Known for his hardline stance and strong public remarks, Russian
President Vladimir Putin's latest quotable quote has been making
the rounds on social media.
A tweet by Ms Remi Maalouf, a news anchor with television
channel Russia Today, highlights Mr Putin's colourful take on
terrorism: "To forgive them is up to God, but to send them to him
is up to me."
In the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks on Nov 13 which
killed at least 129 people, Russia and France agreed to coordinate their military and security services
against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants in
Syria.
Mr Putin, speaking to his top military officials, had vowed
merciless retaliation for the attacks, as warplanes from both
countries unleashed bombs on the ISIS stronghold of Raqa earlier
this week.
"It's necessary to establish direct contact with the French and
work with them as allies," he said.
The urgency of the unusual alliance was also due to Tuesday's
revelation that ISIS was responsible for planting a homemade
bomb that ripped apart a Russian passenger jet over Egypt on Oct
31.
That incident claimed the lives of all 224 people on
board, most of whom were Russians returning home from a
vacation.
Mr Putin responded by saying it was one of the bloodiest acts in
modern Russian history, vowing that the effort to bring ISIS to
justice would be relentless.
"We will search for them everywhere wherever they are hiding. We
will find them anywhere on the planet and punish them," he
added.
http://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/putin-on-terrorism-to-forgive-them-is-up-to-god-but-to-send-them-to-him-is-up-to-me