Putin promises revenge following airport attack

PRIME Minister Vladimir Putin vowed revenge yesterday for a suicide bombing that killed at least 35 people at Russia’s busiest airport and underscored the Kremlin’s failure to stem a rising tide of attacks.

Talking tough a day after the bombing, Russia’s leaders ordered security services to find the culprits behind the attack, which bore hallmarks of militants fighting for an Islamist state along Russia’s southern flank.

“This was an abominable crime in both its senselessness and its cruelty,” Putin told a meeting of ministers in Moscow. “I do not doubt that this crime will be solved and that retribution is inevitable.”

President Dmitry Medvedev criticised law enforcement agencies and airport managers over the attack at Domodedovo, a major international gateway to Russia. At least eight foreigners were killed in the attack.

“Everything must be done to find, expose and bring the bandits who committed this crime to court — and the nests of these bandits, however deep they have dug in, must be liquidated,” he said.

“We must not stand on ceremony with those who resist... they must be destroyed on the spot,” Medvedev told leaders of the Federal Security Service (FSB), which is tasked with coordinating Russia’s fight against terrorism.

The bombing, which ripped through the area where international travellers emerge after collecting their bags, came just as Medvedev is about to pitch Russia to investors and corporate leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Medvedev has delayed his departure for Davos, where he is due to deliver the keynote speech opening today. Russia’s Health Minister Tatyana Golikova said 49 people remain in a serious or very serious condition in hospital.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, but Russia has been grappling with a growing Islamist insurgency in the mainly Muslim republics which make up its southern flank in the North Caucasus.

Rebels from the region have threatened attacks against cities and economic targets in the run-up to a parliamentary election this December and a 2012 presidential poll in which Putin is expected to return to the Kremlin or back his protege Medvedev for a second term.

Reuters