Russian Federation confirms holiday flight was blown up

“One can say unambiguously that it was a terror act”, the head of the FSB security agency, Alexander Bortnikov, told Putin in a meeting the day before.

“The Russian Foreign Ministry should appeal to all our partners”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference in the Kremlin on Tuesday. “We will find them anywhere on the planet and punish them”, Putin said.

The pronouncement by the head of Russia’s FSB security service largely lays to rest speculation about the cause of the crash that killed 224 people on October 31, although an worldwide investigation is ongoing in Egypt. Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, Russian Federation had resisted assigning a cause for the crash.

Debris from the Russian passenger plane crash which resulted in 224 casualties.

Russia’s security chief has confirmed that a holiday flight that crashed in Egypt was brought down by a bomb.

News of the arrests emerged shortly after Russian Federation announced that the plane was downed in a terrorist act by a homemade explosive device.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov had previously declined to comment on any statements related to the crash due to “an abundance of false information” and “hoaxes”.

The declaration also means that the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for three catastrophic attacks on civilians outside of its normal arena of its operations in under three weeks.

Putin said Tuesday that Russia’s air campaign in Syria “should not only be continued but should be intensified so that the criminals realize that retribution is inevitable”. “We will search wherever they may be hiding”.

Russian Federation began air strikes in Syria at the end of September. Putin said. “We remember everything and everyone”.

“Anyone who tries to help the criminals should know that the consequences for trying to shelter them will lie completely on their shoulders”.

While releasing specifics would add credibility, the group may be withholding either because its claim is false, or because doing so would undermine plans for similar attacks in the future – or because the aura of mystery might deepen its mystique among die-hard followers.

“IS” has also claimed responsibility for the attacks in Paris last Friday which killed 129 people and wounded 350 others.