Putin Talks Tough on Terror as Security Is Heightened

"We will toughly and consistently continue to fight," Putin said in his New Year's address.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to achieve the “total destruction” of terrorists in a New Year’s address Tuesday, following two days of terror attacks in the city of Volgograd that killed 34 people.

“Dear friends, we bow our heads in front of the victims of the terrible acts of terror. I am sure we will toughly and consistently continue to fight against terrorists until their total destruction,” he said, from the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk, AFP reports.

The tough talk came as the Kremlin intensifies security in Volgograd, the site of the two attacks this week, and across the country. A regional police official told the Interfax news agency that authorities have boosted the number of security personnel in Volgograd to 5,200, including Interior Ministry troops, in a city of 1 million, the Associated Press reports.

The Health Ministry said Tuesday that three more people died from the bombing of a train station Sunday and a trolley bus a day later, raising the death toll to 34. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which have renewed security concerns ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia that begin Feb. 7.

[AFP]