Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would intensify its air strikes on Islamist militants in Syria and launch a global manhunt after the Kremlin concluded that terrorists had placed a bomb on a Russian passenger jet that broke up over Egypt last month.
“We will find them anywhere on the planet and punish them,” Putin said of the plane bombers, in a somber Kremlin meeting that was broadcast yesterday.
Until now, Russia and Egypt had played down assertions from Western countries that the Oct. 31 crash, in which 224 people were killed, was the work of terrorists, saying it was important to let the official investigation run its course.
Photo: AP
However, four days after Muslim gunmen and bombers killed at least 129 people in Paris, the Kremlin released footage showing Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov telling a late night meeting on Monday that traces of foreign-made explosive had been found on fragments of the downed plane and on passengers’ personal belongings.
“According to our experts, a homemade explosive device equivalent to 1 kilogram of TNT went off onboard, which caused the plane to break up in the air, which explains why the fuselage was scattered over such a large territory. I can certainly say that this was a terrorist act,” Bortnikov said.
He said tests showed the explosives had been produced outside of Russia, but gave no further details.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for downing the Russian plane in written statements, as well as video and audio messages posted on the Internet.
It said the attack was retaliation for Russia’s air campaign against IS and other groups in Syria.
The government offering a US$50 million reward to anyone who helps it detain those responsible for placing the bomb on the plane, the TASS news agency reported.
All of the people on board, most of them Russian tourists, were killed when the Metrojet Airbus 321-200 crashed over the Sinai Peninsula, about 23 minutes after taking off from the Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Putin said he expected military chiefs to present him with specific proposals on how Russia could ramp up its campaign in Syria.
Putin said that Russia’s air campaign in Syria “should not only be continued, but should be intensified so that the criminals realize that retribution is inevitable.”
“We must do this without any statute of limitations and we must find out all their names,” he said, invoking Russia’s right to self defense under the UN charter.
“Anyone who tries to help the criminals should know that the consequences for trying to shelter them will lie completely on their shoulders,” he said.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that the president was expected to visit the Ministry of Defense later yesterday, but that the president’s order did not mean that Moscow was considering sending ground troops to Syria.
Additional reporting by AP
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