Vladimir Putin’s attempts to place the blame on Ukraine for the terrorist attack that killed dozens in Moscow last week aren’t being supported by many people in his inner circle, it has been claimed.
Rather, barely anyone within Russia’s political or business elite reportedly thinks Kyiv had anything to do with the deadliest terror attack on Russian soil in two decades.
On the other hand, officials were left shocked by how the Russian FSB security services failed to prevent the assault at Crocus City concert hall – particularly in light of the warning previously issued by the US, Bloomberg wrote citing four people with close ties to the Kremlin.
The Russian President was present at discussions where officials agreed there was no link between the attack, claimed by the Islamic State, and Ukraine, according to one source.
Yet, Putin appears determined to continue to blame Ukraine in order to rally the Russian population behind the ongoing war in the eastern European nation.
On Monday, three days after the deadly attack, Putin conceded the attack had been carried out by radical Islamists – but maintained Kyiv may have played a role.
He said: “We know that the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists. We are interested in who ordered it.”
Repeating propaganda he has been spreading since before the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that the country is riddled with Nazi forces trying to harm Russia, he added: “This atrocity may be just one part in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 by the hands of the neo-Nazi Kyiv regime.”
Putin’s narrative has been publicly backed by one of his longest-serving allies, council secretary Nikolai Patrushev, and the head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov.
Ukraine has rejected Russia’s “lies”, and Washington has stated there is no evidence Ukraine had anything to do with the attack that killed more than 130 people.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, appeared to cast doubt on the Russian narrative too, particularly on the claim the four attackers were heading towards Ukraine when they were caught, as he suggested they had first tried to cross into his country before realising “there was no way they could enter Belarus”.
Alongside IS claiming responsibility for the attack, growing evidence has emerged the attack was masterminded by the Afghan branch of IS, the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP).
On Sunday, four suspects identified as citizens of Tajikistan appeared in court in Moscow charged over the attack.
