Russian Foreign Ministry rejects Interpol's help in investigating the Crocus attack

Russia does not need the help of Interpol in the investigation of the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"We can handle it ourselves. We are already used to the double standards of the West. We will act solely on the basis of our understanding of what the West is trying to achieve and by what methods," Lavrov said at a meeting with Namibian Foreign Minister Pei Mushelenga in Moscow.

Lavrov also blamed Interpol for not showing interest in other cases that required the organisation's involvement.

Prior to that, Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock said that the International Criminal Police Organisation was ready to provide the necessary support to Russian law enforcement agencies in connection with the terrorist attack.

The Kremlin has previously ruled out the possibility of Russian intelligence services cooperating with their Western counterparts in this case.

"Our services are working independently. There is no question of any assistance (from other states)," said Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

The ISIS cell in Afghanistan, Wilayat Khorasan, claimed responsibility for the attack on Crocus. Russian claims about the "Ukrainian footprint", which pro-war bloggers and state media are following officials in promoting, are linked to the Kremlin's attempts to "justify the invasion of Ukraine" and present it as an "existential threat to Russia", analysts at the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) write.

Background. Meanwhile, Bloomberg sources said that Putin's entourage does not believe that Ukraine was involved in the Crocus attack. Nevertheless, Putin intends to use the tragedy to try to rally Russians around the war in Ukraine.