As of: March 25, 2024, 10:58 a.m
By: Fabian Hartmann
Comments
Press
Split
After the attack on a concert hall near Moscow, IS claimed responsibility.
However, Putin's critics suspect a “false flag operation”.
Krasnogorsk/Moscow - After the suspected terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall event hall in the city of Krasnogorsk near Moscow on Friday evening (March 22), the death toll has now risen to 133, according to the
Associated Press
(AP) news agency.
The Russian State Investigative Committee had previously opened a case for an “act of terrorism”.
Russia's domestic secret service, the FSB, said it had already arrested eleven suspects as a result of the attack.
President Vladimir Putin announced a national day of mourning for Sunday.
In a speech, he described the attack on the concert hall as a “barbaric terrorist act” and announced that those responsible for the attack would be “punished” accordingly.
As a result of the attack, the Islamic State jihadist militia claimed responsibility for the terrorist act.
In his speech to the Russian people, Putin accused Ukraine of being involved in the attack.
According to the Russian president, the attackers tried to flee to Ukraine following the terrorist act.
But now there are speculations that Russia itself could be involved in organizing the terrorist attack.
Accordingly, some of Putin's critics suspect that he may have initiated the attack "under a false flag" in order to justify further escalation against Ukraine, reports the US media
Newsweek
.
After the attack on a concert hall near Moscow there is a series of mutual accusations
According to initial reports from the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, a group of gunmen opened fire on Friday evening at the Crocus City Hall, a concert hall with a capacity of up to 7,200 people in Krasnogorsk, around 25 kilometers west of the Russian capital Moscow.
The Russian authorities said that among the eleven arrested there were four people who were directly involved in the attack.
The Ukrainian government has already denied having any involvement in the fatal attack on Crocus City Hall.
In a video speech on Saturday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and his followers were trying to blame someone else for the attack.
Instead of worrying about Russia, Putin remained silent for a day after the attack and thought about how he could blame Ukraine for the events.
In several posts on
According to them, it could be used in the near future as a pretext for a further escalation of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, which has been ongoing since February 2022.
Kremlin critics suspect that Putin himself may have initiated the attack near Moscow
“Well, in general, everything is becoming clearer,” said the channel WarTranslated, a media project that translates material about the war into English, on X. “At first there were simple rumors that a vehicle with Ukrainian license plates had been spotted.
Now Putin says directly that Ukraine has prepared a window for crossing the border.
In a day or two they will say that the Ukrainian special services coordinated the actions of the terrorists,” the channel's creator further explains.
He suggests that Putin will soon accuse the “Kiev regime” of having organized the crime itself, “in order to announce a mobilization and/or another measure.”
My news
The wave of bankruptcies continues: cult beverage manufacturer is insolvent
On Princess Victoria's name day: Prince Oscar steals the show
Skoda's novelty with a combustion engine impresses fans - read “It's sustainable”.
Motorcyclist from Munich has to return on foot - and takes out anger on construction yard employees
Sad background: WDR presenter says goodbye after 16 years of reading
Deutsche Bahn announces drastic changes to regional trains
Great sympathy after the suspected terrorist attack on a concert hall near Moscow.
© IMAGO/Grigory Sysoev
Former Russian diplomat Boris Bondarev, who left Russia into exile after the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine, made a similar statement on enforcement apparatus;
and secondly, it smacks of a false flag operation.”
Putin's possible “false flag” operation would resemble an incident from the Chechen war
Meanwhile, other critics of Putin also drew comparisons to a 1999 incident in which alleged false flag violence was used to justify the war against Chechnya.
“Russia is a police state that fails every time it tries to control anything other than unarmed peaceful protesters,” journalist Alexey Kovalyov wrote on X in response to Bondarev.
“That, or I am now more convinced than ever that the 1999 Moscow bombings were indeed Putin’s false flag.”
“It makes no sense to make big statements about the Moscow shootings, but I wouldn't rule out a false flag operation,” said propaganda researcher Pekka Kallioniemi, adding to the allegations.
“This is what FSB/Putin did in 1999 to justify the second Chechen war and to improve Putin's popularity and image as a strong leader.”
Four suspects are currently being interrogated after the attack near Moscow - national day of mourning in Serbia too
The four main suspects in the terrorist attack were brought to the Russian capital for questioning on Saturday evening, reports the German Press Agency (dpa).
As the Russian state news agency Tass reported, the four men were driven in a heavily secured motorcade from the place of their arrest in the Bryansk region of southern Russia to the so-called investigative committee.
Video recordings are said to show that torture was said to have occurred during the arrest of the suspects.
For example, a video circulating in Russia shows a man's ear being cut off.
The recordings could not initially be independently verified.
An application for an arrest warrant should be submitted to court in the coming days.
On the national day of mourning that Vladimir Putin declared for Russia this Sunday, Serbia and Nicaragua also joined the remembrance abroad with their own days of mourning.
Many of the 152 people injured in the attack are still in critical condition, the Tass news agency reported on Sunday morning, citing the Emergencies Ministry for the Moscow region.
Five children were among the injured.
(fh)