Delivering the opening address to the meeting of the world’s business and political elite, Medvedev said that he had maintained his trip to demonstrate his and Russia’s defiance of the “terrorists” who killed 35 people.

“They expected their act would bring Russia to its knees. They expected their act would put us on the defensive. They expected and hoped the president of Russia would not come here, among other things of course,” he said.

“These are the criteria they chose to choose the time and place of this action. But they miscalculated,” he declared, during an address that began with a minute of silence for Monday’s Domodedovo Airport blast.

“Russia is aware of its responsibilities to its citizens and its responsibilities to the world community, and this is the reason that I’m speaking to you today from this rostrum,” he said.

Medvedev warned the executives and leaders gathered in the snowy Alpine resort: “Unfortunately no state in the world is immune to terrorism.”

“No-one is immune,” he said. “There are no universal recipes to combat that evil, but one thing can be said in a definite way, our success in countering this threat depends very much on our solidarity and concerted action.”