Putin calls Kyiv the "customer" of the Crocus attack, for which ISIS claimed responsibility

The terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall was committed by "radical Islamists", but the Ukrainian government could have ordered the crime, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has said.

Source. This was reported by Reuters.

"One thing is absolutely clear – this is an action of intimidation. And the question immediately arises: who benefits from this? This atrocity can only be a link in a series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 with the hands of the neo-Nazi Kyiv regime. And the Nazis were never ashamed to use the dirtiest and most inhumane means to achieve their goals. Especially today, when their much-publicised counter-offensive has completely failed," Putin said.

He reiterated his claim that the terrorists tried to flee to Ukraine after the attack on Crocus. "We need to answer the question of who was waiting for them there," he stressed.

Putin also accused the United States of "trying to convince the world that there is no 'Kyiv trace' in the Moscow terrorist attack" and blaming the Islamic State.

"We are interested in who the customer is. We need to get answers to a number of questions. For example, whether radical Islamic organisations are really interested in striking at Russia, which is now advocating a fair resolution of the Middle East conflict," Putin said.

At the same time, he ignored the fact that the ISIS cell in Afghanistan, Wilayat Khorasan, had already claimed responsibility for the attack.

On the evening of 22 March, unidentified gunmen broke into the Crocus City Hall and opened fire with assault rifles on unarmed people who had come to the concert of the band Picnic, and then started a fire, setting fire to the evacuation exits. After 18 minutes, the militants fled in a car and were detained by security forces the next day in the Bryansk region.

The thesis that the terrorists were travelling "towards Ukraine" was denied by Belarusian Ambassador to Russia Dmitri Krutoi, who said that the Belarusian special services helped prevent the militants from escaping across the Russian-Belarusian border.

During interrogations, the detainees did not mention any ties to Ukraine.

On 24 March, Moscow's Basmanny Court arrested four Tajik citizens, whom the FSB called the perpetrators of the attack. Three more people were then arrested, who, according to the Russian Investigative Committee, provided the terrorists with a car and an apartment, and transported money. In total, 11 people were detained in the case.

So far, 139 people have been killed in the Crocus attack. 93 victims, including five children, are in hospitals. Nine of them are in extremely serious condition.

Background. Macron reportedly said that ISIS' Wilayat Khorasan wing was preparing terrorist attacks in France. He warned against distorting what happened in Crocus and said that he had offered Russia "enhanced cooperation" in the fight against terrorism.