MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd December, 2020) The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) should ramp up its role in the fight against terrorism in light of the recent terror attacks in Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the OSCE Ministerial Council on Thursday.
"The strikingly brutal terror attacks in France and Vienna confirm the need to boost the role of the OSCE in the fight against terrorism. Additional effort is also required to counter the drug threat, organized crime and cybercrime," Lavrov said.
Europe has recently been swept by a wave of violent attacks. Among them, French history teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded on October 16 near the outskirts of Paris by an 18-year-old refugee of Chechen origin. The attack was reportedly motivated by the teacher showing caricatures depicting Islamic prophet Muhammad to his students as part of freedom of speech discussion. Nearly two weeks later, a 21-year-old Tunisian male, who had arrived in France earlier that month through Lampedusa, stabbed three people to death in the Notre-Dame church in Nice. Then, on November 2, four people were killed and 22 others injured in multiple shootings in Vienna. The gunman was identified as an Austrian native of ethnic Albanian descent and a supporter of the Islamic State terrorist organization (banned in Russia).
