Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, expressed scepticism on Wednesday regarding the Islamic State’s ability to orchestrate an attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall last Friday, an incident that resulted in at least 143 fatalities.
Zakharova reiterated Russia’s unproven claims that Ukraine was the perpetrator behind the Crocus City Hall attack, marking it as Russia’s most deadly incident in two decades.
Following the tragedy, Russia’s Emergencies Ministry disclosed a list naming 143 victims, updating the initial death count from 139.
While Islamic State has assumed responsibility for the bloodshed, U.S. officials have indicated intelligence pointing to the involvement of the group’s Afghan branch, Islamic State Khorasan. Ukraine has consistently refuted any involvement in the attack.
Zakharova criticized the West for prematurely attributing the massacre to the Islamic State, alleging it served as a distraction from Ukraine and its Western allies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin labelled the assailants as Islamist militants, suggesting Ukraine’s indirect involvement and alleging a prearranged escape route for the attackers into Ukraine, thwarted by their capture in western Russia on Friday evening.
Conversely, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko disclosed that the assailants initially attempted to flee to Belarus, diverting towards Ukraine upon realizing the border was secured.
The FSB’s director implicated Ukraine, the United States, and Britain in the Moscow assault on Tuesday.
In response to X, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron dismissed Russia’s allegations as baseless.
Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, proposed at a Kyiv security conference that Russian officials had been aware of a looming significant attack since mid-February. He suggested that Russian authorities’ silence stemmed either from underestimating the attack’s magnitude or from intending to attribute it to Ukraine and justify official dismissals.
Post-attack, a U.S. official mentioned that Washington had alerted Moscow to the potential threat weeks prior.
