As of: March 28, 2024, 11:43 a.m
By: Stephanie Munk
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Putin is weaving his own legends after the terror in Moscow, experts say - pointing towards Ukraine and presenting torture videos. The first episodes are already available.
Moscow – Russia is in shock: At least 139 people died in a terrorist attack at a concert in a stadium in Moscow. In the attack, four men shot at visitors to Crocus City Hall and set the building on fire with gasoline. An offshoot of IS claimed responsibility for the attack, and the Benner videos are considered authentic.
Vladimir Putin, however, accuses Ukraine of being involved in the terrorist act and has his security authorities demonstrate full force: Shortly after the attack, videos and photos of four arrested suspects who were apparently tortured by the Russian police were presented. This suggests that the Russian despot wants to consciously control the anger of his people - also to distract from his own mistakes.
After the terrorist attack in Moscow, Putin wanted to direct the people's anger towards Ukraine
Putin wants to continue to incite Russians against Ukraine, IS expert and London professor Peter Neumann told
Bild
. It's about "directing this popular anger in the right direction from Putin's point of view," said Neumann, "and he has already partially succeeded in doing that."
The Russian-American scientist Vera Mironova also told
Deutsche Welle:
“Russia wants to justify the war in Ukraine with everything, and now they are trying to justify it with this terrorist attack.” The researcher is convinced that most Russians agree with this narrative of the Kremlin because of the convincing propaganda - even if there is no evidence for this.
Vladimir Putin wants to control opinion in Russia about what was behind the terrorist attack in Moscow. © Imago (montage)
Kremlin consciously shows videos and photos of torture – “No more reason to hide methods”
Sergei Davidis of the Russian human rights organization Memorial said, according to a
Voice of America
report , that after the terrorist attack, Russia was the first to consciously make public that it was torturing prisoners. This is because the Kremlin is sure that it has the people on its side. “They believe, I am sure, that they have the support of the people,” said the activist, and continued: “They have now decided that there is no reason to hide their methods.”
This is a bad sign, says Davidis. Putin will use the attack to take even more brutal action against dissidents in the future. “The people who support Ukraine are being actively targeted by the authorities,” he said. “Any expression of opposition, any statement that contradicts the official propaganda narratives is a reason for deprivation of liberty.”
Putin creates his own legends about the terrorist attack in Moscow – the finger immediately pointed to Ukraine
As Jörg Lau, foreign policy correspondent for Die
Zeit
, explained in a podcast for the weekly newspaper, no processing of the attack could take place in Russian society because the Russian regime wanted to “completely control” the opinion about who was behind the attack “and its own legends knits.”
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This is also done out of self-interest, because Putin had previously ignored warnings from the USA about a possible terrorist attack in Russia. This is also why he pointed the finger at Ukraine, said the Russia expert. If a different theory about who was behind the attack in Moscow were to spread in Russian society, Putin's own authority would be at risk.
Putin blames Ukraine for “neo-Nazi regime” and shows videos of suspected terrorists
Shortly after the attack in the Moscow stadium, Putin claimed that Ukraine's "neo-Nazi regime" was behind the attack. Ukraine wants to “sow panic in society”. Putin later admitted that IS had carried out the attack, but Kiev had kept an escape route to Ukraine clear for the terrorists. He did not provide any evidence of this. The Ukrainian government vehemently denies involvement. ISIS videos claiming responsibility for the crime are considered authentic.
Meanwhile, the Russian authorities quickly presented four suspects: Four suspected main perpetrators were presented to the judge. Videos of cruel interrogations were leaked, during which electric shocks were apparently used. In photos presented by police of the suspects, their faces were severely swollen and covered in wounds.
Russian anger is also directed at Tajiks after terrorist attack
A report by the Russian state news agency
Tass
said the four men had been identified as citizens of Tajikistan. According to a report by
Al Jazeera,
this is now igniting anger among many in the population against Tajiks, millions of whom live as migrant workers in Russia.
It is said that minorities from Central Asia such as Tajiks and Uzbeks have already been harassed and discriminated against by the police in Russia. This climate has increased since the terrorist attack. For example, Russian passengers would refuse to be driven by Tajik taxi drivers. A screenshot of a text message is circulating on social media that reads: "Hello, if you are Tajik, cancel the order, I will not go with you, or I will call the traffic police so they can check your passenger transport license."
The newspaper stand of a worker from Central Asia was also set on fire on the Russian-Chinese border and was shot at, the Russian news agency
Sota
reported on Telegram, according to
Al Jazeera
.
(smu)