Just days after a deadly attack that claimed the lives of at least 139 people in the heart of Moscow, Russia is seeking to hold Ukraine and the Western countries supporting it responsible for the assault on a concert hall, despite ISIS claiming responsibility for the massacre. Russian government investigators stated today, Wednesday, that they will consider a request from parliamentary deputies to investigate what they called the "organization, funding, and execution of terrorist acts" against Russia by the United States and other Western countries.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron wrote on the social media platform "X" that "Russia's claims regarding the West and Ukraine in the attack on Crocus City Hall are pure nonsense." Kremlin security agencies are trying to explain how armed individuals managed on Friday to carry out the worst attack Russia has seen in over two decades. While President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that "extremists" perpetrated the assault, he indicated that they have ties to Ukraine, which has been under a Russian military operation for the past two years.
Federal Security Service (FSB) chief Alexander Bortnikov stated on Tuesday that while the identities of those who "ordered" the attack have not been established, its executors were headed to Ukraine where they would receive a "hero's welcome." Russian news agencies quoted Bortnikov as saying, "We believe that the operation was prepared by extremists and, of course, facilitated by Western intelligence agencies, with Ukrainian intelligence itself having a direct connection to it."
Ukraine strongly rejected the accusations from Moscow regarding its involvement in the attack, and a senior aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky considered that the Kremlin is attempting to cover up its intelligence failures. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Russia's closest international ally, appeared to undermine the Kremlin's main narrative by announcing that the attackers had attempted to enter his country before heading to Ukraine. He said, "They realized that they could not enter Belarus at all. Therefore, they turned back and headed to a part of the border between Russia and Ukraine."
The Kremlin expressed confidence in the country's strong security forces amid questions about how they failed to thwart the attack despite warnings that had reached them both publicly and privately from the United States. ISIS has repeatedly confirmed responsibility since Friday, and media channels linked to it released violent footage of the attackers inside the scene of the attack.
French President Emmanuel Macron stated on Monday that Paris has information confirming that extremists are behind the assault, warning Russia against exploiting it to blame Ukraine. Furthermore, the Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, Farhan Haq, stated that the UN does not have information to verify or confirm the head of the Russian FSB's claim that Ukraine is behind the Crocus terrorist attack in Moscow. Haq said at a press conference on Tuesday, "We do not have information to verify that or confirm it."
The concert hall massacre dealt a significant blow to Putin just over a week after he announced his victory in a new term following elections he ran unopposed, which the Kremlin considered an expression of support for its military operation in Ukraine. For the first time on Monday, Putin stated that "extremists" are behind last week's attack, but he still sought to link it to Kyiv. While he provided no evidence, Putin associated the attack on the "Crocus City Hall" with a series of incursions into Russian territory carried out by Ukrainian-supporting groups, stating that all of these efforts fall within aims to "spread panic in our society."
Meanwhile, a Moscow court decided on Tuesday to imprison the eighth suspect in the attack. Moscow had previously announced the arrest of 11 individuals connected to the assault, during which masked gunmen entered Crocus City Hall, opened fire on attendees, and set fire to the building. The court's press service stated that the final suspect, who has been remanded in custody, is from Kyrgyzstan. Officials noted that orders have been issued to keep him detained until at least May 22, without specifying details of the charges against him. The four individuals charged with carrying out the attack are from Tajikistan. Additionally, terrorism-related charges have been brought against three other suspects, including at least one Russian citizen.
A Turkish official noted on Tuesday that two suspects from Tajikistan traveled "freely between Russia and Turkey" prior to the attack. He added that they stayed in Turkey shortly before the attack and entered Russia on the same flight from Istanbul.
