In the wake of the explosions, Pushkov, who is a key member of Putin’s United Russia party, took a swipe at NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on his Twitter account. The Russian official accused the NATO chief of allowing “people to blow themselves up from right under his nose” while NATO was “combatting the imaginary Russian threat.”
An hour later Pushkov returned to Twitter to express his condolences to the families of the victims and once again underlined that “Europe should realize where this evil threat is coming from and unite forces with Russia.”
The NATO office in Brussels is halfway between the airport and the Maelbeek metro station where the blasts occurred, within a five-mile radius of both.
Russia’s aerial campaign in Syria was widely referred to as one against “terror” and “extremist” groups by Russian officials, despite Western governments estimating that the majority of attacks were not hitting the most powerful extremist group in the country—Islamic State.
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