French President Emmanuel Macron said today from French Guiana, where he is on an official visit, that the Islamic State jihadist organization from the Khorasan region has attempted to commit several terrorist acts in France in recent months.
The French president also mentioned that the French security services recently proposed to the corresponding Russian ones, as well as to those of other states in the region, a “close cooperation” in the fight against terrorism.
He also said that the French services had information that could be useful to the Russian security services.
He also said all indications were that the concert hall attack near Moscow, which killed 137 people, was carried out by the Islamic State group, telling Russia it would be “cynical and counterproductive” to try to blame Ukraine.
Russia disputes claims by the US and other countries that the Islamic State terrorist group orchestrated the attack, accusing Washington of covering up Ukraine.
“The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for this attack, and the information available to us, our (intelligence) services, as well as our main adversaries, indeed indicates that it was a branch of the Islamic State that carried out this attack Macron said.
“I think it would be both cynical and counterproductive for Russia itself and the security of its citizens to use that framework to try and turn it against Ukraine.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin made no public reference to the jihadist group in relation to the perpetrators of the attack, who he said tried to flee to Ukraine.
Putin said that some people “on the Ukrainian side” had prepared to take the gunmen across the border. Ukraine denies any role in the attack, and President Volodymyr Zelensky accuses Putin of seeking to deflect blame for the strike by citing Ukraine.
Emmanuel Macron said the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for the attack in Moscow, had also attempted to carry out attacks in France.
The French head of state made the remarks on his arrival, as part of a visit, to French Guiana, after the French government yesterday raised the terror alert level to its highest level in the wake of the attack in Moscow.
“We have proposed to increase cooperation with Russian (intelligence) services and our partners in the region so that the culprits can be found as quickly as possible and we can continue to fight more effectively against those organizations that target various countries.”
Source of RES-EMP
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