reported.

Among those fired are regional transport chief Andrei Alexeyev and Moscow police deputy chief Maj. Gen. Vladimir Chugunov. Mr. Medvedev criticized the security measures, saying that transportation security had become lax after being ratcheted up in reaction to an earlier slew of terrorist attacks. Airport officials continue to claim that they should not shoulder the blame.

The prosecutor general has begun an investigation into whether transportation officials were guilty of "criminal negligence." It could lead to more arrests, according to BBC.

Some Russians took a shot at Russian Prime Minster Vladimir Putin, whose security and counterterrorism policies were particularly brutal in the volatile north Caucasus region and generated resentment that may have contributed to Monday's attack, the Monitor reported.

A few are even voicing the previously unthinkable suggestion that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin should resign, since he is the leader most closely associated with setting policy during the decade-long cycle of terrorism and brutal security countermeasures in the seething north Caucasus.

"We should urgently change our agenda, and insist that Putin and [Interior Minister Rashid] Nurgaliev come before the Duma [parliament] to explain themselves," says Vladimir Ulas, a Duma deputy with the Communist Party, which is usually loyal to the Kremlin on security issues. "The authorities have failed in the struggle against terrorism, they can not guarantee national security, so why shouldn't we be discussing the resignation of Putin's government?"

A foreign relations official said in RIA Novosti that Russia should consider adopting airport security measures similar to those at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, which is well-known for its tight security. "The unprecedented security measures towards passengers in Israel are immediately visible when you arrive in the country, and everybody takes for granted the thorough screening," the official said.

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