“I estimate that Greece will not have a problem”, noted the international expert Alexandros Despotopoulos.
The whole of Europe is on alert due to the fear of attacks , following the terrorist attack in Moscow, which was claimed by a branch of the Islamic State.
One country after another, they are stepping up security measures at airports and public places. After France and Italy announced that they are on high alert, other countries followed suit.
In Greece, “we have had measures in place since the war in Ukraine began. We have increased measures at the airport as well”, said the president of the Union of Police Officers of N/A Attica Giorgos Kalliakmanis.
“Lone wolves are worrying”
“I think that Greece does not have a problem,” noted the international expert Alexandros Despotopoulos. What worries them is the lone wolves and not so much ISIS, because they operate outside of ISIS, autonomously, but as a result they cannot be detected by the Secret Services. The security measures at the Olympic Games will be increased”, he emphasized, speaking to MEGA.
“Everything is converging that the attack was by ISIS. Putin wants to do two things. One is that he sees it as a good opportunity as he prepares an attack on Ukraine. It is heard in Moscow that we will have a second conscription. The second is that he does not want to open a second front. I don't think he would want to open a second front and he will avoid it.
ISIS has hit Russia several times because it was involved in the fight against the Islamic State.
At maximum level the alarm in France
In France the authorities increased to highest level the alert for a terrorist threat. Which automatically means taking extraordinary security measures, such as increased patrols by the armed forces in public places, including railway stations, airports and religious places as their main concern is the Olympics.
The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, said that the Islamic State jihadist organization from the Khorasan region has attempted to commit several terrorist acts in the country in recent months. “This branch involved in the attack on Russia made many attempts on our own soil as well. That is why, as a preventive measure, but with reliable and unshakable evidence, we decided to increase the alarm limit, which we had lowered at the beginning of the year,” he noted characteristically.
The French president also said that the French security services recently proposed to their Russian counterparts, as well as to those of other states in the region, a “close cooperation” in the fight against terrorism. He also said that French services had information that could be useful to Russian security services.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, following a meeting with Emmanuel Macron and senior security and defense officials, wrote in a post on X that the decision, which comes months before Paris hosts the Olympics, was made “in the wake of taking responsibility for the attack on Moscow by the Islamic State and in the shadow of the threats weighing on our country”.
À la suite de l'attentat de Moscow, a Council of Defense and National Security met this evening at the Elysée by the President of the Republic. qui pèsent sur notre pays, nous avons décidé de…
— Gabriel Attal (@GabrielAttal) March 24, 2024
Intensification of controls in Italy
In Italy, after a special meeting scheduled for Monday, the interior ministry said police were on “vigilance” ahead of the Catholic Easter next week.
The Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piadentossi, presided over a meeting of the National Commission for Public Order and Security, in which “a careful analysis was made of the terrorist attack in Moscow, with the aim of updating the anti-terrorist prevention measures already in place in Italy”.
According to a related press release, “the importance of continuing careful monitoring activity, also online, by police forces and intelligence services to identify possible danger situations in the national territory was stressed”.
The Italian the Ministry of the Interior also notes that “in view of the upcoming (Catholic) Easter holidays, the intensification of surveillance and control activities by the Police Forces has been ordered”.
In other countries
In Germany, interior ministry spokesman Cornelius Funke said the threat from Islamic extremists “remains intense” but authorities' risk assessment had not changed until moment. However, the Minister of the Interior, Nancy Fesser, noted that the biggest Islamist threat in Germany at the moment comes from the offshoot of ISIS (IS-K or ISPK), which struck in Moscow. It is the same branch that at Christmas planned a terrorist attack on a cathedral in Cologne, but authorities foiled it.
In Serbia, secret police officers were seen with machine guns patrolling the streets of Belgrade at the weekend. President Aleksandar Vucic said they and plainclothes police officers would monitor sports venues and shopping malls in the capital. The measure was criticized by Vucic's opponents as unnecessary and intended to scare the population.
source: In.gr
