Russia Terrorist Attack: St. Petersburg Bombing Gets Little World Sympathy, Country's Media Says

Russian media outlets Tuesday lashed out at other countries for showing a lack of empathy for the St. Petersburg subway bombing. Unlike the aftermath of last month’s London terrorist attack, neither the Eiffel Tower in Paris nor the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin paid tribute to the victims.

Fourteen people were killed and 49 injured when an explosive device went off inside a train car between stops on St. Petersburg’s subway line. A second device was found at the Ploshchad Vosstania Metro station and disarmed by police.

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A number of world leaders sent their condolences, and U.S. President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin to express his feelings and offer support.

RT noted no landmark was lit in Russia’s national colors although Tel Aviv City Hall did light itself in the colors of Russia’s flag. A spokesman for the Berlin Senate said the Brandenburg Gate wasn’t lit because St. Petersburg is not a partner city with Berlin, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported.

Sputnick Deutschland reported, however, the Berlin suburb of Mitte, where the Brandenburg Gate actually is situated, is twinned with the Petrogradsky District of St. Petersburg.

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Russian security expert Mark Galeotti wrote in the Moscow Times Tuesday the lack of international sympathy plays into the Kremlin narrative that the rest of the world is “Russophobic” and “delights in seeing woes of every kind besetting Russia.”

To counter Moscow’s tale, “Europe should try and show Russia as much love as it can. Tough love, maybe, but love nonetheless. Mourn their losses, celebrate their cultural triumphs. Praise the Russians when they do something right (because sometimes they do, you know). Ban their dirty-money oligarchs and their paranoid-patriot lawmakers, but welcome their students, tourists, artists and entrepreneurs,” Galeotti suggested.

There have been other instances when the Brandenburg Gate did not mark a terrorist attack, including the 2016 Bastille Day attack in Nice France and the white nationalist attack on a Quebec mosque in January.

“It is like this each time that we must explain what the criteria are. We understand this, but the criteria are chosen after careful consideration,” a city spokesperson told broadcaster rbb last week.

Social media users took exception to the lack of sympathy, some saying a double standard was being applied, similar to the way the West largely ignores terrorist attacks in the Muslim world, some of which have killed hundreds of civilians.

When it comes to Russia, the country’s international moves, including its seizure of the Crimea from Ukraine and meddling in democratic elections in the U.S. and Western Europe may have played a role.

Terrorism attacks in Russia are nothing new. The country has a long history of deadly attacks, and its response, often knee-jerk repression of minority groups, have made the outside world less sympathetic.

Former Russian chess champion Garry Kasparov intimated the Russian government was behind Monday’s attack.