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 "We will find them anywhere on the planet and punish them," Putin
said at a somber Kremlin meeting broadcast on Tuesday. The FSB
security service swiftly announced a $50 million bounty on the
bombers.
Until now, Russia had played down assertions from Western countries
that the Oct. 31 crash was the work of terrorists, saying it was
important to let the official investigation run its course.
But four days after Islamist gunmen and bombers killed at least 129
people in Paris, Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the FSB, told a
late night meeting that traces of foreign-made explosive had been
found on fragments of the downed plane and on passengers' personal
belongings.
"According to an analysis by our specialists, a homemade bomb
containing up to 1 kilogram of TNT detonated during the flight,
causing the plane to break up in mid air, which explains why parts
of the fuselage were spread over such a large distance," said
Bortnikov at the meeting in footage released by the Kremlin.
 "We can unequivocally say it was a terrorist act," he said.
Egyptian authorities have detained two employees of Sharm al-Sheikh
airport for questioning in connection with the downing of the
Russian jet, two security officials and an airport employee said on
Tuesday.
"Seventeen people are being held, two of them are suspected of
helping whoever planted the bomb on the plane at Sharm al-Sheikh
airport," said one of the security officials who both declined to be
named.
The Airbus A321, operated by Metrojet, had been returning Russian
holiday makers from Sharm al-Sheikh in Egypt to St Petersburg when
it broke up over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all on board. A group
affiliated with Islamic State claimed responsibility, but until
Tuesday Russia had said terrorism was just one possible scenario.
RETRIBUTION
Putin, wearing a dark suit, presided over a minute of silence in
memory of the victims at the Kremlin meeting, before telling
security and military chiefs the incident was one of the bloodiest
crimes in modern Russian history and ordering the air force to
intensify its air strikes in Syria in response.
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"Our air force's military work in Syria must not simply be
continued," he said. "It must be intensified in such a way that the
criminals understand that retribution is inevitable."
Putin said he expected military chiefs to present him with specific
proposals on how Russia could ramp up its campaign. His spokesman,
Dmitry Peskov, told reporters Putin was expected to visit the
defense ministry later on Tuesday.
A senior French government source said Russia had already launched
air strikes against the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa in
northern Syria on Tuesday, a sign, the source said, that Russia was
becoming more concerned about the threat posed by IS.
Russia began air strikes in Syria at the end of September. It has
always said its main target is Islamic State, but most of its bombs
in the past hit territory held by other groups opposed to its ally,
President Bashar al-Assad.
Putin, in language reminiscent of how he talked about Chechen
militants during a war when he came to power 15 years ago, ordered
the secret services to hunt down those responsible.
"We must do this without any statute of limitations and we must find
out all their names," he said, invoking Russia's right to self
defense under the United Nations charter.
"Anyone who tries to help the criminals should know that the
consequences for trying to shelter them will lie completely on their
shoulders."
(Additional reporting by Maria Kiselyova, Vladimir Soldatkin and
Daria Korsunksya in Moscow; Editing by Christian Lowe and Peter
Graff)
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