Moscow Attack: Ukraine Raises ‘Many Questions’ Challenging Russia’s Claims After Putin Alleges Kyiv Link – News18

A key aide of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has challenged Russia’s claims that linked Kyiv to the Moscow attack in which gunmen killed 150 people at a suburban music hall. In a televised address on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the terrorists responsible for the massacre were captured while fleeing to Ukraine.

Kyiv denied any involvement in Friday’s assault on the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk. The Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate meanwhile claimed responsibility for the attack and released a photo of what it said were the four attackers behind a shooting rampage.

READ MORE: Why Would The Islamic State Attack Russia And Why It Hates Putin?

Russia Accuses Ukraine

Putin’s Saturday address did not mention IS in his speech to the nation, and Kyiv accused him and other Russian politicians of falsely linking Ukraine to the assault to stoke fervor for war in Ukraine, which recently entered its third year. On Friday, crowds were at the venue for a concert by the Russian rock band Picnic. Videos posted online showed gunmen in the venue shooting civilians at point-blank range. The attackers threw explosive devices that started the fire, which eventually consumed the building and caused its roof to collapse.

Mykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to the Head of the Office of Zelenskyy, raised several questions including, “Why armed people were walking in the center of Moscow; and why the metal detectors were turned off and there was no perimeter security.” He also asked “why the FSB district department, whose office is located hundreds of meters from Crocus City Hall, did not react in any way for 2-3 hours.”

‘Several Whys’

“Why the special forces arrived at the site after more than an hour; why the warning about possible terrorist attacks was ignored; why there was no intelligence work; why the terrorists calmly left the building cordoned off by security forces and disappeared,” Podolyak further asked. “And then so-called “entity #Putin” comes out and primitively, absolutely without any understanding of the context, operating with no information states stupidly “they tried to hide in #Ukraine”. What? Seriously? What is this? Is it really possible to take this man and his statements seriously?”

Zelensky on Saturday accused Putin of seeking to “shift the blame” onto Kyiv for the Moscow concert hall attack. “What happened yesterday in Moscow is obvious: Putin and the other scum are just trying to blame it on someone else,” Zelensky announced, after Putin said the suspects had been fleeing towards Ukraine. Meanwhile, US State Secretary Antony Blinken called the attack a “heinous crime” saying Washington condemns “terrorism in all its forms”.

The United States stands “in solidarity with the people of Russia in grieving the loss of life from this horrific event,” Blinken said in a statement. The White House called Islamic State “a common terrorist enemy that must be defeated everywhere”. Washington warned Moscow this month about a “planned terrorist attack” possibly targeting “large gatherings” in the capital, the White House said.

(With agency inputs)