MOSCOW — Russian officers persevered Tuesday in saying Ukraine and the West had a job in final week’s lethal Moscow live performance corridor assault regardless of vehement denials of involvement by Kyiv and a declare of accountability by an affiliate of the Islamic State group.
With out providing any proof, Alexander Bortnikov, head of the Federal Safety Service, or FSB, adopted related allegations by President Vladimir Putin, who linked the assault to Ukraine whilst he acknowledged that the suspects who had been arrested had been “radical Islamists.”
The IS affiliate claimed it carried out the assault, and U.S. intelligence stated it had info confirming the group was accountable. French President Emmanuel Macron stated France additionally has intelligence pointing to “an IS entity” as answerable for the assault.
However regardless of the indicators pointing to IS, Putin insisted on alleged Ukrainian involvement — one thing that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected, accusing the Kremlin chief of attempting to drum up fervor as his forces combat in Ukraine.
Bortnikov alleged that Western spy companies additionally may have been concerned within the deadliest terror assault on Russian soil in 20 years, whilst he acknowledged receiving a U.S. tip concerning the assault.
“We imagine that radical Islamists ready the motion, whereas Western particular providers have assisted it and Ukrainian particular providers had a direct half in it,” Bortnikov stated with out giving particulars.
He repeated Putin’s declare that the 4 gunmen had been attempting to flee to Ukraine after they had been arrested. casting it as a proof of alleged involvement by Kyiv.
However that assertion was undercut barely by Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. who stated Tuesday the suspects had been headed for Ukraine as a result of they feared tight controls on the Belarus border.
Russia remains to be reeling from the assault Friday by which gunmen killed 139 individuals within the Crocus Metropolis Corridor, a live performance venue on the outskirts of Moscow. Well being officers stated about 90 individuals stay hospitalized, with 22 of them, together with two youngsters, in grave situation.
The 4 males accused of finishing up the assault appeared in a Moscow courtroom on Sunday on terrorism costs and confirmed indicators of extreme beatings. One seemed to be barely aware through the listening to.
The boys are residents of Tajikistan, authorities stated, and had been recognized as Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, 32; Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, 30; Shamsidin Fariduni, 25; and Mukhammadsobir Faizov, 19. They had been charged with committing a terrorist assault leading to demise, which carries a most sentence of life imprisonment.
A senior Turkish safety official confirmed Tuesday that two of them spent a “brief period of time” in Turkey earlier than touring collectively to Russia on March 2.
One of many suspects, Fariduni, entered Turkey on Feb. 20, checked right into a lodge in Istanbul’s Fatih district the following day, and checked out Feb. 27, the official stated. The opposite, Rachabalizoda, checked right into a lodge in the identical district on Jan. 5, trying out on Jan. 21.
The official stated Turkish authorities imagine the 2 “turned radicalized in Russia” as a result of they weren’t in Turkey for lengthy. There was no warrant for his or her arrest in order that they had been allowed to journey freely between Russia and Turkey, the official stated, talking on situation of anonymity as a result of he was not approved to make public statements.
The Islamic State group, which misplaced a lot of its floor after Russia’s army motion in Syria, has lengthy focused Russia. In October 2015, a bomb planted by IS downed a Russian jetliner over the Sinai desert, killing all 224 individuals aboard, most of them Russian vacationers coming back from Egypt.
The group, which operates primarily in Syria and Iraq but additionally in Afghanistan and Africa, additionally has claimed a number of assaults in Russia’s unstable Caucasus and different areas prior to now years. It recruited fighters from Russia and different elements of the previous Soviet Union.
On Monday, Putin warned that extra assaults may observe, alleging potential Western involvement. He didn’t point out the warning a few potential imminent terrorist assault that the U.S. shared confidentially with Moscow two weeks earlier than the raid.
Three days earlier than the assault, Putin denounced the U.S. Embassy’s March 7 discover urging Individuals to keep away from crowds in Moscow, together with concert events, calling it an try and frighten Russians and “blackmail” the Kremlin forward of the presidential election.
Bortnikov stated Russia was grateful for the warning however described it as very common.
“The details about preparations for terror assaults in giant gatherings of individuals was of a common nature,” he stated. “In fact, we reacted to that info and took corresponding measures to forestall such incidents.”
He added that the FSB acted on the tip, concentrating on a bunch of suspects he did not determine however which finally proved false.
“We’re grateful, in fact, however we want to see extra specifics,” Bortnikov stated.
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Related Press author Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed.