Moscow, 8 July: Sergey Markov, the director of the Political Studies Institute, believes that the series of explosions in London were carried out by radical Islamists and were timed to coordinate with the G8 summit in Scotland.

"I am certain that the explosions in London were organized by a network of Islamist terrorist organizations and they were timed to coincide with the Gleneagles G8 summit," Markov told Interfax on Thursday [7 July]. "The left-wing radical organizations are another group opposing globalization, but they are more inclined to conduct their own kind of antiglobalist carnivals and fight the forces of law and order," the expert said. [Passage omitted: further speculation in this vein]

Markov compared the terrorist attacks in London to the tragedies in New York and Beslan and suggested that "this will lead to increasingly severe actions in the areas of security". "Therefore, in the near future, the civilized world will have to resolve the problem of the balance between security and civil liberties. And currently, in my view, the principle of security is more important than the principle of individual freedom," Markov said. In this context, he said, "revealingly, two events have occurred at the same time - the terrorist attack in London and the fact that a journalist has been arrested in the USA for refusing to reveal her source of information".

"It is completely clear that any capital city in the world cannot ignore the possibility of similar explosions taking place, and it is relevant to point out that the next G8 summit will be held in Russia next year," Markov noted.

For his part, expert on radical Islam Georgiy Engelgardt believes that the terrorist attack on London, if the "Islamist trail" is confirmed, may force Britain to reconsider its attitude to Islamist organizations.

"For decades now Great Britain has allowed representatives of those Islamist organizations, which are not allowed to operate in other European countries, the opportunity to operate on its territory. In exchange for this Britain demanded from the Muslims a guarantee of security for its citizens," Engelgardt told Interfax's correspondent on Thursday [7 July].

However, if the Islamist factor in the events in London is confirmed, then, in his opinion, Britain "will be forced to rethink its relationship with Islamists". In Engelgardt's view, the London terrorist attack "clearly bears the hallmarks of radical Islam".

"Islamists often employ serial attacks and the events in London are clearly of the same order as the terrorist attacks in New York and Madrid, the simultaneous explosions of planes in the sky over Russia in summer last year and other major terrorist attacks of recent years," the expert explained.

In addition he added that the type of terrorist attack carried out in London was not typical of those carried out by the IRA, who always had the aim of making their political demands known and not of causing injuries, and so they gave advance warning of imminent attacks.

The series of explosions in London is a continuation of the series of major terrorist attacks that began in New York and continued in Madrid, member of the Council for Foreign and Defence Policy Armen Oganesyan believes.

"It is clear that this bears a well-known signature, which is not that of the IRA whose actions London became used to a long time ago. Most likely, it is the same forces who carried out the attacks of 11 September in New York and 11 March in Madrid," the expert told Interfax.

In his opinion, one of the reasons international terrorists have chosen the British capital for their latest attack is London's position on Iraq. "I think that the United Kingdom's reckless support for US policy, including that on Iraq, has a significant influence here," Oganesyan noted.

"The Londoners' hope that because of their well-known tolerance international terrorists would spare the British capital has been proved wrong. In this way a new front of terrorist activity has been opened in the very heart of Europe," he said.