MOSCOW, March 26 – Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged on Monday that the deadly attack at a concert outside Moscow was carried out by Islamic militants, but also said Ukraine was complicit in the tragedy.
It is already known who carried out the terrorist attack, Putin said on Monday at a meeting with law enforcement officials, adding that “but now we are interested in who ordered the crime.”
“The U.S., through various channels, is trying to convince everyone that there is supposedly no trace of Kyiv in the bloody terrorist attack at Crocus (concert venue), that it is the banned Islamic State,” Putin said.
However, Putin believes questions still remain. “It is necessary to obtain answers to a number of questions, for example, are radical, even terrorist, Islamic organizations really interested in striking Russia, which today stands for a fair solution to the escalating Middle East conflict,” he said.
“It is also necessary to answer the question – why the terrorists after committing the crime tried to head exactly to Ukraine, who was waiting for them there,” Putin was quoted by Russia’s TASS news agency as saying.
Calling the attack an act of intimidation, Putin said, “the question arises who benefits from this.”
The investigation into the terrorist attack should be carried out to professionally, objectively and without political bias, despite the general desire to punish the perpetrators, Putin added.
The death toll as a result of the attack in Crocus City Hall has risen to 139, and 182 people have been injured, as of Monday, said Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Russian Investigative Committee.
