Fresh off a war of words with the Kremlin, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he had offered Russia “intensified cooperation” to fight terrorism following Friday’s attack on a Moscow concert hall.
Mr Macron, who has become one of the most hawkish world leaders on the Ukraine war, has raised concerns among allies by suggesting NATO troops could be sent into the war zone, but on Monday he announced some kind of olive branch. It seems that he offered branches of this to Moscow. France’s support in combating the threat of terrorism.
he Said According to broadcaster BFMTV, the Russian government “made a proposal to regional partners to strengthen cooperation in the fight against terrorism, taking into account the information available to our services and factors that may be useful to the Russian people.” It is said that ”
Macron said that for now any contacts with Moscow would take place at “technical ministerial level” rather than a direct meeting with President Vladimir Putin, but added: “We will see how the situation develops and in the coming days. “Or we’ll see in a few weeks whether it’s warranted.”
But Moscow has so far refused to acknowledge the Islamist terrorist group’s responsibility for the attack, which killed at least 137 Russians and injured more than 100, despite ISIS claiming responsibility for the attack. Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it was reluctant. suggest On Monday, the United States announced it was trying to blame the attack on ISIS to cover up Ukraine’s possible involvement.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made a similar claim, saying on Friday: “If the terrorists of the Kiev regime are found responsible… [they] They must be tracked down as terrorists and eliminated without mercy. ”
Kiev strongly denies involvement after President Vladimir Putin suggested the four suspected attackers were trying to flee to Ukraine.
Putin vows revenge for ‘barbaric terrorist attack’, claims gunmen tried to flee to Ukrainehttps://t.co/GDsOKa5ny8
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 23, 2024
President Macron claimed that the Islamic State of Khorasan (IS-K), an ISIS splinter group, had carried out “several attempts” to carry out terrorist attacks in France in recent months.
“This particular group has carried out several attempts on our territory in recent months,” President Macron said.
Separately, French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said on Monday that “all countries are affected” and that “the Islamist threat can affect everyone at any time”. Darmanin added that terrorist attacks are thwarted in France almost “every month”.
The French leadership’s comments come as Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced on Sunday that he was raising the threat alert on his terrorist alert system to the highest level, calling for “maximum vigilance and protection in the event of an imminent threat or the aftermath of an attack.” ” was later published. ”
The attack on the Moscow concert hall has been compared to the 2015 attack on the Bataclan theater in Paris by ISIS terrorists, in which 90 people attending a rock concert were killed. Former French President Francois Hollande, who was France’s leader at the time of the 2015 attack, said on Monday that he was “immediately” reminded of the Bataclan attack after seeing the footage emerging from Moscow on Friday.
“They were the same Islamic State terrorists, they had the same modus operandi. They were killers coming to slaughter young people in concert halls who just wanted to live and breathe.” with the same fanaticism of creating fear so that it happens,” President Hollande said.
France raises terror alert to highest level after suspected ISIS attack in Moscowhttps://t.co/3GQgcfIk4Z
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 25, 2024
