SOCHI: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday promised a “significant” response to “Europe’s militarization,” as he addressed a foreign policy forum in southern Russia.
“We are closely monitoring the rising militarization of Europe,” he told the audience, adding: “Retaliatory measures by Russia will not take long. The response to such threats will be very significant.”
“Russia will never show weakness or indecisiveness,” Putin added.
Relations between Russia and the EU spiralled downward after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, leading the bloc to bolster its defense.
Drone incidents in Denmark and aerial incursions from Moscow in Estonia and Poland have heightened fears that Russia’s war on Ukraine could spill over Europe’s borders.
Putin accused Europe of stoking up “hysteria” to excuse rising military spending and said Russia wasn’t a threat. “Just calm down,” the Russian President said.
Putin vows ‘significant’ response to ‘Europe’s militarization’
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Putin vows ‘significant’ response to ‘Europe’s militarization’
- “Russia will never show weakness or indecisiveness,” Putin said
Militants kill 6 officers and a civilian in ambushes on police vehicles in northwest Pakistan
- Assailants ambushed a police vehicle and killed one officer in Kohat — when police reinforcements arrived, they launched another attack and killed five more officers and a civilian
- No group claimed responsibility for this week’s attacks, but suspicion may fall on the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or the TTP
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A pair of attacks on police vehicles by suspected militants killed at least six police officers and a civilian in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, authorities said.
The assailants ambushed a police vehicle and killed one officer in Kohat, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. When police reinforcements arrived minutes later, they launched another attack and killed five more officers and a civilian, police official Kamran Khan said.
Separately on Tuesday, a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a police post in Bukkur, a district in eastern Punjab province, killing two officers and wounding four others, police official Shahzad Rafiq said.
He provided no further details and only said officers were still investigating.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, which have increased across the country in recent months.
President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attacks in Kohat and Bukkur and offered condolences to the victims’ families.
The latest violence followed an attack on a paramilitary post in Karak on Monday, when a drone loaded with explosives wounded several officers. The attackers later ambushed two ambulances transporting the wounded, killing three officers and burning their bodies before fleeing. The driver of the second ambulance transported several wounded officers despite suffering burn injuries and authorities recovered the remains of the three officers.
No group claimed responsibility for this week’s attacks, but suspicion may fall on the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or the TTP. The TTP is separate from, but closely allied with, Afghanistan’s Taliban. Islamabad has accused the group of operating from inside Afghanistan, a claim the TTP and Kabul deny.
Pakistan’s military said it killed at least 70 militants on Sunday in strikes along the Afghan border, targeting hideouts of Pakistani militants blamed for recent attacks inside the country.
