Interfax: Terrorism in Europe rooted in Middle East policy – diplomat

MOSCOW. Feb 18 (Interfax) – The ongoing surge of terrorism in Europe is rooted in the European policy in the Middle East and North Africa, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department on New Threats and Challenges Ilya Rogachev said.

“This is a consequence of the policy, including that of the Europeans, in the Middle East and North Africa,” he said in an interview with Interfax.

“An appeal to stop bombing Libya was a major thesis we were promoting on all levels and in all formats of the G8 four years ago when the G8 still existed and it was chaired by France,” the Russian diplomat said.

“From the security point of view, we underscored that the factor of the army running, the country falling into pieces, the absence of anyone to hold them together and weapons spreading would not be the main ones although such things really happened. We said that, from the security point of view, the most terrible thing that could happen was the radicalization of “Muslim streets”,” the diplomat said.

In his words, the pace of such events has grown since then.

“Every kind of extremist group and terrorist organization has been radicalized not only in the Middle East and North Africa but also in Europe because many fighters are returning there,” Rogachev said.

As to whether terrorists are acting in Europe on their own or coordinating their actions with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Russian diplomat said, “This is irrelevant because these connections can be purely ideological.”

“They do not need to send e-mails or other letters, to regularly give instructions and so on,” he said.

“Instructions regarding the place and time of terror attacks are no longer significant. Radicalized loners do what they can without receiving any orders. Anyway, this is a result of the work of ideologists, propagandists of terrorism who are, unfortunately, winning their war for now,” Rogachev stated.