133 dead and more than a hundred injured, according to a provisional report. On Friday evening, a concert hall near Moscow was the target of an armed attack, claimed by the Islamic State (IS). Eleven people, including four suspected attackers, were arrested by Russian security services “while they were heading towards Ukraine”, said Vladimir Putin. The head of the Kremlin did not accuse the jihadist group either. Guest of the Grand Rendez-vous d’Europe 1/ CNews/ Les Echos, Éric Ciotti returned to this attack which “reminds us of the Islamist threat, which many tend to attenuate”. It represents, according to the president of the Republicans, “the heaviest threat weighing on our future”.
“Islamism aims to destroy us, to destroy everything that does not resemble this deadly ideology,” insists Eric Ciotti, comparing the attack on the Russian Crocus City Hall to the November 13 attacks in Paris. “It’s a desire to extinguish a Western civilization. There is this threat, it is present and we can clearly see that it is gaining ground.” According to the president of the Republicans, it is not taken seriously enough. “When there are tragedies, we respond to them, there is emotion, there is communication and then we move on to something else. However, Islamism does not move on, it advances its pawns masked or violent way, but it is there and progressing.”
“No risk does not exist”
Especially since France is also targeted by threats. In recent days, 122 schools in Hauts-de-France and around fifty in Île-de-France have received messages threatening attacks, via messages sent to the Digital Work Spaces (ENT) of middle and high schools. . A risk which could increase as the Paris Olympic Games approach, according to Éric Ciotti. “The period which opens with the Olympic Games of course reinforces the fact that our country can be a target since all the spotlights will be focused on it. We must be extraordinarily vigilant,” he insists, while ensuring confidence to “extremely efficient” intelligence services.
“But we must say with humility that zero risk does not exist and that we are not safe, contrary to what we may hear, from an operation that is planned from outside. We have this low-profile terrorism, these people, these lone wolves who are difficult to detect, but there could also be a planned large-scale attack. So vigilance must be there, I trust the services,” he concludes in microphone of the Grand Rendez-vous.