On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova expressed significant doubt, stating it was “incredibly difficult to accept” the possibility that Islamic State possessed the capability to carry out an attack on a Moscow concert hall last Friday, resulting in the tragic loss of at least 143 lives.
Zakharova reiterated Moscow’s claims, which remain unsupported by evidence, that Ukraine was responsible for the assault on Crocus City Hall, marking the deadliest incident Russia has faced in two decades.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry recently released an updated report, revealing that 143 individuals lost their lives in the previous week’s mass shooting. Previous official estimates had indicated a death toll of 139.
The Islamic State has admitted to orchestrating the massacre, as per U.S. authorities who possess information indicating the act was executed by the organization’s Afghan affiliate, known as Islamic State Khorasan. Ukraine has consistently refuted any involvement in the assault.
Zakharova stated that the West hastily attributed responsibility to Islamic State, or ISIS, in an attempt to divert attention away from Ukraine and the Western governments backing Kyiv.
To counter suspicions from the Western world, they felt compelled to provide a solution quickly. They decided to use ISIS as a scapegoat, utilizing a well-planned strategy. Within just a few hours after the terrorist attack, the Anglo-Saxon media began promoting these specific narratives, as mentioned by her.
Russian President Vladimir Putin claims the assault was orchestrated by Islamic extremists. He speculates that this incident could be advantageous for Ukraine and even implies that the nation’s capital, Kyiv, might have been involved in the process.
He claimed that an individual from the Ukrainian side had arranged a “pathway” for the assailants to flee towards the border, prior to their capture in western Russia on Friday evening.
On Tuesday, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko mentioned that the armed individuals initially aimed to enter his country. However, they changed their course and headed towards Ukraine upon discovering that the borders into Belarus had been closed.
On Tuesday, the head of Russia’s FSB security agency expressed his belief that Ukraine, in collaboration with the United States and Britain, played a role in the Moscow incident.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron addressed the issue on social media platform X, stating, “Russia’s assertions regarding the West and Ukraine concerning the Crocus City Hall attack are entirely baseless.”
Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, shared during a security conference in Kyiv that he believes Russian authorities had been aware of the planning for a significant attack since at least mid-February.
Budanov, as mentioned in Ukrainian news outlets, stated that authorities remained silent for two possible reasons: either they undervalued the attack’s magnitude, or they aimed to accuse Ukraine and proceed with the dismissal of officials. Following the shooting incident, a U.S. official revealed that Washington had alerted Moscow in recent weeks about the potential for an assault.
