As of: March 23, 2024, 7:28 a.m
By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi
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Attack on a concert hall in Moscow: The Crocus City Hall is on fire.
© Vladimir Gerdo/Imago
Kremlin boss Putin's confidants are speculating about the attack in Moscow and accusing the West and Ukraine of involvement.
Kyiv sharply denies this.
Moscow – The suspected terrorist attack in Moscow on Friday evening (March 22nd) has claimed 60 lives so far, according to Russian media.
Dozens more seriously injured people are in Moscow hospitals after the attack on the “Crocus City Hall” concert hall in the northwest of the Russian capital.
A letter of responsibility online suggests that the IS terrorist militia is behind the incident.
But for the circles surrounding Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin, the real perpetrators are the West and Ukraine.
Attack in Moscow: Putin's close confidants blame Ukraine
Both direct and indirect accusations were leveled against the West and Ukraine just a few hours after the attack.
“We have to respond to death with death,” wrote former Russian head of state and Putin friend Dmitry Medvedev on the short message service Telegram.
And it continued: “If it turns out that the terrorists of the Kiev regime are behind this, then we cannot deal with them and their ideological supporters any differently.”
By the expression “ideological supporters,” Medvedev, who repeatedly makes nuclear threats, undoubtedly means the West.
“Courts and trials are of no use to us, the terrorists must be executed and their families must also be oppressed,” emphasized Medvedev, who is also the current deputy head of the Russian Security Council.
All those responsible for the “massacre” must be “executed without mercy.”
Ukraine denies Russian allegations about attack in Moscow: “Deliberate provocation”
Referring to the attack and allegations from Moscow, US National Security Council press secretary John Kirby said at a regular press conference: "There is currently no indication that Ukraine was involved in this horrific armed attack."
The head of the Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR, Andrii Yusov, also rejected the allegations in a statement to the Ukrainian media.
Instead, Yusov said, it was a “deliberate provocation of Putin’s security services.”
The international community has warned several times about such provocations from Russia, it said.
A similar statement came from Mikhailo Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: “Let us be clear, Ukraine has absolutely nothing to do with the incident.”
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry later also spoke out.
“The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry categorically rejects allegations made by Russian officials of Ukrainian involvement in the shooting at the Crocus concert hall,” it said in a statement on the official website.
It further added: “We consider these accusations to be a planned provocation by the Kremlin to further fuel anti-Ukrainian hysteria in Russian society, to create the conditions for increased mobilization of Russian citizens to take part in the criminal aggression against our country and the “To discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the international community.”
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Russian politicians attack the West and Ukraine over the attack in Moscow
Despite the statements from Kiev, Russian politicians and government representatives continued to rush towards the West and Ukraine.
The head of the Russian Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko, said, according to Russian state media, that not only the perpetrators but also their supporters would be held accountable.
Her punishment is “inevitable.”
Russian Senator Alexander Voloshin said similarly: “Regardless of whether the perpetrators are caught dead or alive, those who gave the order must also be punished without mercy.”
The Russian ambassador Rodion Miroschnik even attacked the USA very directly: "The USA knew about the attack and the preparations." But he did not mention that Washington's embassy in Russia had warned Moscow of an attack just weeks before.
The head of the State Duma Security Committee, Vasily Piskarev, also emphasized: “All perpetrators and clients will be severely punished.”
Putin propagandist expresses herself undiplomatically: “Dog trainers and their dogs”
The head of the Russian far-right LDPR party, Leonid Slutsky, made a connection to the Ukraine war.
If he has his way, there is no doubt that the attack in Moscow “should not be viewed independently of the operation in Ukraine and Russia’s fight for national interests and sovereignty.”
Like Medvedev, he also radically called for the death penalty for the perpetrators, as this time it was an exceptional situation.
Russian Senator Andrei Klishas also said, according to Russian media, that the attack was “part of the war that Western secret services have been waging against Russia for years.”
There is no doubt about that.
The well-known Kremlin propagandist and RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan became particularly undiplomatic after Western countries, including the USA, also expressed their condolences.
She blamed Ukraine for the attack and wrote: “The dog trainers express their condolences to the victims of their dogs.”
(bb)