Suppression of terrorism in Russia will continue – Medvedev

The Russian government will continue its tough measures suppressing terrorism, Dmitry Medvedev stated during the emergency meeting dedicated to the blasts in the Moscow Metro.

“The suppression of terror and fight against terrorism will be continued,” he said. “We will continue operations against terrorists without compromise and till the end,” the head of the state said during an emergency meeting on Monday.

“I’d like all the heads of law enforcement agencies to follow this line,” Dmitry Medvedev said.

The blasts in the Moscow Metro are “obviously a continuation of terrorist activity and the main investigation line will be built upon this assumption,” he emphasized.

The country’s leader ordered to the Prosecutor General and the head of the Investigating Committee to control the investigation process and personally report to the president.

Dmitry Medvedev emphasized it should be done “without hindering the Metro’s operation. As soon as the investigation measures are taken, the movement should be re-established so the city will not suffer,” he said.

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The Russian president has paid a visit to one of the sites of the tragedy – Lubyanka Metro station. The escalator took the president downstairs to the platform where he laid flowers at the scene of the blast.

Following the visit, Medvedev said the masterminds of the terrorist acts in the Moscow Metro would be found and destroyed.

“These are animals. Irrespective of their motives, what they do is a crime by any law and any moral standards,” he said. “I have no doubt that we will find and destroy them all.”

According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the deadly blasts in the Moscow subway could have been organized with support from abroad. "I do not rule this out, nothing can be ruled out here," Lavrov pointed out.

The top Russian diplomat said that Moscow "is well informed about the so-called no-man's land on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan," where "the terrorist underground has entrenched itself."

"We know that many terrorist attacks – not only in Afghanistan, but in other countries too, are plotted in that area… Sometimes, the trail leads to the Caucasus," he said.

Sergey Lavrov urged the global community to coordinate efforts in the fight against international terrorism and its financial sponsors.

According to the head of the State Duma Security Committee, Vladimir Vasiliev, Monday’s bombings came as a response to the anti-terror operation in the North Caucasus.

“We have no doubts about who is standing behind these blasts because recently there have been a series of operations in the North Caucasus to liquidate terror leaders and active terrorists,” he said.

A number of Russian politicians have voiced their opinion on how Russia should tackle the situation.

State Duma speaker and Chairman of the United Russia Party's Supreme Council, Boris Gryzlov, has called on Russians to unite against the threat of terror and not to let “those who hate people and want to destroy the peaceful life” of Russia’s citizens to “intimidate” them.

According to Fair Russia party leader Nikolay Levichev, the country should start a full-scale fight with the ideology of terrorism. To do so, Russia needs an effective socio-economic policy in the North Caucasus region.

Likhachev said that people in the North Caucasus should have conditions when they will be given an opportunity to develop, have an education and have careers. “If we do not work in this direction we will be unable to live quietly,” he said.

According to Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, Russia should revive capital punishment for such crimes as terrorism.

“It is difficult to imagine a crime which would be more horrible than what happened today,” he said. Zyuganov added that those who ordered the attacks should be first to be punished.

Liberal Democrat leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky suggested Russia should “reinforce” functions of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in the North Caucasus and all over the country and conduct more effective work against corruption in the capital.