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Russia Says Bomb Downed Plane in Egypt and Intensifies Attacks on ISIS Russia Says Bomb Downed Plane in Egypt and Intensifies Attacks on ISIS
(about 3 hours later)
MOSCOW — Hours after confirming for the first time on Tuesday that a bomb brought down a Russian charter jet over the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt more than two weeks ago, killing all 224 people aboard, Russia joined France in bombing Islamic State targets in Syria. MOSCOW — Russia said for the first time on Tuesday that a bomb aboard a Russian charter jet full of vacationers was the cause of its destruction more than two weeks ago over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, and the Kremlin responded immediately by escalating airstrikes across Syria.
For a second straight day French warplanes hit a command post and a recruitment center for jihadists in an Islamic State stronghold, Raqqa, the French Ministry of Defense announced on its website, while Russian news reports said a Russian submarine had fired cruise missiles at Islamic State targets in the same area. The Russians said they were coordinating their military campaign with France in sharply ratcheting up attacks on Syrian territory, especially areas held by the Islamic State, the militant group that has asserted responsibility for destroying the Russian jetliner and for the spree of deadly attacks across Paris on Friday.
Russia struck Raqqa with advanced Kalibr cruise missiles launched from a submarine in the eastern Mediterranean, the RBC news agency reported, citing sources in the Russian Defense Ministry. The agency said it was the first time Russia had fired cruise missiles from a submarine during a war. Russian said it had deployed cruise missiles, long-range bombers flying from Russia and other warplanes, releasing the details through a military briefing for President Vladimir V. Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that was televised live nationwide.
There were also news agency reports of Russian fighter-bombers hitting Islamic State targets in Syria, but those could not be confirmed. “A massive airstrike is targeting ISIL sites in Syrian territory,” Mr. Shoigu said, using one of the acronyms for the Islamic State. “The number of sorties has been doubled, which makes it possible to deliver powerful pinpoint strikes upon ISIL fighters all throughout the Syrian territory.”
The strike came after President Vladimir V. Putin ordered an intensification of attacks following Russian confirmation that the crash of the Airbus A321 in Egypt had been caused by a terrorist attack. Mr. Putin and the defense chief were shown sitting in a gigantic, three-story military command center — officially called the National Defense Management Center — with a map of Syria the size of a movie screen on one wall.
In Washington, a Defense Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss another nation’s military strikes, confirmed that the Russians had provided notice before waging “a significant number of strikes in Raqqa” that may have included the use of sea-launched cruise missiles and long-range bombers. In a scene that could have been lifted out of a Bond film, scores of military men, many wearing headsets, were lined up in desks on the main floor and overhead balconies, all facing the screen.
The official said the notice was in accordance with safety protocols that the United States and Russia agreed to in October that are intended to prevent accidents and ensure safe separation during operations in Syria. The United States has not abandoned any operations because of the Russian strikes, the official said. The Russian acknowledgment that a bomb downed the Metrojet Airbus A321, killing all 224 people aboard, came after 17 days of hedging by Moscow, even though it was increasingly clear that Russian investigators had reached that conclusion.
On Tuesday, after hedging for 17 days, Russian officials acknowledged that the passenger jet had been downed by a bomb. “We can say definitely that this was a terrorist act,” Alexander V. Bortnikov, the head of the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., said in remarks to Russia’s Security Council Monday night that were broadcast nationally on Tuesday morning. The timing of such a highly orchestrated announcement, coming as an outraged France had already started striking Islamic State targets and had called for a united front against the group, suggested that the Kremlin was using the moment to help rebuild frayed relations with the West.
An “improvised explosive device” detonated soon after the plane took off from the resort city of Sharm el Sheikh, he said, adding that “the plane disintegrated in midair, which explains the widely scattered fuselage pieces.” Egyptian officials, by sharp contrast, have repeatedly asserted that it was premature to conclude that a bomb had destroyed the Russian jetliner, and that such an explanation was part of an international conspiracy against their country.
British and American intelligence agencies reached much the same conclusion within days after the Metrojet plane crashed on Oct. 31. The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, claimed responsibility for the attack within hours, although it did not provide any proof. The plane had just departed Sharm el Sheikh, a Red Sea resort that now is reeling from a loss of tourism. Confirmation that it was brought down by a bomb — presumably smuggled through the Sharm el Sheikh airport — would represent a devastating blow to Egypt’s vital tourism industry, and would undermine government claims that the authorities are prevailing in the war against militants based in the Sinai Peninsula.
The announcement from the Kremlin was the first definitive statement from Russia that the plane was brought down by a terrorist act, although leaders had been moving in that direction after initially criticizing early suggestions that a bomb was responsible. But Egypt’s position has become harder to maintain in recent days as the Russian government, one of its closest allies, gave increasing indications that it believed a bomb was the most likely cause. The Russians moved to sever almost all air links with Egypt.
Asked if Russia had concluded that the Islamic State was behind the attack, Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, would not say definitively that the group was responsible, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. On Tuesday, after hours of silence following the Russian announcement, Egyptian officials seemed to be gingerly walking back their previous denials.
