MOSCOW. April 16 (Interfax) - Proposed Russian legislation to tighten control of Internet media is be an essential means of crime prevention and would not mean censorship, a senior member of Russia's parliament argued on Wednesday.

"The lack of legal regulation of the Internet leads to the propaganda of terrorism and to the publication of recommended methods on how to assemble a 'shahid's belt' ('martyr's belt,' that is worn by Muslim suicide bombers)," Lyudmila Narusova, head of the Information Policy Commission of the Federation Council, told a meeting of the Russian Public Chamber.

Narusova said there was a direct link between the accessibility of child pornography websites and today's increasingly frequent instances of children disappearing or being victims of sexual assaults.

"Nobody is going to introduce censorship, but it is a constitutional duty of the state to protect its citizens," she said.