Russia Declares Sinai Plane Crash a Terrorist Attack

For the first time, the Kremlin says a bomb downed the Russian airliner last month in Egypt, killing 224 people.

ed note–as we predicted here weeks ago when this event took place, the reluctance on the part of the Russians in revealing publicly exactly what they knew about the ill fated jet was a strategic move on their part, both in creating the image that they were not being impulsive with their speculation while at the same time communicating in back channel fashion with NATO/the West what damning information they had and how it was going to be used to the detriment of the West if certain concessions were not achieved. This–paired with Putin’s damning statement at the G20 meeting yesterday that certain players in the West were funding ISIS, indicates that the next chapter in the drama is about to unfold.

Haaretz

The Kremlin said for the first time on Tuesday that a bomb had ripped apart a Russian passenger jet over Egypt last month and promised to hunt down those responsible and intensify its air strikes on Islamist militants in Syria in response. 

Until Tuesday, Russia had played down assertions from Western countries that the crash, in which 224 people were killed on October 31, was a terrorist incident, saying it was important to let the official investigation run its course. 

But in a late night Kremlin meeting on Monday three days after Islamist gunmen and bombers killed 129 people in Paris, Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s FSB security service, told a meeting chaired by President Vladimir Putin that traces of foreign-made explosive had been found on fragments of the downed plane and on passengers’ personal belongings. 

“According to an analysis by our specialists, a homemade bomb containing up to 1 kilogram of TNT detonated during the flight, causing the plane to break up in mid air, which explains why parts of the fuselage were spread over such a large distance,” said Bortnikov.

“We can unequivocally say it was a terrorist act,” Bortnikov said in footage that was not released until Tuesday morning. 

Putin responded by saying the incident was one of the bloodiest acts in modern Russian history and ordered the Russian air force to intensify its air strikes in Syria in response. 

“It (our campaign) must be intensified in such a way that the criminals understand that retribution is inevitable,” said Putin. 

Ordering the country’s secret service to hunt down those responsible for blowing up the plane, he said the effort to bring them to justice should be exhaustive. 

“We will search for them everywhere wherever they are hiding. We will find them anywhere on the planet and punish them,” Putin said.