Most tourist flights to the Red Sea resort have been suspended since the crash because of concerns that a member of the airport staff may have been able to slip the bomb on board. Egypt’s civil aviation minister said that the committee investigating the crash had not yet reached any conclusions and had “not arrived at any criminal evidence,” but a statement from the Interior Ministry pointedly included the possibility of a “terrorist attack.”
The bomb contained up to one kilogram — or 2.2 pounds — of TNT, Mr. Bortnikov said, adding that “foreign made” explosive material was found on parts of the plane and other objects that were examined. Alexander V. Bortnikov, the head of the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., said in remarks to Russia’s Security Council Monday night and broadcast nationally on Tuesday morning that “we can say definitely that this was a terrorist act.”
Russia has offered $50 million for any information leading to the capture of those who carried out the attack, and Mr. Putin vowed to track them down. “We will search for them everywhere, no matter where they are hiding,” he said at a meeting with his security council that was broadcast on national television. “We will find them in any place on the planet and will punish them.” An “improvised explosive device” detonated soon after the plane had departed Sharm el Sheikh, he said, adding that “the plane disintegrated in midair, which explains the widely scattered fuselage pieces.”
Mr. Putin said the attacks by the Russian Air Force in Syria would intensify. “Our military work in Syria must not only be continued, but strengthened so that criminals understand that punishment is inevitable,” he said. The Ministry of Defense and the military have been ordered to draw up plans, he said. The Russians did not acknowledge that the Islamic State had planted the bomb. But the Russian attacks that followed on parts of Syria held by the Islamic State, presented in such detail at a live television briefing, left no doubt that the Russians were now intent on showing that they blamed the group.
In claiming responsibility for the downing of the plane, the Islamic State branch on the Sinai Peninsula said it had come in retaliation for Russia’s deployment of its military in Syria, where it has been trying to shore up the rule of President Bashar al-Assad by attacking his opponents, though not primarily the Islamic State. Russia fired 34 cruise missiles from the eastern Mediterranean, hitting more than a dozen targets in Aleppo and Idlib, said Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the Russian military’s chief of staff. Earlier news reports said the Kalibr cruise missiles were fired by submarines for the first time by Russia in a real war.
By early Tuesday afternoon, Egyptian officials had yet to comment on the Russian allegations, except to deny a news report stating that employees at the Sharm el Sheikh airport had been detained in connection to the bombing. The Reuters report, citing two security officials, said that 17 employees had been detained, and quoted one official as saying two of them were “suspected of helping whoever planted the bomb on the plane.” Military aircraft, including long-range bombers flying from Russia itself, had flown 127 sorties, hitting 266 targets and destroying 140 of them, the defense minister said. The Russian air force deployed in Syria has flown almost 2,300 combat missions since the attacks started 48 days ago, Gen. Gerasimov said.
Egypt’s Interior Ministry and its civil aviation authority quickly issued statements denying the report, with the Interior Ministry saying it was “devoid of truth.” The statements did not detail what investigations, if any, were taking place at the airport. Mr. Putin did not speak much during the briefing, but he ordered one naval commander to coordinate his actions with a French aircraft carrier group that was about to deploy off Syria.
Egyptian officials have dismissed the possibility of terrorism, sometimes suggesting that theories of a militant attack are part of an international conspiracy against their country. Mr. Putin and the French president, François Hollande, had spoken by telephone earlier in the day and agreed to coordinate their military attacks in Syria, the Kremlin announced. The two men are due to meet in Moscow on Nov. 26, it said.
Confirmation that a bomb brought down the plane — and was presumably smuggled through the airport — could prove a devastating blow to the country’s vital tourism industry, and would undermine government claims that the authorities are prevailing in the war against militants based in the Sinai Peninsula. For a second consecutive day, French warplanes hit a command post and a recruitment center for jihadists in the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa, Syria, the French Ministry of Defense announced on its website, while Russian news reports said a Russian submarine had fired cruise missiles at Islamic State targets in the same area.
Since its intervention in Syria, Russia has focused most of its firepower on opponents of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and not the Islamic State. The diplomatic rewards of changing focus and answering the call of Mr. Hollande for a united military effort against the Islamic State are already palpable.
A pariah in Western leadership circles since his invasion of Crimea in the spring and his subsequent support of separatists in eastern Ukraine, Mr. Putin was suddenly front and center at the Group of 20 summit meeting this week in Antalya, Turkey. For Mr. Putin, ending the diplomatic isolation could be an important first step in persuading the West to lift economic sanctions on his wobbly economy that were imposed after those earlier actions.
British and American intelligence agencies had reached the same conclusion as Russia about the cause of the jetliner’s destruction within days of the Oct. 31 crash. The Islamic State claimed responsibility within hours, although it did not provide any proof.
Russian crash investigators concluded the bomb contained up to 1 kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, of TNT, Mr. Bortnikov said, adding that “foreign made” explosive material was found on parts of the plane and other objects that were examined.
Russia also offered $50 million for any information leading to the capture of those who carried out the attack, and Mr. Putin vowed to track them down.
“We will search for them everywhere, no matter where they are hiding,” Mr. Putin said at a meeting with his security council that was broadcast on national television. “We will find them in any place on the planet and will punish them.”
Mr. Putin said the attacks by the Russian air force in Syria would not only continue but intensify. “Our military work in Syria must not only be continued, but strengthened so that criminals understand that punishment is inevitable,” he said.