The Secretary of Russia’s National Security Council suggested that Washington shares responsibility in the Moscow concert hall attack, according to the Associated Press (AP).
The attack took place on March 22 at Crocus City Hall and claimed the lives of 145 people. Although an affiliate of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, President Vladimir Putin and several Russian officials accused Ukraine of organizing it.
Nikolai Patrushev, head of Russian Security Council, said on Wednesday in a meeting of security councils of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kazakhstan capital Astana, “They are trying to impose on us that the terrorist act was committed not by the Kyiv regime, but by supporters of radical Islamic ideology, perhaps members of the Afghan branch of IS.”
He added that the attack’s traces “lead to the Ukrainian Special Service. But everyone knows that the Kyiv regime is not independent and is completely controlled by the United States.”
Two weeks before the attack, the US Embassy in Russia issued a warning on reports of planned terrorist attacks on public targets, which the US State Department said was passed on to Russian officials.
The Washington Post reported that the US government informed Russian officials that Crocus City Hall was a potential target, more than two weeks before the attack.
But in a conference call on Wednesday, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, declined to comment on the report, saying that was a matter for security services.
A day after the Moscow attack, four suspected gunmen were arrested. Putin and other officials claimed that the gunmen had made arrangements to enter Ukraine. Six other suspects have also been arrested.
The Russian Prosecutor General’s office on Wednesday sent requests to the US, Germany, France and Cyprus calling for an investigation into the possible involvement of people and organizations located abroad in a number of terrorist attacks in Russia, according to Russian News Agency Tass.
