Worthy Christian News > World News > Putin Suggests Ukraine Involved In Moscow Shootings That Killed 133 People (Worthy News In-Depth)

Putin Suggests Ukraine Involved In Moscow Shootings That Killed 133 People (Worthy News In-Depth)

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

MOSCOW/KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested that Ukraine was involved in Friday’s shootings at a major concert hall near Moscow that killed at least 133 people, despite the Islamic State group, or ISIS, claiming responsibility for the massacre.

Putin told the nation that Russia believes it apprehended all four men who staged the attack at the Crocus City Hall after they were heading towards Ukraine, where they would be received, charges Kyiv denied.

Russian reports suggested the arrests happened in Bryansk, a region southwest of Moscow near the Russia-Ukraine border.

In televised remarks, Putin claimed that on the Ukrainian side, they were preparing to receive the men. “They tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border. A total of 11 people were detained,” he said as his nation plunged into mourning.

Ukraine’s presidential advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak, made clear that the Russian account of events bore no relation to reality, saying the wanted men were moving towards “blocked border crossings where there is active fighting and where every meter is saturated with Russian security forces.”

Putin’s comments came after the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, carried out the shootings at the Crocus City Hall, where thousands had gathered for a concert, the group said earlier.

The U.S. had warned of an imminent terrorist attack, Worthy News reported earlier, but Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly did not take the intelligence seriously.

DISMISSING WARNINGS

Putin dismissed these warnings as a Western provocation, the Russian state-controlled news outlet TASS reported on March 19. “All of this resembles outright blackmail and an intention to intimidate and destabilize our society,” Putin reportedly said at a Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) board meeting.

The attack took place three days later.

The White House said it had warned Russia earlier this month of plans for a potential attack in Moscow targeting “large gatherings.”

U.S. officials said Friday that the United States “collected intelligence” in March that Islamic State-Khorasan, known as ISIS-K, the branch of the group based in Afghanistan, had been planning an attack on Moscow.

American intelligence agencies have a “duty to warn” potential targets of dangers when they learn of them, though it wasn’t clear how much was shared with Moscow.

The United States had warned Iran of a possible attack ahead of twin bombings in January that killed scores and wounded hundreds of others at a memorial service for Iran’s former top general, Qassim Suleimani, who was killed by a U.S. drone strike four years before. As in Russia, ISIS-K claimed responsibility for that attack.

On March 7, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow warned that its personnel were “monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts.”

UKRAINE INVOLVED

The statement, which did not say anything about the extremists’ affiliation, warned Americans that an attack could happen in the next 48 hours.

John F. Kirby, a spokesman for President Joe Biden’s National Security Council, told reporters that the White House had “no indication at this time that Ukraine or Ukrainians were involved.”

Yet Dmitri Medvedev, a former Russian president who is now the deputy secretary of Russia’s national security council, was among the first to suggest late Friday that Ukraine had been involved in the attack.

Medvedev vowed that Russia would retaliate against those behind the attack. “If it’s determined these are terrorists of the Kyiv regime, it will be impossible to treat them and those who inspire them any differently,” he said, adding that those responsible for the violence would “be found and mercilessly destroyed, like terrorists. This includes official figures of the state committing such an evil act.”

Kyiv vehemently denied the accusations, saying Russia has in the past used violence at home as pivot points in its wars.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry referred to explosions in apartment buildings in Russia in 1999 that set off the second of the two post-Soviet wars in Russia’s Chechnya region.

A Russian security service defector later blamed his agency for planning the attacks to galvanize public support for renewed military action in Chechnya, something that Moscow vehemently denies.

APARTMENT BOMBINGS

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency and the presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, also referred in their statements to the apartment bombings as examples of the risk of Russia’s blaming Ukraine for the concert attack.

Ahead of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia accused Kyiv of blowing up the car of a leader of one of the Russian-controlled states in eastern Ukraine and of firing artillery at a chemical plant. Ukraine denied being involved in these attacks in either of those episodes.

As the extent of Friday’s massacre became clear, Putin declared that Sunday, 24 March, would be a national day of mourning.

Mourners already gathered in many public places across Russia and in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, including at the location of the Crocus City Hall attack itself.

People were seen bringing flowers and children’s toys to a makeshift memorial amid reports that children were among the many victims.

Witnesses recalled that assailants used automatic firearms and threw explosives, creating a blaze that caused the roof of the concert hall to collapse, at least in part.

It happened shortly before Russian progressive rock band Picnic was scheduled to perform a sold-out show for thousands at the venue on Friday, Russian officials said.