President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia laid the groundwork on Saturday for blaming Ukraine for the Moscow live performance corridor assault. And in making his first remarks on the assault greater than 19 hours after it started, he pledged to punish the perpetrators, “whoever they might be, whoever could have despatched them.”
Mr. Putin, in a five-minute televised tackle, claimed that somebody in Ukraine had tried to assist the attackers escape throughout the border from Russia earlier than they had been apprehended by Russian safety companies.
He didn’t definitively pin the assault on Ukraine; nor did he discuss with the evaluation by American officers {that a} department of the Islamic State was behind it.
“They had been making an attempt to cover and had been shifting towards Ukraine,” Mr. Putin stated, referring to the 4 males who carried out the assault and who the Kremlin stated had been captured in western Russia. “Primarily based on preliminary info, a window for crossing the border was ready for them by the Ukrainian facet.”
Ukrainian officers have repeatedly denied having something to do with the assault, and American officers have stated there isn’t any proof of Ukrainian involvement. American officers voiced concern on Friday that Mr. Putin might search to falsely blame Ukraine for the assault, and a few analysts and Kremlin critics have stated that he might use such an accusation to justify one other escalation in Russia’s invasion.
Mr. Putin has previously blamed the West for stoking terrorist teams to commit violence inside Russia, however he didn’t discuss with the USA or the West in Saturday’s speech. Nor did he point out the March 7 safety alert issued by the USA Embassy in Moscow concerning the threat of assaults on live shows within the Russian capital, which pro-Kremlin figures have used as proof of potential American complicity.
“We’re counting right here on cooperation with all international locations that genuinely share our ache and are prepared, of their deeds, to actually unite our efforts within the struggle in opposition to the frequent enemy of worldwide terrorism,” Mr. Putin stated.
He declared Monday a nationwide day of mourning and stated that safety measures had been being tightened throughout Russia.
“The principle factor now could be to forestall those that had been behind this bloody bloodbath from committing new crimes,” Mr. Putin stated.