Head of GUR Budanov: Russia knew about preparations for the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall at least since February 15

The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, said that Russia knew in advance that a terrorist operation was being prepared on the territory of the Russian Federation.

He announced this during the Third International Forum on Strategic Communications, reports the press service of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

"At least on February 15, 2024, the Russian Federation knew about the preparations. I will tell you more, this information passed through the intelligence of the group in Syria. From there she went to Moscow. And let them not tell tales that this all materialized in a strange way out of nowhere," said Kyrylo Budanov.

According to him, Russia knew where the combat groups would come from and through which two countries they moved until they got to the Russian Federation.

"Why did they allow this to happen — there are several options. The first is, as they have established, a battle of "towers" to remove several high-ranking officials now. Another possibility is that they actually underestimated the magnitude of what would happen. They thought that it would be more local, and wanted to blame Ukraine for everything," said the head of Ukrainian intelligence.

He noted that the Kremlin has already changed three versions of what happened in the Crocus City Hall shopping mall near Moscow, trying to "find" a "Ukrainian trace" in the terrorist attack.

"The explanations of Patrushev and Bortnikov appeared, who accused me personally that Ukraine did all this in general. This is nonsense. By the way, if we touched on this painful issue, even though it is an enemy, I do not approve of terrorist acts against civilians in principle," Budanov said.

He also added that Russia itself created chaos and thought it could control it.

"There is such a stable expression, even the truth. It always functions in the environment of special services: everyone tries to create controlled chaos. Absolutely all more or less serious organizations have tried to do this at different times. And the axiom is that none of them could make it controllable. The same thing happened here," concluded the head of the GUR.

What is known about the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall

On the evening of March 22, 2024 , a shooting occurred in the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk near Moscow before the start of the performance of the band "Piknik". Four men entered the mall and started shooting everyone in their path. Terrorists started a fire in the concert hall, setting fire to the seats. After that, they fled in a car.

The FSB claimed that the terrorists from Crocus City Hall planned to cross the Ukrainian-Russian border and had contacts on the Ukrainian side. Even on the day of the terrorist attack, the GUR declared that the attack near Moscow was a planned and deliberate provocation by the Russian special services, which would eventually end with accusations against Ukraine — as if this is how Putin wants to justify even tougher strikes on Ukraine and total mobilization in the Russian Federation.

On March 23 , the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack and called it "the most brutal attack in recent years." The next day, a video of the killing of Russians in the Crocus City Hall mall, shot by terrorists, appeared on social networks. The footage confirms that the terrorist attack was carried out by militants of the Islamic State. One of the terrorists shouts "Kill them all" and "The infidels will be defeated" in Arabic during the attack. He also glorifies Allah. All four fired indiscriminately at people, and one of them cut the throat of the wounded.

On March 24, a court in Moscow arrested four suspects in the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall — Muhammadsobir Fayzov, Shamsidin Fariduni, Saidakrami Rachabalizoda and Dalerjon Mirzoev. Three of the four appeared in court with traces of torture. Rachabalizodʼs ear was cut off by law enforcement officers while being detained on video, and Faridun was tortured with electric shock on camera.

On March 26, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Oleksandr Lukashenko, said that the terrorists who committed the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall were initially heading towards the Belarusian border, but turned around and headed for the Ukrainian-Russian border.

On the same day , FSB director Oleksandr Bortnikov admitted that US special services had warned Moscow about the threat of a terrorist attack. He stated that the information from the Americans was general — the terrorist attack was not planned at the concert, but during the pseudo-elections of the president. Before that, he claimed without any evidence at all that the terrorist attack was facilitated by the Ukrainian, American and British special services.

According to the latest data, the number of dead in Crocus City Hall has reached 143. Among them is one citizen of Moldova.