Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated on Wednesday that it was “extremely difficult to believe” that the Islamic State would have had the capability to carry out the attack on a Moscow concert hall last Friday, which killed at least 143 people. Zakharova reiterated Moscow’s claims, for which they have not yet provided evidence, that Ukraine was behind the attack on the Crocus City Hall, the deadliest attack Russia has suffered in 20 years.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry published a list of names showing 143 people died in last Friday’s mass shooting. Earlier official counts had put the death toll at 139. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the massacre, and U.S. officials say they have intelligence showing it was carried out by the network’s Afghan branch, Islamic State Khorasan. Ukraine has repeatedly denied having anything to do with the attack.
However, Zakharova said the West had rushed to pin the blame on the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, as a way to deflect blame from Ukraine and the Western governments supporting Kyiv. “In order to divert suspicions from the collective West, they urgently needed to come up with something, so they resorted to ISIS, pulled an ace out of their sleeve, and literally within hours after the terrorist attack, the Anglo-Saxon media began disseminating precisely these versions,” she said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the attack was carried out by Islamist militants but has suggested it was to Ukraine’s benefit and that Kyiv may have played a role. He has said someone on the Ukrainian side had prepared an “escape window” for the gunmen to flee across the border before being captured in western Russia on Friday night. On Tuesday, however, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said the gunmen had initially sought to cross into his country before turning away towards Ukraine once they realized crossings into Belarus had been sealed.
The director of Russia’s FSB security agency said on Tuesday he believed Ukraine, along with the United States and Britain, were involved in the Moscow attack. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron responded on social media denying the claims, saying: “Russia’s claims about the West and Ukraine on the Crocus City Hall attack are utter nonsense.” The head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, told a security conference in Kyiv he believed Russian authorities had known about preparations for a major attack since at least mid-February.
