Putin says Islamic radicals attacked concert hall and links case to Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged on Monday that last week's deadly attack on a concert hall outside Moscow was carried out by Islamic radicals, but suggested that it also benefited Ukraine and that Kiev may have played a role in the case.

Putin's comments, at a Kremlin meeting dedicated to measures taken in response to the attack, came as France joined the US in saying intelligence data indicated Islamic State was responsible.

In the deadliest attack in Russia in two decades, four men stormed the Crocus City Hall on Friday night (22), shooting and using firebombs.

Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russia's Investigative Committee, told the Kremlin meeting that the death toll had risen to 139, with 182 injured.

Four men of Tajik origin were remanded in custody on terrorism charges at Moscow's Basmanny District Court on suspicion of carrying out the attack. Three others, also of Tajik origin, were detained in custody on suspicion of being accomplices.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack and released what it said were images of the massacre.

“Who benefits?” asks Putin

“We know that the crime was committed at the hands of Islamic radicals with an ideology that the Muslim world has been fighting for centuries,” Putin said in statements published on Telegram.

He did not directly mention Islamic State and repeated his earlier claim that the attackers were trying to flee to Ukraine, saying there were “many questions” to be examined.

“The question is who benefits from this? This atrocity could be just one link in a series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 at the hands of the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev,” Putin pointed out.

“We know by whom the crime against Russia and its people was committed. But what interests us is who ordered it,” she added.

The Russian president stressed that the aim of the attack was to “sow panic” or “show his own population that not everything is lost for the Kiev regime”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied Putin's comments, saying that for the Kremlin leader “everyone is a terrorist except himself, although he has thrived on terror for two decades.”

This was a reference to allegations that Putin was behind several acts of violence in Russia since coming to power in 2000.

“When he leaves, the need for terror and violence will disappear with him,” Zelensky added.

Ukraine has denied any role in Friday's shooting and Zelensky has accused Putin of trying to deflect blame.

Washington stressed its belief in the Islamic State's claim. U.S. officials said they warned Russia this month about an imminent attack and that intelligence indicates an Afghan affiliate, Islamic State Khorasan (Islamic State-K), was responsible.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington that the US has been “very vigilant” in tracking Islamic State activities.

“It was because of the aggressive way we have been monitoring the Islamic State that we were able to alert the Russians that, in fact, they were on the path to a potential terrorist attack in the very near future,” Kirby said.

French President Emmanuel Macron told journalists that the available information “in fact indicates that it was an Islamic State entity that instigated this attack”.

“This group also tried to carry out several actions on our own soil”, he commented during a visit to French Guiana.

Macron said France had offered to help find the culprits, adding: “I think it would be cynical and counterproductive for Russia itself and the security of its citizens to use this context to try to turn it against Ukraine.”

Hundreds of Russians laid flowers in front of Crocus City Hall to remember the victims.

Picnic, the band that was due to perform on Friday, will hold a memorial concert in St. Petersburg on Wednesday along with a symphony orchestra in aid of the victims, the city's Oktyabrskiy concert hall announced.

Source: CNN Brasil

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