Russian President Vladimir Putin said a bomb blast in a St. Petersburg supermarket on Wednesday was an act of terrorism, and that security forces whose lives were threatened by terrorist suspects should shoot to kill if necessary.
Mr. Putin, who is running for re-election in March, was speaking on Thursday at an awards ceremony in the Kremlin for Russian personnel who served in Russia’s Syria campaign, which Moscow has framed as an anti-terrorism operation.
“You know that yesterday in St. Petersburg a terrorist act was carried out,” Mr. Putin told the audience, referring to the explosion that injured 13 shoppers in a branch of the Perekrestok supermarket chain.
Investigators have opened a criminal case into Wednesday evening’s blast, which they say was caused by a home-made bomb packed with pieces of metal. Russian media reports said the bomb was hidden inside a rucksack in a locker where shoppers leave their belongings and said the person who left the bomb, described as being of “non-Slavic appearance”, had been caught on CCTV. No group has claimed responsibility.
Attack in April
Russia has repeatedly been the target of attacks by Islamist militant groups, including an attack in April that killed 14 people when an explosion tore through a train carriage in a metro tunnel in St. Petersburg.
Mr. Putin told the ceremony the FSB security service had also prevented “another attempted terrorist act”. A Kremlin spokesman said he was referring to a foiled attack on Kazansky Cathedral, in St. Petersburg. The Kremlin said earlier this month that a U.S. tip-off had helped thwart the attack. Russian media reported earlier this month that the Federal Security Service had detained seven members of an Islamic State (IS) cell who had been planning the attack.
Mr. Putin told the same awards ceremony that the security situation in Russia would be much worse if thousands of Russian citizens who fought with the IS in Syria had been allowed to return home.
He also said that security forces should take no chances with their own lives if confronted by terrorist suspects. “I yesterday ordered the FSB director to act within the framework of the law... but if there is a threat to the life and well-being of our employees ... liquidate the bandits on the spot.”
