The death of Bin Laden was heavily celebrated in the US. There were pictures from Washington DC, and New York City of people waving flags, and cheering. The US was very happy that the most infamous terrorist in the world, was killed by US special forces. Russia, which is plagued by terrorism issues of their own released a series of conflicting posts and interviews on the ITAR-TASS website.
On Monday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry described the killing as “a milestone in the fight against international terrorism.” The ministry went on to say
“Being partners in the anti-terror coalition we share the American people’s feelings. We appreciate that the Russian authorities had been properly informed of the operation before U.S. President Barack Obama made an official statement,” the ministry said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry highlighted the objective laws – “Bin Laden, Basayev and others like them will face retaliation sooner or later.”
“The most important principle in the fight against terrorists as well as with criminals in general is to ensure that responsibility for what had been done will be placed. In this sense success of the U.S. special services as well as the effective work of Russia’s special services in the North Caucasus, including that against Al-Qaeda emissaries, is of global importance. This is a clear signal of historical hopelessness of terrorism and inevitable responsibility for its evil acts,” the ministry said.
The following day, the Russian parliament warned of the immediate increase in danger as the terrorists may attempt to strike in retaliation for the death of bin Laden. Although, Bin Laden wasn’t as vocal of his desire to destroy Russia as he was the United States, the Russian chairman of the defence and security committee released these comments;
Ozerov underlined that “Al-Qaeda’s activities spread on the territory of the Russian Federation as well.”
“Russia’s special services have repeatedly detected Bin Laden’s trace as concerns the preparation for and financing of those terror acts that had been committed on the territory of our regions in the Caucasus.”
Russia who has a long history of human rights abuse, especially in pursuing terrorists or suspected terrorists, specifically in the Chechnya in the recent past, had nothing negative to say about the fact that Bin Laden was killed, and not taken as a prisoner. Bin Laden was a shared enemy of the entire free world, and very few people across the world are willing to take the political gamble to advocate for mercy on someone whose goal was to pursue mass murder of thousands of innocent civilians across the globe.
