MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin says intelligence agents have foiled 20 terrorist plots in Russia this year.

Russia began carrying out air strikes on Islamic State militants in Syria last month to support government forces there.

Speaking Tuesday at a ceremony at the Kremlin, Putin said the FSB intelligence agency this year had foiled 20 terrorist plots, arrested 560 militants and killed 112 others.

Islamic insurgency has been brewing in Russia's North Caucasus following two wars in Chechnya in the 1990s. In neighboring Dagestan, the insurgents — who want to carve out a state governed by their strict interpretation of Islamic law — clash with law enforcement officers almost daily. Moscow says some of these militants have links to Islamic State.