Russia’s fight against terror

Russia suffered a tragedy similar to Pakistan's APS, in Beslan in 2006, when over 400 children lost their lives

Like Pakistan, Russia has long been at the foreground of the fight against terrorism. This is a fight for freedom, truth and justice, for the lives of people and for the future of the human civilisation. The Russian people know well the consequences of international terrorism. Our country has suffered from cruel, heinous attacks by terrorists against peaceful citizens. Thousands of precious lives have been lost in blasts. Similar to the tragedy that was the Peshawar terrorist attack targeting students in December 2014, Russia suffered through the Beslan tragedy in 2006, when more than 400 children lost their lives in a hostage situation.

Russia recently entered the Syrian conflict. It had no other choice but to do so. When the dangerous scenario of the involvement of a large number of Russians and citizens from former Soviet Republics joining the Islamic State (IS) emerged, it became obvious that if the IS succeeded in its designs, there will be terrorism and anarchy on Russian soil. The IS is a direct threat to the national interests of the Russian federation, and as President Vladimir Putin stated recently, it was our duty to fight and eliminate the group, away from home. All this became absolutely clear when IS terrorists downed the Russian passenger plane in Egypt, with all 224 on board being killed.

That is why a principled decision was taken to launch military operations in Syria upon official request from Syrian authorities, which is the only force that had been fighting IS on the ground. Russian Aerospace Forces have been conducting air strikes in Syrian territory since then, in full compliance with international law. All air strikes are high-precision and aimed against terrorists and their infrastructure. As a result, the number of mercenaries and international terrorists arriving in Syria has significantly decreased. With Russian air support, vast residential areas, many villages and other strategic objects were freed from the control of the terrorists. By striking IS tankers and refineries, Russia managed to decrease the daily profits of the group from $3 million to $1.5 million.

It was at this point when Turkey shot down a Russian bomber jet that was performing anti-terrorist strikes in Syria, leading to the death of two Russian servicemen. The objective control data indicates that our aircraft did not violate Turkish airspace (even according to the Turkish version of events, the alleged violation lasted for only 17 seconds). As per the surviving pilot’s report, there was no warning given by Turkey. Here it will be pertinent to recall a similar case in 2012 when Ankara accused the Syrians of shooting down a Turkish aircraft when it reportedly violated Syrian airspace. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister at the time, clearly stated that violation of airspace and borders for only a short period of time could never be used as a pretext to use force.

Russia feels that our jet was downed because of the disruption that had been caused to IS’s oil business. It is important to understand that terrorists are using these profits to recruit mercenaries, buy weapons and plan terrorist attacks against citizens of Russia, France, Lebanon, Mali and other countries. Today, no nation is capable of eliminating international terrorism alone, especially when so many state borders across the world are effectively open and hundreds of thousands of refugees are resettling. Any financial support that terrorists get needs to be cut. Only a broad, international anti-terrorist coalition based on common interests and goals can successfully counter the evils of terrorism. The only goal should be to eliminate terrorism and all factors that lead to it.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th,  2015.

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