Lukashenko undermines Putin on Moscow terror attackers’ alleged Ukraine links
THE Crocus City Hall terrorist attackers tried to flee to Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko said in a statement undermining Vladimir Putin.
The Belarusian dictator’s remarks contradict claims by the Kremlin and top Russian security officials that the attackers were backed by Ukraine and tried to escape there as part of a pre-arranged plan.
Speaking to Belarusian media, Mr Lukashenko said he closed the border with Russia following a personal request from Mr Putin in the aftermath of the atrocity.
“He asked me, ‘will you help me close [the Russian-belarusian border]?’” Lukashenko said in remarks carried by the official Belta news agency. “‘I will. We’re doing everything’. That was the conversation.”
“That’s why they turned around and went toward the Ukrainian-russian section of the border.”
On Monday evening, Putin said in televised remarks that Islamist radicals had carried out the attack but that it appeared to have been orchestrated by Ukraine. He has insisted that the attackers intended to cross into Ukraine after their Moscow rampage.
Terrorists gunned down at least 139 people at the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow on Friday night.
The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack – the worst in Russia for 20 years. Four suspects were detained in Bryansk region, which borders both Ukraine and Belarus, several hours later.
The Russian-belarusian border is usually relatively loosely policed in accordance with a union-state agreement between the two countries.
The Bloomberg News agency reported yesterday that four sources close to the Kremlin said the government knows there is no evidence of involvement by Ukraine. One person told the agency that Mr Putin was at a meeting where officials agreed Ukraine was not linked to the attack but that the president is determined to use the unproven claim to rally support for the war. The Telegraph could not immediately confirm the report.
Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the FSB, Russia’s internal security agency, said yesterday that Britain, the United States, and Ukraine were all linked to the attack. Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s security council, said “of course Ukraine” when asked who he believed was responsible.
Ukraine has rejected allegations that it was involved and suggested Russia orchestrated it as a false-flag attack. The US and France have said Islamic State organised the attack and acted alone.
His comments came as Russian authorities arrested an eighth man in connection with the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack. Alisher Kasimov, a Russian citizen born in Kyrgyzstan, is accused of renting a flat to the attackers, Russian media reported. He said in court yesterday morning he did not know of their plans.