Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted the obvious: a blast of a ‘needle bomb’ in St. Petersburg on Wednesday evening in a supermarket is a “terrorist act”. The head of state ordered Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to act within the law when detaining criminals, but in the situation of a threat to the lives of law enforcement officers, no one should be captured but “eliminated on spot”.

According to the latest information, the December 27  (18:55 LT) blast at a supermarket in St. Petersburg’s Kondratyevsky avenue caused injuries to 13 people, among them a pregnant women, eight of them remain in hospitals. An explosive device stuffed with striking metal elements – a ‘needle-bomb’ – detonated in a supermarket at a ground floor of the shopping mall in self-storage lockers at the entrance.

The images  of a presumed terrorist taken by CCTV have been released shortly after the blast by Russian counter-terrorism committee. Petersburg media swiftly released an image of a man with “Oriental” or “Non-Slavic” features as a major suspect. According to the investigation practices it is kept secret, and very few details are revealed to public.