The Federal Security Service of Russia actually accused Ukraine of involvement in the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall shopping center near Moscow, which took place on the evening of March 22.
The FSB claims that the alleged terrorists were detained in the Bryansk region "near the border" with Ukraine. They allegedly tried to escape "towards the Russian-Ukrainian border", "were planning to cross the border and had contacts on the Ukrainian side."
Before that, the head of the FSB Oleksandr Bortnikov reported to Putin about the detention of 11 people, including four terrorists, who probably participated in the attack on Crocus City Hall.
Russian Telegram channels wrote that a car with suspects was shot in the Bryansk region near the village of Hatsun, which is hundreds of kilometers from the border with Ukraine. They wrote that one suspect was shot, one was detained, and the other two fled into the woods. Previously, all of them are citizens of Tajikistan.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan stated that it did not receive information from the Russian authorities about the involvement of its citizens in the terrorist attack. It is considered fake.
Officially, the security agencies of the Russian Federation did not disclose information about the suspects. The names of the four suspects in the terrorist attack were published by Telegram channels, citing sources in law enforcement agencies.
Reaction of Ukraine
The main intelligence department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine declared on the day of the terrorist attack, March 22, that the terrorist attack near Moscow was a planned and deliberate provocation by the Russian special services, which would eventually end with accusations against Ukraine. Intelligence claimed that in this way Putin wants to justify even tougher strikes on Ukraine and total mobilization in the Russian Federation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine also denied the involvement of the Ukrainian side in the events.
The Ukrainian Center for Combating Disinformation writes that the terrorist attack may be an operation by Russian special services to blame Ukraine and get a reason for a new wave of mobilization in the Russian Federation. Ukraineʼs accusations coming from the Russian Federation already confirm this version, the Center believes.
They added that Russia has already used similar terrorist attacks for its own purposes. "Terrorist attacks with a large number of dead Russian civilians, such as the explosion of a house on the Kashirsky highway in Moscow in 1999 and the hostage-taking at the musical "Nord-Ost" in 2002, were already used by the Kremlin to justify the second Chechen war and aggression against the Chechen people.", — says the message of the Center.
What the Western media write
At the beginning of March, the US Embassy in the Russian Federation warned about the possibility of terrorist attacks in Russia and recommended its citizens to avoid places of mass gathering of people. Similar warnings were also issued by the embassies of Great Britain, Germany and several other Western countries.
CBS News writes that the United States warned Russia about a terrorist attack and provided intelligence about a potential attack. A few days before the terrorist attack, Putin called these warnings "blackmail".
Citing unnamed American officials, The New York Times writes that the terrorist attack was organized by the Islamic State. US special services have gathered intelligence that "Vilayat Khorasan", an Afghan cell of IS, is planning a terrorist attack in Moscow. Washington passed this information on to Moscow. A source from the Russian state news agency TASS confirmed that the United States shared information about the preparation of a terrorist attack, but allegedly "without specifics."
- 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 the seats on fire. After that, they fled in a car.
- Russian propagandists almost immediately began to write about the Ukrainian trail.
- On March 23, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reported that 115 people died in Crocus City Hall. At least 121 were injured.