Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated on Wednesday that it was extremely improbable that Islamic State had the capability to attack a concert hall in Moscow last Friday, which resulted in the deaths of at least 143 people.
Zakharova reiterated Moscow’s claims, which it has yet to substantiate, that the attack on the Crocus City Hall, the deadliest Russia has endured in two decades, was orchestrated by Ukraine.
Zakharova’s Claims and Rising Casualty Counts
The Emergencies Ministry of Russia released a list of names indicating that 143 people were killed in the mass shooting that occurred last Friday. Prior official tally counts had estimated 139 fatalities.
The atrocity has been attributed to Islamic State, and US officials assert that intelligence indicates it was executed by Islamic State Khorasan, the network’s branch in Afghanistan. Ukraine has disputed responsibility for the attack on multiple occasions.
However, Zakharova argued that the West hastily ascribed responsibility to Islamic State, or ISIS, in order to divert attention away from Ukraine and the Western governments that provide support to Kiev.
“In order to ward off suspicions from the collective West, they urgently needed to come up with something, so they resorted to ISIS, pulled an ace out of their sleeve, and literally a few hours after the terrorist attack, the Anglo-Saxon media began disseminating precisely these versions,” according to her.
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Unraveling the Moscow Assault Allegations
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, has stated that Islamist militants were responsible for the assault, but has suggested that Kyiv may have been involved and that the attack was advantageous to Ukraine.
According to him, the gunmen were able to escape across the border through a “window” created by an opponent on the Ukrainian side, prior to their apprehension in western Russia on Friday night.
Alexander Lukashenko, the leader of Belarus, stated on Tuesday that the gunmen initially intended to enter his country but turned around and headed towards Ukraine when they realized that borders into Belarus had been secured.
Tuesday, the director of the Russian security agency FSB stated that he believed the United States, Britain, and Ukraine were all implicated in the attack on Moscow.
In response, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron stated on the social media platform X, “Russia’s allegations regarding the Crocus City Hall attack concerning the West and Ukraine are completely baseless.”
Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, stated at a security conference in Kyiv that he believed Russian authorities were aware of significant attack preparations as early as mid-February.
As reported by Ukrainian media, Budanov stated that authorities refrained from commenting on the attack for one of two reasons: either they grossly underestimated the magnitude of the assault, or they wished to assign responsibility to Ukraine in order to expedite the dismissal of officials.
A US official stated following the shooting that Washington had issued a warning to Moscow in recent weeks regarding the potential for an attack.
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