Putin: bombings an 鈥榓bomination鈥
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President Vladimir Putin yesterday called Russia’s deadliest bombings in three years an “abomination,” as he inspected the site of twin suicide strikes that killed 34 and raised alarm over security at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
Putin laid red roses on a heap of stuffed toys and flowers at one of the blast locations and visited survivors at a hospital in the shell-shocked southern city of Volgograd.
He then convened an urgent pre-dawn meeting of local officials and national security chiefs aimed at finding the root cause of Islamist-linked violence.
“The abomination of the crime that was committed here in Volgograd needs no extra commentary,” Putin told officials on the banks of the Volga River.
“No matter how the criminals may justify their actions, there is no justification for crimes committed against civilians, especially against women and children.”
A blast in the waiting hall of Volgograd’s main railway station killed 18 people last Sunday while a second strike that hit a packed trolleybus during morning rush hour on Monday claimed 16 lives.
The attacks were Russia’s deadliest since a suicide raid on Moscow’s Domodedovo airport claimed by North Caucasus militants killed 37 people in January 2011.
The latest violence has laid bare the unchecked threat posed by insurgents who have vowed to target civilians in a bid to undermine preparations ahead of the Games’ opening ceremony on February 7.
Putin in his first comments on the attacks on Tuesday promised to “toughly and consistently continue to fight against terrorists until their total destruction.”
Investigators have opened a criminal probe into a suspected act of terror as well as the illegal carrying of weapons.
A spokesman for the Investigative Committee — Russia’s equivalent to the US FBI — said the signature of the two bombings suggest they were by the same group.
The identical makeup of the explosives “confirms the theory that the two attacks are linked. It is possible that they were prepared in the same place,” Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.
Putin has issued directives ordering security be stepped up at public transit points across the nation and extra police deployed on the streets of Volgograd.
He yesterday praised the security sweep Volgograd police and interior ministry soldiers launched in the wake of the attacks.
But Putin also said sternly in nationally-televised comments that he would like to have a separate talk later yesterday with the head of Russia’s powerful Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov and Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev.
Putin said he wanted to be briefed personally “about the measures they were taking to improve security across the entire territory of the Russian Federation.”
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