Putin continues to spin concert hall attack toward Kyiv
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that the gunmen who killed 139 people at a suburban Moscow concert hall are “radical Islamists,” but he repeated his accusation that Ukraine could have played a role despite its strong denials.
Speaking in a meeting with government officials, Putin said the killings were carried out by extremists “whose ideology the Islamic world has been fighting for centuries.”
Putin, who declared over the weekend that the four attackers were arrested while trying to escape to Ukraine, said investigators haven’t determined who ordered the attack, but that it was necessary to find out “why the terrorists after committing their crime tried to flee to Ukraine and who was waiting for them there.”
The Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate claimed it carried out the attack, and U.S. intelligence said it had information confirming the group was responsible. French President Emmanuel Macron said France has intelligence pointing to “an IS entity” as responsible for the attack.
“We are seeing that the U.S., through various channels, is trying to convince its satellites and other countries of the world that, according to their intelligence, there is allegedly no Kyiv trace in the Moscow terror attack — that the bloody terrorist act was committed by followers of Islam, members of the Islamic State group,” Putin said during a meeting with top law enforcement officials.
He added “those who support the Kyiv regime don’t want to be accomplices in terror and sponsors of terrorism, but many questions remain.”
Putin went on to declare that Ukraine has sought to deflect attention from its battlefield setbacks by waging cross-border attacks on various Russian regions, adding a “bloody intimidation acts like the Moscow terror attack look like a logical part of this chain.”
Putin warned more attacks could follow, alleging possible Western involvement. He didn’t mention the warning about an imminent terror attack the U.S. confidentially shared with Moscow or the public two weeks before the raid. Three days before the attack, Putin denounced the March 7 U.S. Embassy notice urging Americans to avoid crowds in Moscow, including concerts, as an attempt to frighten Russians and “blackmail” the Kremlin ahead of the presidential election.
The four suspected attackers, all of them nationals of Tajikistan, were remanded by a Moscow court Sunday night with carrying out the attack and ordered to remain in custody pending official probe.
Russian media reported the four were tortured while being interrogated, and they showed signs of being severely beaten during their court appearance. Russian officials said all four pleaded guilty to the charges, which carry life punishment, but their condition raised questions about whether their statements might have been coerced.