Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday urged “very tough” measures against terrorism, as he sought to assure Russians shocked by a deadly train bombing that killed dozens of people.
“We have done a lot to break the spine of terrorism, but the threat has not been fully liquidated ... The threat of terrorism remains very high,” Putin said.
“It is necessary to act in a very tough way against criminals who carry out these kinds of terrorist attacks,” he said in a phone-in show broadcast on national television where he took questions from ordinary Russians.
Putin insisted that Russia had “enough firmness and decisiveness” to prevent attacks like last Friday’s bombing, which killed 26 and injured around 100 passengers aboard a train heading from Moscow to Saint Petersburg.
“We need all of society — every one of us — to be aware of this threat which has been with us all these years,” said Putin, who earned a reputation for toughness by cracking down on Chechen rebels during his rise to power a decade ago.
He said it would be “very difficult and complex” to prevent attacks on infrastructure targets across Russia’s sprawling territory, but insisted it would be possible if citizens cooperated with the state.
“We need to act pre-emptively. The law-enforcement agencies understand perfectly well what I mean,” Putin said, without elaborating.
In one his few forays into foreign policy during the phone-in show, Putin lashed out at the US for “hindering” Russia’s bid to join the WTO.
“We have the impression that for reasons unclear to us, certain parties, including the United States, are hindering our accession to the WTO,” Putin said.
Russia began negotiations for WTO membership in 1993, but the talks have hit numerous roadblocks over the years and today Russia remains the world’s largest economy still outside the WTO.
Ahead of the show more than a million questions were also sent in by telephone, SMS and e-mail.
Putin said Russia’s new rich have a problem spending their money in a tasteful way, commenting on the ostentatious spending by the small proportion of Russians who enjoy massive wealth.
“The noveau riche all of a sudden got rich very quickly but cannot manage their wealth without showing it off all the time. Yes this is our problem,” he said.
Putin was responding to a question about a crash involving rich Russians in Switzerland, which local media said involved a Lamborghini sports car and a Bugatti Veyron.
“In the Soviet times some of our rich showed off their wealth by having gold teeth put in, preferably at the front. The Lamborghinis and other pricey knicknacks — they are simply today’s gold teeth which are shown off to everybody,” he said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS