The militant group Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack in Moscow. On the day of the attack – the 23rd of March – ISIS published a photograph of four attackers. On the 24th of March, however, ISIS released a video of the attack at the concert hall. The video, confirmed to be real by the BBC, shows one of the attackers opening fire on several people. After that, the USA claimed that it had information confirming that the attack in Moscow was executed by the Islamic State. Russian authorities did not respond to the claim of the Islamic State that came two weeks after the USA’s alert on a potential attack directed towards “large gatherings” in Moscow. Russia pointed the finger directly at Ukraine, while Kyiv denied immediately any connection whatsoever with the terrorist attack, writes Truthmeter.
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We are fact-checking a post on the social network Threads claiming that Ukraine, Great Britain, and the USA were behind the terrorist attack at concert hall “Crocus” in Moscow dated the 22nd of March:
responsible for the moscow attack are kirilo budanov, head of ukr security, cia mafia and mi6
all other stories are factory for lies
the problem for ukraine now will be to be or not to be and losing its statehood with an illegal government and lost and annexed territory in russia
russia will make use of the moment and mobilize another 1 million troops and now not even tactical nuclear weapons can no longer be ruled out, so since they hate each other so much there is no need to spare each other, let radiation free along with massive extermination, states the post.
The claim that Ukraine, Great Britain, and the USA are behind the terrorist attack in Moscow is not based on any evidence.
Truthmeter has already covered the fact that no evidence points to these three countries being the organizers of the attack in Moscow. This claim was publicly stated by the Director of the Russian Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov.
The chief of the Russian Security Service, citing no proof, directly blamed Ukraine for organizing the terrorist attack at “Crocus City Hall” in Moscow with Western assistance. These accusations of Bortnikov, according to the Washington Post, are an attempt to defocus the attention from the failure of the Russian Security Service to prevent the attack that killed, at least, 143 people and to excite anti-Ukrainian rhetoric.
Russian authorities submitted charges against four detained men claiming them as the direct executors of the terrorist attack on concert hall “Crocus City”. All four have been accused of terrorism, while two of them confessed to the judicial authorities. The court informed that the four defendants will be kept in pre-trial detention at least until the 22nd of May. According to Russian state-owned media, the defendants were named Dalerdzon Mirzoyev, Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, Shamsidin Fariduni, and Muhammadsobir Fayzov, all citizens of Tajikistan.
The militant group Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack in Moscow. On the day of the attack – 23 March – ISIS published a photograph of four attackers. On 24 March, however, ISIS released a video of the attack at the concert hall. The video, confirmed by the BBC to be true, shows one of the attackers opening fire on several people.
After that, the USA claimed that it had information confirming that the attack in Moscow was executed by Islamic State.
Previously this month, the American government had information about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow that could be targeting massive gatherings, including concerts, which forced the State Department to issue a public alert to the American people in Russia. Also, the American government shared this information with the Russian authorities in compliance with its long-term “Duty to Warn” policy, said the spokesperson of the White House National Security Council, Adrienne Watson.
Russian authorities did not comment on the claim of the Islamic State that came two weeks after the US warned about potential attacks on “large gatherings” in Moscow. Russian authorities complained that the American intelligence had no specific details.
On the 7th of March, the United States of America issued an alert on a potential terrorist attack in Russia, calling upon Americans in Russia to avoid large gatherings, based partially on intelligence information about a possible activity in Russia by the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), Afghani and Pakistani branches of the militant group. The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, rejected this warning as an “attempt of the West to destabilize Russia”.
Russia immediately pointed its finger at Ukraine for the Moscow attack.
Informing the public that all four direct perpetrators of the terrorist attack were found and detained, Putin stressed that they had tried to hide and turned to Ukraine, where according to preliminary data, a passage was enabled on the Ukrainian side for them to cross over the border. Putin said a total of 11 persons were arrested. Security services had already informed that the other seven people detained were accomplices.
The spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that it was ”extremely difficult to believe” that the Islamic State could undertake an attack on the concert hall in Moscow. During the press briefing, Zakharova stated that Ukraine was behind the attack.
To divert the suspicion of the collective West, they needed to quickly think of something, so they turned to ISIS. They used the ace up their sleeve and several hours following the attack, Anglo-Saxon media started spreading such versions, she said.
Kyiv quickly denied any connection whatsoever with the terrorist attack at “Crocus”.
Let’s be clear about this, Ukraine has absolutely no connection with these events. Related to the Crocus City events in the Russian suburbia where some shooting and terrorist actions from unidentified persons happened – let’s be clear about this – Ukraine has absolutely nothing to do with these events. Not the slightest doubt that the Moscow suburbia events will contribute to the sudden increase of military propaganda, accelerated militarization, expanded mobilization, and, finally, to the scope of the war. That will also serve as justification for the apparent genocide attacks on the civilian population in Ukraine, specified on Telegram Mykhailo Podolyak, assistant to the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In its article, the Washington Post added that as Bortnikov pointed fingers at Kyiv, the US, and Great Britain, new and new questions were raised about the law enforcement response as the assault unfolded.
But Russian media outlets reported that specialized police units did not arrive on the scene until more than an hour after the shooting started, and then waited more than 30 minutes before entering the building. At that point, the attackers had long escaped. They arrived at the concert hall at 6.45 p.m., waited for the spectators to gather, opened fire on the visitors on the street, and entered the building at 7.48 pm
Russian special police response units were alerted at 9:06 p.m., according to Tass State News Agency. A journalist from another outlet, Ostorozhno Novosti, who was at the scene reported that officers began entering the building at 9:39 p.m. The nearest police department is located about one and a half miles from Crocus City Hall. A spokeswoman for Russia’s Internal Affairs Ministry, Irina Volk, later dismissed complaints that police arrived too late, asserting that the first group of officers was at the scene five minutes after reports of the shooting were received. Two of the alleged gunmen, Shamsiden Fariduni and Saidakram Rajabalizoda, briefly traveled to Turkey in late February and returned to Russia on 2 March on the same flight, according to a senior Turkish security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. He said he believed that both individuals became radicalized in Russia given the short amount of time they spent in Turkey, reported the Washington Post.
The investigation into the terrorist attack is still ongoing, but the latest, outlandish accusations that the West and Ukraine are behind the attack give Russia a problem: it now has to find the evidence to back up its unsubstantiated claims.
The British Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, on the social network X, specified that the Russian claims that the West and Ukraine were behind the Crocus City Hall attack were “utter nonsense”.
Up to date, no evidence can be found to substantiate the narrative that Ukraine, the USA, and Great Britain are behind the Moscow attack.
Therefore, due to all of the above-noted facts, we assess the post as untrue.
