Putin is using massacre as ‘smokescreen’, Hunt warns
Chancellor rubbishes claims Kyiv was involved in terror attack
BRITAIN yesterday accused Vladimir Putin of using a ‘smokescreen of propaganda to defend an utterly evil invasion’ after he suggested Ukraine was behind the Moscow terrorist attack.
The Russian president said four terrorists who opened fire at a concert on Friday, killing at least 137 spectators, were captured heading for Ukraine where they had a ‘window to cross the border’.
This is despite Islamic State (IS) having already claimed responsibility for the atrocity, the worst in Russia for two decades.
Yesterday IS released a 90-second bodycam video taken by the killers as they carried out their massacre while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is great).
Shots were fired at visitors in the foyer of Crocus City Hall before the gunmen entered the auditorium and later set the building on fire. Russian authorities said at least three children were among the 137 dead, with the numbers expected to rise as others were gravely injured.
Putin was silent for a whole day before he made a statement saying the gunmen were apprehended ‘travelling towards Ukraine where, according to preliminary information, they had a window to cross the border’. Yesterday he lit a candle in a church at his residence of Novo-Ogaryovo in memory of all the victims.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told Sky News: ‘I think we have very little confidence in anything the Russian government says. They are creating a smokescreen of propaganda to defend an utterly evil invasion of Ukraine. ‘That doesn’t mean that it’s not a tragedy when innocent people lose their lives, when you have horrible bombings. But I take what the Russian government says with an enormous pinch of salt.’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin was more concerned about pinning the attack on Kyiv than reassuring his own citizens.
Russian state media showed footage of at least three suspects, who are blindfolded and handcuffed, being taken in for investigation over the attack. Earlier, Moscow-aligned Telegram channels appeared to show their arrests, with one man apparently confessing to the killings.
US intelligence sources said a branch of IS known as Islamic State Khorasan Province is most likely to be responsible. Two of the gunmen reportedly appeared at a Moscow district court yesterday. One of the suspects was led blindfolded into the courtroom. When his blindfold was removed, a black eye was visible.
‘Little confidence in what Russia says’