On March 22, 2024, a terrorist act took place in the “Crocus City Hall” concert hall in the city of Krasnogorsk, Moscow region. Unknown armed men in camouflage opened fire with automatic weapons before the concert started and set the hall on fire. According to the latest data, the event took lives of 133 people and another 152 were injured.
Amid the increasing number of civilian casualties, immediately after the event, Kremlin-related media and bloggers simultaneously claimed a possible Ukrainian trace in this terrorist attack. On March 23, 2023, the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin addressed the Russians in which announced that all
4 perpetrators of this crime were detained 100 km from the Ukrainian border, where they were expected by representatives of the Ukrainian authorities.
At the same time, in the course of the investigation, more and more facts are emerging that indicate the groundlessness of the accusations of the Russian authorities.
First, on March 7, the US Embassy in Russia issued a public warning about extremist plans to attack mass gatherings in Moscow, including concerts. Subsequently, after the attack, the US confirmed the transfer of this information to Russia. American officials suspect ISIS of carrying out the terrorist attack.
Second, the terrorist group ISIS claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack in Russia, according to a statement published by its affiliated news agency “Amaq” on Telegram.
Later, ISIS released a first-person video of the terrorist attack.
According to published information, the terrorist attack was committed by citizens of Tajikistan for a reward of 500,000 rubles. In addition, according to the statement of some mass media, a citizen of the Russian Federation was among them. One of the detainees cites lack of work as the motive for committing the crime.
Thirdly, the search for the terrorists who left the scene of the crime in a white car was reported immediately, but according to the Russian authorities, they were detained only after several hundred kilometers. Taking into account the total monitoring by video surveillance cameras, roadblocks and the measures taken, it is unclear how the perpetrators managed to cover such a long distance in the same car.
Fourthly, the ambassador of Belarus to the Russian Federation said that a car with suspected terrorists was detained in the Bryansk region, 16 km from the border with Belarus and added that the Belarusian special services helped the Russian Federation to detain the suspects and did not allow them cross the Russian-Belarusian border.
In one of the released videos, Russian servicemen cut off a detainee's ear. This approach to interviewing suspects causes great doubt on the veracity of their testimony in the future.
Thus, despite the statements of the Russian authorities, there is no evidence of a connection between these attacks and Ukraine. Regardless of the actual perpetrators, it is likely that the Russian authorities will use the attack to spread the narrative of a "Ukrainian footprint," favoring political agendas over facts.
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