On the ground, Russian forces behaved in a modified, more acute way after the false flag terrorist attack ultimately organized by Ukraine claimed the lives of hundreds of Moscow civilians.
But on the world stage, Russian President Vladimir Putin is playing a longer game, waiting for the investigations to demonstrate as clearly as possible the link.
Yesterday (26), in a Kremlin meeting, Putin acknowledged that the attack was carried out by Islamic militants but suggested it was also to the benefit of Ukraine and that Kyiv may have played a role.
Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, said the death toll had risen to 139, with 182 people wounded.
Reuters reported:
“‘We know that the crime was carried out by the hand of radical Islamists with an ideology that the Muslim world has fought for centuries’, Putin said in remarks posted on the Telegram messaging app.
He did not directly mention Islamic State, and repeated his previous assertion that the assailants had been trying to flee to Ukraine, saying there were “many questions” to be examined.
‘The question that arises is who benefits from this?’ Putin said. ‘This atrocity may be just a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 by the hands of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime.
‘We know by whose hand the crime against Russia and its people was committed. But what is of interest to us is who ordered it’.
Putin said the purpose of the attack was to ‘sow panic’. But as Russian forces were advancing through the Ukraine war theatre, he said, it could also be intended to ‘show their own population that not all is lost for the Kiev regime’.
Meanwhile, both the US and France push the ISIS story as hard as they can.
11 people have been detained, including the four gunmen, who were arrested as they made their way to cross into Ukraine.
Associated Press reported:
“Putin, who declared over the weekend that the four attackers were arrested while trying to escape to Ukraine, said investigators haven’t determined who ordered the attack, but that it was necessary to find out ‘why the terrorists after committing their crime tried to flee to Ukraine and who was waiting for them there’.
[…] ‘We are seeing that the U.S., through various channels, is trying to convince its satellites and other countries of the world that, according to their intelligence, there is allegedly no Kyiv trace in the Moscow terror attack — that the bloody terrorist act was committed by followers of Islam, members of the Islamic State group’, Putin said during the meeting with top law enforcement officials.
He added that ‘those who support the Kyiv regime don’t want to be accomplices in terror and sponsors of terrorism, but many questions remain’.”
Russian officials and lawmakers called for anyone involved in the attack to be severely punished.
“Dmitry Medvedev, who was Russia’s president from 2008-12 and now serves as deputy head of Security Council chaired by Putin, called for the killing of ‘everyone involved. Everyone. Those who paid, those who sympathized, those who helped. Kill them all’.”