Medvedev urges international push against terrorism
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said today the attackers behind the deadly Moscow airport blast wanted to bring Russia "to its knees" and thwart his bid to court foreign investment.
But, he said, "they miscalculated".
Medvedev told government and corporate leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the attack "only strengthens our resolve to find an effective international protection against terror".
Giving the keynote speech to the forum, in the Swiss Alps, he said the attackers wanted to "bring Russia to its knees".
The bombing Monday killed 35 people and injured more than 100 at Moscow's biggest airport, and threatened to unsettle investors by underlining Russia's persistent security problems.
Medvedev enumerated reasons why investors should still come to his country, the world's largest by territory but whose economy has struggled under corruption and heavy reliance on oil and other natural resources.
"I'm convinced that democracy will continue to develop, thanks to economic modernisation," he said.
Medvedev acknowledged that some of the international business community's criticism of Russia was "well-deserved" but some, he said, was misdirected.
"We are willing to receive friendly advice what we don't need is lecturing. We should be working together," he said.
Medvedev also said the international community had no proof Iran was building nuclear weapons.
He said he spoke recently to Iran's president and encouraged him to demonstrate that his country's nuclear activities were peaceful.
Medvedev said "the international community so far has no information that Iran is building nuclear weapons".
Iran has been hit with four sets of UN sanctions over its nuclear program, which the Iranian government says is for civilian nuclear energy. The United States and its allies suspect it is seeking nuclear weapons. Russia is among six world powers that have tried to get Iran to open up its atomic program to international scrutiny.
