The Russian air forces should not simply continue military operations in Syria, but enhance them so as to make it clear to the criminals that vengeance is inevitable. President Vladimir Putin made such a statement at a meeting with Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov who reported on the causes of the crash of a Russian airliner over Sinai on October 31, 2015.
“This is not the first time Russia experiences barbaric terrorist crime, usually without any obvious internal or external causes, the way it was with the explosion at the railway station in Volgograd at the end of 2013. We remember everything and everyone. The assassination of our people over Sinai is one of the bloodiest crimes in terms of the lives it claimed. We will not dry our tears – this will remain forever in our hearts and minds. However, this would not stop us from finding and punishing the perpetrators. We have to do it without any period of limitation; we need to know all their names. We will search wherever they may be hiding. We will find them anywhere on the planet and punish them,” the Russian president said.
Putin asked the Defense Ministry and its General Staff to make their proposals and the Foreign Ministry to address all Russia’s partners. “We rely on all our friends in these efforts, including our search for and punishment of the perpetrators,” the president said.
He stressed that Russia will act in compliance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which envisages the right of a state to self-defense.
“Whoever tries to help the perpetrators ought to know that they would bear full responsibility for any attempts to harbor them,” the president said for conclusion.
