According to experts, everything points to the fact that the Islamic State (also known as Daesh or ISIS), apparently its Afghan branch ISIS-K, was behind the terrorist attack on the concert hall in Krasnogorsk, Russia, near Moscow.
The terrorist organization, which operates in many Muslim countries, claimed responsibility for the attack on Friday and described it as the most brutal in recent years.
Still, Moscow is trying to link the attack, which killed at least 133 people, to the government in Kiev in particular, and has even ordered the media to emphasize the alleged Ukrainian footprint.
What Putin says and why
Since Friday, Ukrainian officials have emphasized that they had nothing to do with the attack. On the contrary, he blames the Russian secret service FSB for wanting to use the attack to justify a major new mobilization and massive attacks on Ukraine.
We talked to Polish expert Kacper Rekawek from the European Center for Combating Terrorism in The Hague about which of the versions is the most likely.
Russian President Vladimir Putin did not talk about jihadism in a speech that, according to Russian media, he postponed several times and which came more than nineteen hours after the attack. Instead, he linked the Crocus City Hall attack to Ukraine, where the terrorists allegedly wanted to flee.
“All four direct perpetrators of the terrorist attack have been found and arrested. They tried to hide and move towards Ukraine, where a place was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side where they could cross the state border,” Putin claimed, without providing any evidence.
The FSB had previously spoken about this version: it announced that the terrorists allegedly had contacts in Ukraine. How, though
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Tags: Putin links terrorist attack Ukraine Experts explain Kremlins version fit
