Although ISIS Khorasan officially claimed responsibility for the attack that killed 139 people in a concert hall in Moscow, voices within the Russian administration and unofficial platforms continue to accuse Ukraine of being behind the planning of that operation in the midst of the war that has been going on between them since February 2022. .
The latest of these accusations was what the Secretary-General of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said that Ukraine was behind the “Crocus” attack. He said in response to a question about whether Kiev or ISIS was behind the attack: “Of course, Ukraine.”
Patrushev’s speech, which spoke openly about a Ukrainian role in the attack, coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s indication that the attack was carried out by Islamic extremists, but that it was in Ukraine’s interest and that Kiev may have played a role in its implementation.
Speaking to Sky News Arabia, Russian political observers and analysts spoke about the reasons that prompted official and unofficial voices in Russia to insist on accusing Kiev of being behind the bloodiest attack in the country in decades, considering that this comes based on their preliminary investigations that revealed the attempt of the accused. Fleeing into Ukrainian territory, in addition to previous statements by Ukrainian officials vowing to carry out specific operations inside Russia.
A day after the Moscow attack, in which the Russian authorities pointed the finger at Kiev and threatened to respond, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that its forces launched expanded, high-precision missile strikes in Ukraine.
Putin confirmed that Russia knows the identity of the perpetrators of the “Crocus” attack, but is interested in knowing who ordered its implementation.
Immediately after the incident, the Russian President said that “all the direct perpetrators of the terrorist attack were found… and they tried to hide, heading towards Ukraine.”
Putin pointed out that 11 people were arrested, including four armed men, adding, “They tried to hide and head towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, there was a window prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border.”
For her part, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the United States is trying to save Ukraine from involvement in the bloody attack in Moscow, by blaming the “ISIS” organization, which is banned in her country, pointing to a number of factors that indicate “directly and indirectly” that… The involvement of the American authorities in what they described as “sponsoring Ukrainian terrorism.”
* The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman added in an article to the Russian Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, “The American political engineers have surrounded themselves with their stories that the Crocus attack was carried out by the terrorist group ISIS, and from here the United States is using the ‘scarecrow’ of ISIS to cover up its actions in Kiev,” following up: “Question for the White House: Are you sure it is ISIS? Can you think about it again?”
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, also accused Kiev of being behind the incident, saying on his channel on the Telegram application that “the terrorists of the Kiev regime must be found and eliminated, including officials, if it turns out that they were behind the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall in Moscow.” “.
In addition, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov avoided commenting on ISIS’s statement regarding its discovery of the terrorist attack, stressing that he would not comment before the investigations conducted by the official authorities were completed, adding: “Investigations are ongoing. A coherent narrative has not yet been issued. We are only talking about preliminary data.” .
On the other hand, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky denounced the attempt by “Putin and his aides” to blame Ukraine for the Moscow attack, saying in a video interview on his account on the “X” website that these Russian accusations come “to place blame on others.”
Russia novel
In turn, the director of research at the Russian International Affairs Council, Andrei Kortunov, said that the international reaction to the terrorist attack in Moscow was somewhat expected, considering that “it is important for the West to place all the blame on ISIS in order to remove any possible questions about possible fingers.” “For Ukraine in the crime.”
“If strong, irrefutable evidence of Kiev’s involvement in the crime is not presented, the ‘ISIS did it’ narrative favored by Western media will continue to prevail,” Kortunov added.
The Russian “TASS” agency quoted a source in the “special services” as saying that the Russian special services had indeed received information from the United States regarding a terrorist plot, but “that information was of a general nature without any specific details.”
From Moscow, the Russian researcher and expert in international relations, Timur Dowidar, said in an interview with “Sky News Arabia” website, that the Russian administration’s view on the security aspect is that the accused in the incident are linked to groups in Ukraine, whether official or unofficial, as the plan The group carrying out the attack included a withdrawal towards Ukrainian territory to escape pursuit by Russian security forces.
Dowidar added, “The Ukrainian side prepared for the accused a safe exit from Russia towards Kiev, especially since the distance is not far, which does not exceed 600 km from the site of the attack into Ukrainian territory. Therefore, this conclusion led to accusing Ukraine of tampering with Russian security, and therefore this story is convincing.” Official and unofficial circles.
“Services bought and sold”
The Russian expert in international relations believes that although ISIS claimed responsibility for the incident, many Russian voices view this group as “its services are bought and sold, and there may be Ukrainian hands behind their push to carry out this operation,” according to him.
Regarding the potential repercussions resulting from such an accusation against Ukraine, Dowidar said, “Any harm to Russia will have repercussions directed against Ukraine and the West, and those repercussions will be represented by an increase in escalation on Ukrainian territory, and an impact on the course of negotiations to end this war.”
5 reasons for the Russian accusation
In turn, the researcher and specialist in Russian affairs, Samir Ayoub, believes in statements to the “Sky News Arabia” website that at the Russian level, Moscow has not been certain of Kiev’s participation in planning the bloody attack that occurred two days ago, but most Russian officials, including Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev issued a warning that if Ukraine’s involvement in this operation is proven, the Russian response will be “firm and strong.”
Ayoub identified a number of reasons behind Russian accusations that Ukraine was involved in this operation, including:
From the Russian point of view, the signals do not come out of nowhere because there are many facts on the ground that hint at the possibility of Ukraine participating in this operation, if only at the official level. Some Ukrainian extremist groups may have contributed and assisted the perpetrators of the attack.
Ukrainian intelligence has the full ability to recruit many agents who may be in ISIS or any other organizations and may be Russian citizens, which is called the Foreign Legion, which is currently present on Ukrainian territory, including terrorists from Georgia and Central Asian countries.
The perpetrators of the criminal operation headed directly to a district close to the Ukrainian border, and it appears that they had information that could enable them to head into Ukraine.
The method of carrying out the operation does not resemble the methods by which ISIS carries out its operations, which are essentially suicidal, especially since the operations of ISIS members often end with either the killing or suicide of the perpetrators while carrying explosive belts with them, in order to avoid obtaining information from them if they fall into the hands of the security services.
According to preliminary information, those who carried out the operation were from outside Russia, but they have not mentioned any parties or organizations yet. Rather, they carried out this in exchange for a sum of money, and this may apply to Ukrainian intelligence.
Also, during the recent period, there were calls from Ukraine to attack Russian citizens, including the head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kirill Budanov, who explicitly said that Russian citizens must be killed wherever they are, whether inside or outside Russia, and vowed to implement this. This indicates that the security services in Ukraine may be I worked to facilitate these processes.
The accusation of carrying out the operation was quickly attributed to ISIS instead of Ukraine, even before the official announcement by ISIS Khorasan.
“Harsh” response
The researcher specializing in Russian affairs stressed that if Russia confirms, after investigating the accused, that Ukraine was involved in the attack, it will have a “harsh response.”
He pointed out that Russian President Putin confirmed that everyone involved in this operation would be punished, regardless of the party that carried it out or his whereabouts.
“Ayoub” indicated that the response may be to announce a change in the strategy of military operations in Ukraine from being a special operation to declaring a war on terrorism, which may include declaring that the Kiev regime is a “terrorist regime” that must be punished, and thus this includes broader military operations.
According to the political researcher, it is also possible to direct precise strikes inside Ukrainian territory, and an assassination attempt may be made against senior leaders in Ukraine depending on their relationship to this operation, continuing: “Therefore, we see the Western fear of a Russian reaction and adherence to the accusation that ISIS carried out the operation, but in my estimation, Russia is awaiting the results of the official investigation.” “With the accused, you will accordingly respond appropriately.”
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